My Congressman's Response To H.R. 3282

Discussion in 'ELD Forum | Questions, Answers and Reviews' started by Scooter Jones, Aug 6, 2017.

  1. Scooter Jones

    Scooter Jones Road Train Member

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    Wrote my congressman, Peter DeFazio, and asked him to support H.R. 3282, the ELD Extension Act of 2017. This was his response:

    Dear Mr. #########:

    Thank you for your message regarding Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) for commercial motor vehicles and your support for H.R. 3282, the ELD Extension Act of 2017. I appreciate hearing from you.

    As you may know, in 2012 Congress passed the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), which instructed the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to prescribe a rule requiring the use of ELDs in commercial motor vehicles to improve compliance with hours of service (HOS) regulations. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has long called for the installation of ELDs in all interstate commercial motor vehicles to combat fatigued driving. While the vast majority of professional drivers abide by the HOS rules, a small number unfortunately alter or falsify their log books in order to exceed HOS limits. Throughout USDOT’s development of this rule, I have monitored their progress to ensure that a variety of technologies are available to meet the mandate and limit the costs incurred by professional drivers.

    While I share independent truck drivers’ concerns about the burdens of compliance, it would be detrimental to safety to further delay the required deployment of ELDs as specified by H.R. 3282 and allow the continued use of paper logbooks that can be easily falsified. You can be sure I will continue to monitor implementation of the ELD requirement to help ensure that drivers and law enforcement officials are provided with clear direction by USDOT and that the cost of compliance is not a significant burden on small trucking companies. Currently, drivers can choose from more than 70 ELDs - which are registered by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) - in order to meet the ELD requirement. FMCSA requires that these devices provide either a display or a printout of a driver’s logs when an authorized safety official requests a physical display of the information. Furthermore, FMCSA requires that manufacturers provide step-by-step instructions for drivers to produce and transfer the logs to a safety official.

    During my time in Congress, I have been a champion of improving surface transportation. Last Congress, I was a key negotiator of the bipartisan Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, the first long-term surface transportation bill in a decade. Language that I included in the FAST Act requires USDOT to establish a standardized process for tracking “detention time” – the lengthy delays experienced by truck drivers when picking up or dropping off a load. Detention time is a big problem with the shipping industry, and truck drivers bear the costs of these delays. I’ll continue to make sure that professional truck drivers aren’t needlessly delayed by shippers and receivers as they try to earn a living.

    Thanks again for contacting me. Please keep in touch.

    Sincerely,

    U.S. REPRESENTATIVE PETER DeFAZIO
    Fourth Congressional District, Oregon

    The old ELOGS prevent fatigued driving and thus make the roads in America safer argument...
     
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2017
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  3. Scooter Jones

    Scooter Jones Road Train Member

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    LOL. Really? When and how is that going to be implemented?
     
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  4. Broke Down 69

    Broke Down 69 Road Train Member

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    Sounds like his position is pretty well set in stone.
     
  5. LGarrison

    LGarrison Road Train Member

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    Now's the Time to start a committee to get him out of Congress
     
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  6. Scooter Jones

    Scooter Jones Road Train Member

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    Of course, he's a typical bureaucrat that lives inside of the D.C. bubble.
     
  7. LGarrison

    LGarrison Road Train Member

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    It's not about safety it's about greed and we're losing
     
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  8. Scooter Jones

    Scooter Jones Road Train Member

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    I've been thinking a lot lately how most of these politicians, pundits, news organizations and such, live and operate in a circle of reality that is so detached from the average American. Yet, they claim to represent and "champion" our causes and values. It's such a load of crap.
     
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  9. Scooter Jones

    Scooter Jones Road Train Member

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    Well, in the world in which he lives, the "few" HOS violaters are a real safety threat to the well-being of those who traverse our interstate system and thus warrant the ELD mandate.
     
  10. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    I follow Congress day and sometimes night over the Dish on Cspan where possible. Let's just say that the Leadership is a gang of 8 as prescribed in our Consitution and THEY decide what goes on the floor. You can champion this or that, but ultimately you have to show up and vote what you are told to vote by the Leadership whips. Not by what the people tell you.

    I don't want to get any deeper than that because my approval of Congress is next to nothing with a few very strong exceptions. We have a Senator who is going to make a name for himself (Cotton -AR) given enough time and certain other members are ill with things that will be expected to kill them in due time. Once they are cleared out, I expect better activity.

    The last 12 years or so looking at them has been pretty difficult. Because they have consistently failed to properly enact a required Budget for all 13 departments and so on each and every year until threatened with shutdown or some other crisis they brought upon themselves.

    I said I did not want to get deep. And apparently I did... I leave you with this thought...

    On topic of logs. We brought it on ourselves back in the day running three paper logs to make that overnight in a mythical land far away for a few dollars. No wonder the regulation is coming down to lower the boom to end that foolishness. Shippers and Recievers will learn that if these Elogs are adhered to properly, they can hollar appointments time until blue in the face, but it wont change the actual arrival and not a minute before. It's going to slow things down and migrate drivers towards a team set up to work around the limitations of solo driving. Then ROBOTS.... take over in time.

    Pretty neat eh? All the regulations under the sun rendered ... literally moot by machines who could care less about precious things like fatique.. man, what is that? Tired? Ha that only means you are doing good work.
     
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  11. tucker

    tucker Road Train Member

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    Regardless , that's great he took the time to write out his opinion on the matter to you and that he gave the matter any thought at all other then which lobbyist paid him the most.
    You should be proud. I hope he sent that out on paper.

    I still have a letter to me from Lee Hamilton at home.
    It feels good that us scmucks have a little say in what goes on in Washington.
     
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