Petition to Suspend ELDs Stalls With Two Weeks to Reach Goal of 100K

Washington D.C. – After quickly garnering 25,000 signatures, the newly launched petition asking President Trump to “immediately suspend” the controversial electronic logging devices (ELD) mandate has stalled.

Approximately two weeks remain for people to sign the petition launched by the Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC) which calls for the “White House to direct the USDOT to act on NHTSA findings and immediately suspend ELDs until unintended consequences can be studied to decide if the rule is ripe for repeal.”

Transportation Nation Network (TNN) was the first trucking media outlet to break the news of the petition.

In only a few days that article (which you can read HERE) was viewed well over 150,000 times and shared by more than 6,000 people from our Facebook page.

Word of the petition quickly spread throughout the industry.

It wasn’t long before other trucking groups such as TruckerNation and Black Smoke Matters also voiced support and encouraged members to sign it.

James Lamb, president of the SBTC, expressed his optimism the goal of reaching 100,000 signatures before November 24, 2019 was attainable.

“The truth is, we could not have done this by ourselves alone. You did this, Drivers,” he wrote to supporters.

However, the momentum has since stalled.

While the petition collected about 5,000 additional signatures in the last week, it is now well below the pace needed to reach 100,000, which if achieved, would require the White House to review the issue and respond by email to each person who signed it.

In an effort to motivate more people to take action, Lamb took to social media last weekend.

In a Facebook LIVE post, Lamb said the stakes couldn’t be higher.

“We are now faced with the fact that rather than save 26 lives per year as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) had promised… we are now in a situation where it is now the highest fatalities for large truck occupants in 30 years,” he said in reference to recently released data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

“We are asking you to sign this petition. It’s a matter of public safety,” Lamb implored.

Still, skepticism remains even among those who oppose the ELD mandate as to whether this petition is a viable strategy to achieve such a goal.

Here’s a sampling from TNN’s Facebook page reflecting this sentiment:

TNN recently published an article addressing whether President Trump has the power to effectively suspend the ELD mandate, and what would likely occur if he attempted to do so.