OOIDA submits wish list to incoming Administration
GRAIN VALLEY, Mo. – The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) has submitted its wish list to President-elect Joe Biden.
In a letter, the association outlined strategies it hopes are employed by the new Administration.
“President-elect Biden and his team at the Department of Transportation have an opportunity to advance policies that not only support small-business truckers, but promote highway safety,” said OOIDA president and CEO Todd Spencer, who last week expressed interest in heading up the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. “We’ve outlined several ways the new Administration can achieve these two critical goals, including expanding truck parking capacity, reducing excessive detention time, ensuring the safe and transparent development of automated vehicles and many others.”
The organization also wants to see improvements to driver training standards.
“Too many new drivers enter the industry without the basic skills to safely operate a CMV,” said Spencer. “And too many folks in our industry are pushing policies that make careers in trucking less appealing and less sustainable, which we know is contributing to today’s precariously high driver turnover rates.”
Additionally, the letter discourages the Biden Administration from pursuing costly new mandates and regulations that miss the mark.
“There are more regulations in place today than ever, and there is more enforcement and compliance with those regulations, yet highway safety isn’t improving,” said Spencer. “The Biden Administration has an opportunity to embrace a fresh approach to promoting highway safety. And that must start with listening to American truckers and trusting their experience.”
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We need more training for new truck drivers. All truck drivers who cross state lines need to be able to read English and understand it. All truck drivers need to have medical coverage who cross the border. We need to fix parking problem for trucks including at receivers and shippers. Truck insurance for smaller trucking companies to hire new drivers is a priority. In remote parts of Canada truck drivers need to be able to carry passengers now that some bus companies have closed some routes. I think the O O I D A members should have equal status to the A T A I in the U S and the C T A in Canada. This would solve the ( truck drivers shortage) and poor treatment of truck drivers and hopefully won’t be living in homeless shelters after getting hurt.