Press Releases

For more than a decade, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has encouraged the government to reduce the costly and unnecessary obstacles that prevent safe truck drivers with diabetes to operate in interstate commerce. Today, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced a final rule revising regulations permitting individuals with properly controlled insulin-treated diabetes mellitus (ITDM) to be qualified by a certified medical examiner for up to 12 months.

A petition by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association played a key role in the government launching an effort to revise hours-of-service regulations. OOIDA looks forward to working with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to safely and responsibly update those standards.The Association’s petition, which was filed in February of this year, was referred to in today’s announcement by FMCSA to revise the hours-of-service regulations.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association supports government efforts to modernize hours-of-service regulations and looks forward to an anticipated Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.The Association’s members have often pointed out to their representatives in Washington DC that current regulations are overly complex, provide no flexibility, and in no way reflect the physical capabilities or limitations of individual drivers. 

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association’s exemption request to a federal regulation requiring trucks to be equipped with electronic logging devices has been denied. The request was submitted 8 months ago to the agency that regulates motor carriers, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. 

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the nation’s only organization exclusively representing professional and small-business truckers, says that the government needs to create a better system for those seeking to resolve conflicts involving their medical certifications, which are required to get a commercial drivers license.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the nation’s only organization exclusively representing professional and small-business truckers, supports legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Brian Babin (R-TX-36) to modernize hours-of-service regulations.The Responsible and Effective Standards for Truckers, or REST Act, H.R.5417, would allow drivers to take one rest break per shift, for up to three consecutive hours. This single off-duty period would not be counted toward the driver’s 14-hour, on-duty allowance. The bill would not extend the total, allowable drive time limits.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the nation’s only organization exclusively representing professional and small-business truckers, asked the U.S. House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure to hold an oversight hearing on a recently implemented regulation.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the nation’s only organization representing professional and small-business truckers, has petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to amend the existing federal hours-of-service regulations. “We think it’s time to seriously address the issue of lack of options available for truck drivers whose schedules are at the mercy of shippers, receivers, weather, congestion, and other obstacles, to operate safely,” said Todd Spencer, acting president and CEO of OOIDA.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the nation’s only organization representing professional and small-business truckers, thanks U.S. Reps. Brian Babin (R-TX-36) and Steve King (R-IA-04), along with 23 other members of Congress, for a letter to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration asking them to support the pending application for an exemption from the electronic logging device, ELD, mandate for small trucking businesses with exemplary safety records.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has requested  that top officials from each state seriously review potential problems anticipated with enforcement of an impending federal trucking mandate requiring electronic logging devices on large trucks.