The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, representing commercial motor vehicle safety officials in the United States and Canada, criticized the U.S. federal government's continued granting of electronic logging device exemptions.

In a December letter to Ray Martinez, Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, CVSA accused the agency of going overboard in granting the ELD exemptions.

“Since 2015, FMCSA has issued nearly 50 exemptions to motor carriers, waiving regulatory requirements for certain segments of the transportation industry” in addition to dozens of other legislative and regulatory exemptions, said CVSA Executive Director Collin Mooney in the letter.

He added that “over the last two years, the agency has issued a number of exemptions from the electronic logging device requirement, a critical safety requirement designed to help combat fatigue on our nation’s roadways and designed to level the playing field for motor carriers seeking to operate safely within the hours-of-service rules.”

The association also asked that its state and local law enforcement members to be participants in any future ELD exemption request proceedings.

CVSA is against granting exemptions unless a trucker or fleet can show there is a proven, critical need to do so, as well as provide assurance that it will provide an equivalent level of safety. “In short, exemptions should be the exception, not the rule,” Mooney stressed.

The CVSA chief also took a swipe at what he characterized as the agency’s failure to communicate with its state partners. “This issue is further complicated when motor carriers are made aware of an exemption before the enforcement community, setting up a scenario where conflict may arise roadside when a driver and company have communication from the agency indicating they are exempt, but the enforcement community is unaware,” Mooney said.