OOIDA’s president defends truckers right to privacy at Safety Technology Forum

7 Dec 2000 - Speaking at the Society of Automotive Engineers Safety Technology Forum in Portland, Oregon, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association president, Jim Johnston reaffirmed OOIDA’s commitment to supporting improved safety, but not at the expense of truckers’ privacy. Johnston was a panelist at the Safety Technology Forum held during the 2000 Truck and Bus meeting December 4-6. He spoke of OOIDA’s stance on current regulatory issues being put into place that may have negative effects on professional truckers.

Johnston’s message was, "While we very definitely support research and development of systems that will contribute toward meaningful improvement in commercial vehicle and highway safety, we have reservations regarding some of the current regulatory and enforcement policies."

Commenting on the potential introduction of on-board electronic recording devices, Johnston said so-called "black boxes" would, "involve subjecting private citizens to constant surveillance for purposes of law enforcement. Looking at it just from the perspective of whether or not it would make a meaningful contribution to improved highway safety, we conclude that it would not."

Other issues such as random drug testing and reduced standards for hiring drivers were also discussed to which Johnston stated, "The philosophy seems to be, if it isn’t accomplishing the intended purpose, then we just need to do more of it. Unfortunately…we reach a point of diminishing returns in over doing regulatory enforcement schemes. The dwindling, in fact, negative return in this case is the growing number of good professional truckers exiting the business because the returns simply don’t justify the burdensome regulatory and enforcement hassles they are subjected to."

During his speech, Johnston emphasized the importance of professional truckers to our nation for its "prosperity and even for its very existence."

Other participants on the panel forum included Julie Cirillo of the FMCSA; James Hall, Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board; Richard J. Manfredi, President & CEO of Manfredi Motor Transit and David Willis, President & CEO of AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. Moderator for the Safety Technology forum was Thomas Donohue, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

--Kelly Smith, OOIDA Communications

Read the S.A.E. SAFETY/TECHNOLOGY FORUM comments of Jim Johnston, President of OOIDA