U.S. appeals court upholds ELD rule for trucker hours of service

Chicago – A federal mandate requiring commercial motor vehicle drivers to use electronic logging devices in place of paper logs remains on track to go into effect after an appeals court denied an attempt to block the rulemaking.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit issued its ruling Oct. 31 in response to a lawsuit from the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association of Grain Valley, MO, which filed on behalf of two CMV drivers.

The court ruled that OOIDA’s objections fell short, and it reinforced the Dec. 18, 2017, compliance date set by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

CMV drivers will be required to use ELDs to log their hours of service as opposed to paper logs, which FMCSA claims can be easily manipulated. ELDs record details from each vehicle at repeated intervals, including date, time, location, engine hours, vehicle miles and information identifying the driver, vehicle and motor carrier.

“We are disappointed and strongly disagree with the court’s ruling,” OOIDA President and CEO Jim Johnston said in a press release. “Because this issue is of vital importance to our members and all small business truckers, we are reviewing our next steps to continue our challenge against this regulation.”