The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is an organization dedicated to representing the interests of commercial truck drivers and other folk who drive for a living (professional drivers) and it has offices in every state in the United States as well as branches in Canada. It’s a big group, men and women who own and operate big rigs and small truck fleets. Part of OOIDA’s efforts are filing lawsuits in various state and federal courts, and the organization is zealous in its efforts to fight for its membership in courtrooms across the country. OOIDA’s history in litigation can be reviewed online in its Hot Cases listing.
So, it is not surprising that OOIDA has filed a petition for review with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit regarding an action taken by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. What OOIDA has done is ask the federal appeals court to review the FMCSA HOS rule on fatigued driving (for more on the federal regulations on truck driver fatigue check out our earlier posts on HOS rules).
According to the OOIDA, the review has been requested after OOIDA’s president wrote the FMCSA Administrator twice, asking that FMSCA work to stop possible harm to truckers around the country if the CVSA’s criteria for fatigue is used by law enforcement to judge the truck driver’s ability to do their job. OOIDA also wants the CVSA criteria to be rescinded by FMCSA and any driver fatigue violations from April 2012 forward be erased from the driver’s records in the Employment Screening files.
“The FMCSA and its predecessor agencies have repeatedly stated in various rulemaking proceedings that there is no adequate scientific or medical basis that would allow enforcement officers in the field to determine whether an individual driver is too fatigued to operate a vehicle safely,” OOIDA’s petition for review states. “Proposals to establish a performance based criteria for fatigue detection and regulation have always been rejected in favor of further study.”
