Owners

Feb 13, 2002 12:00 PM

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) has criticized revised estimates by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) on how long it takes drivers and motor carriers to record, collect, check, and store driver daily records of duty status information. OOIDA submitted the comments to the agency February 11 after FMCSA issued data that was four times higher than its previous estimate.

"OOIDA believes strongly, however, that the agency continues to grossly underestimate the true industry burden," according to information submitted to FMCSA by the association. OOIDA calculated the total annual burden for the industry to be 756.25 million hours while the FMCSA estimates total 42.5 million hours.

"Collecting data derived from the fundamentally flawed hours-of-service regulations is a high-priced exercise in futility," says Rick Craig, OOIDA director of regulatory affairs. "In addition to being useless information, it's a huge burden on the industry. FMCSA grossly underestimated the hourly burden the first time around, so they revised their assumptions. They're still way off the mark."

FMCSA is gathering the information to submit to the Office of Management and Budget for review and approval necessary for the driver duty status record requirements. To read OOIDA's comments, visit www. www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/Documents/RODS_comments.pdf .