OOIDA Holds Town Hall Meeting to Lay Out 2022 Priorities

Tens of thousands attended the recent Mid-America Trucking Show and members of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) took the opportunity to lay out their 2022 priorities.

At what was hailed as a town hall meeting within the Kentucky Exposition Center event, an OOIDA panel discussed advocacy initiatives the organization worked on during 2021. Last year’s priorities that were discussed reportedly included the following.

Defeating mandates that would increase minimum insurance levels, require speed limiters, and limit the use of personal conveyance.
Pursuing dedicated federal funding for truck parking.
Finalizing hours-of-service reforms that provide truckers greater flexibility.
Implementation of the entry-level driver training rule.

OOIDA President Todd Spencer indicated that seemingly modest efforts to improve or advocate on behalf of truckers only add to solutions.

“Do the easy things, and things start getting better. We’re open to any ideas anywhere that can make things better,” Spencer reportedly said. “We’ll always have challenges, and we’ll always have people on the other side of the issues. But if we’re smart, and we get together, we can have good people carrying our story and moving to a fairer deal.”

Employing the theory that there’s strength in numbers has served trucking leadership organizations well. Both the OOIDA and American Trucking Associations (ATA) had seats at the table while the $1.2 trillion infrastructure spending bill was crafted. Improved highways, bridges, and port infrastructures will likely serve truckers well for years to come.

The OOIDA and ATA nearly achieved one of the most pressing issues truckers face today — safe overnight parking. Unfortunately, funding was yanked during political wrangling after trucking leaders successfully advocated for its inclusion. But OOIDA director of safety operations reminded those in attendance of major accomplishments.

“If it wasn’t for OOIDA right now, we’d have speed limiters on trucks, we’d have insurance (minimums) over $4 million, and to be quite honest we wouldn’t have a lot of owner-operators,” Morris reportedly said.

Those rank among the many issues trucking industry leaders have successfully lobbied for in the past. Moving forward in 2022, the OOIDA set priorities for its members that include the following.