As reported this morning, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has planned another listening session to gather commentary on electronic onboard recorders and their potential to be used as a tool for carriers to harass drivers.
At a similar listening session held last month in Louisville at the Mid-America Trucking Show, FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro started the four-hour session (broken into two parts by an hour-long break) by posing questions to drivers about how EOBRs could be used to harass drivers, if they had experienced harassment via a recorder and how harassment could be prevented.
Several drivers turned out to voice their opinions (see one example here), and all comments were recorded, transcribed and placed on the docket to be used at the Administration’s next policy-making meeting on the subject.
Editorial Director Max Heine and I caught much of the hearing in Louisville, and drivers were not only welcomed but encouraged to step up to the mic and let the panel of FMCSA administrators know how they feel.
With the Bellevue, Wash., session looming later this month, there’s another chance to have your voice on record. If you can’t make the session in person, FMCSA is gathering commentary online, too, and will be reading it aloud during. Online comments go on the session’s transcribed record, too.
Don’t miss the opportunity to tell FMCSA your opinions on EOBRs and what can be done to make them more usable or appealing to drivers.
