By Lalit K JhaWashington, Nov 14 (PTI) An Indian-American delegationrepresenting the truckers' industry, dominated by the Sikh-Americans, has urged the Trump administration to delay by oneyear the mandatory installation of an expensive logging devicein trucks.
The new regulation, to be effective from December 18,will require almost all commercial trucks, unless a truck isin an exempted class, to buy and operate an Electronic LoggingDevice (ELD) to record the hours they are on and off duty.
According to an unofficial estimate, this new rule wouldhave an adverse impact on nearly 150,000 Indian-origin truckdrivers, a majority of whom are Sikhs and from Punjab.
A petition signed by more than 40 Indian-American smalltrucker companies was submitted by a delegation led byGurinder Singh Khalsa, of Sikhs Political Action Committee andHarsh Sethi, president of North America Punjabiz TruckerAssociation to the Department of Transportation.
"Our members' industry is not fully prepared to meet theDecember 18, 2017 compliance date," the petition said.
Noting that the current ELD retail marketplace does notaccommodate the needs of its impacted industry segment, thepetition said the devices are not able to factor in existingHOS (hours of service) exemptions currently being utilised byfresh produce haulers.
The current ELD self-certification system is completelyinadequate and needs to be revised where all ELD devices soldare Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration certified.
"We suggest a process similar to the process used by theagency to certify medical examiners," the petition said.
In recent weeks, representatives of the trucking industryhave met the US Vice-President Mike Pence and held meetings atthe Capitol to press for their demands. PTI LKJ AMS AKJAMS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.