There’s not much time – FMCSA recently published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on electronic on-board recorders, requesting that truck drivers and others comment by Nov. 30.

The purpose is to ensure any future mandate concerning EOBRs would be appropriate as well as reflect state-of-the-art communication and information management, the agency said.

In July, when the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, threw out FMCSA's HOS rules, it noted in its decision that the agency failed to include EOBR use in the rule, citing a lack of data.

Any comments should be sent in for DOT DMS Docket Number FMCSA – 2004 – 18940. If you’d like to submit comments, use any of the following methods:

• Go to the federal eRulemaking portal at: regulations.gov and follow the online instructions;
• Go to the agency Web site dms.dot.gov and follow the instructions;
• Fax comments to (202) 493-2251; or
• Mail your comments to Docket Management Facility, U.S. DOT, 400 7^th St., N.W., Nassif Building, Room PL-401, Washington, DC, 20590-0001.