Press Releases

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association opposes legislation to mandate underride guards on all sides of commercial motor vehicles over 10,000 pounds. OOIDA says such requirements cannot be accommodated on most trucking equipment and would yield little if any safety benefit, while costing truckers billions to comply.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association sent a letter to members of Congress opposing the DRIVE-Safe Act (H.R. 1374 and S. 569). The bills propose lowering age requirements to get an interstate commercial driver’s license from 21 to 18.OOIDA said in the letter that many of the same entities pushing for a change in the current minimum age requirement would simply use it to take advantage of a new pool of drivers who would be subjected to poor working conditions, predatory lease-to-own schemes and woefully inadequate compensation.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association cosigned a letter today along with a coalition of organizations opposed to increasing size and weight restrictions for commercial motor vehicles. The letter was sent to all members Congress, asking them to oppose legislative language that would increase maximum truck size or weight limits on federal highways.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association’s research foundation published two new documents debunking the myth of a driver shortage.A fact sheet explains how the industry isn’t afflicted with a shortage of drivers, but is actually plagued with overcapacity and driver retention. A second, accompanying document talks about how wages have decreased for truck drivers at large carriers and many have moved toward smaller fleets.

Among the many issues raised today at a hearing held by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, two caught the attention of small-business truckers. One was connected directly to infrastructure and one was not, but both are closely related to highway safety.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association filed a lawsuit against the Indiana Finance Authority, the Indiana Toll Road Concession Company, the Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Transportation and Governor Eric Holcomb.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is concerned about a recent decision by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to preempt meal and rest break laws in California.The FMCSA granted a petition that, effective immediately, preempts California state laws that deal with meal and rest breaks for truck drivers. The American Trucking Associations (ATA) submitted the petition last year requesting federal preemption, citing numerous issues such as conflicts with the federal hours-of-service regulations.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association introduced a video dispelling the myth that there is a shortage of truck drivers in the United States. “We created this video because we are concerned that messaging in mainstream media is missing the mark on the issue of high turnover,” said Norita Taylor, director of public relations at OOIDA.  “The real problem is driver churn caused by low pay and poor working conditions.”  

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association filed comments to an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Hours-of-Service regulations.An ANPRM published by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration asked for input from the trucking community about updating regulations to alleviate unnecessary burdens and improve safety.

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.