The US Court of Appeals has denied a legal challenge by a drivers lobby group to prevent the mandatory installation of electronic logging devices (ELD) into heavy vehicles, clearing a path for EROAD to continue its plan to be one of the first such system providers in that market.
EROAD chief executive officer Steve Newman told the National Business Review that the company has been in a “catch 22 situation.” as it has a team of 60 people working on the project since December 2015, and is on track to be one of the first solutions providers in the first half of 2017.
The USA-based Owner Operators Independent Driver Association (OOIDA) wanted to prevent the ELD legislation mandated in December 2015 which requires all interstate vehicles over 4.5 tonnes to comply with driver hours and fatigue management.
The US Court of Appeals denied the cause on the last day of October, but OOIDA may launch a further appeal reports the National Business Review.
Newman told the National Business Review its the biggest change in the US transportation industry in more than 60 years, and the owner-operators are not accepting it.
“Certainly for smaller fleets it could be a problem with the driver shortage. It’s creating a lot of turmoil, and the small companies are the most impacted,” says Newman.
