(Opinion Poll Appears At The End Of The Article)
A proposal to require that commercial truckers install electronic on-board recorders — a cruder version of the “black boxes” found on commercial jets — is pitting the nation’s two major trucking organizations against each other.
The proposal, which is included in a long-term, transportation spending bill being debated in Congress, would mandate the recorders as a way to ensure that truckers do not exceed federal hours-of-service rules.
Traffic crawls on Interstate 5 near Jefferson, Ore., in the aftermath of a crash involving a semi-truck and multiple vehicles on March 29.
The 150,000-member Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association, based in Grain Valley, Mo., opposes the measure, arguing that the devices will invade drivers’ privacy, won’t increase accuracy of record-keeping and will heap an unnecessary expense on thousands of small-business owners who drive trucks.