Drivers association issues order on out-of-service fatigue criteria

Grain Valley, MO – The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association on June 13 filed an Order to Show Cause with a federal court against two agencies over amended out-of-service criteria for fatigue.

OOIDA filed the order against Greenbelt, MD-based Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and the Minnesota State Patrol, which both established new standards that would allow police officers to place drivers out of service for fatigue based on “reasonable articulable suspicion.” OOIDA argued that this would violate drivers’ Fourth Amendment rights and conflicts with a previous ruling in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota that stated officers needed “probable cause” to issue an out-of-service order, a more stringent standard, according to an OOIDA press release.

OOIDA also sent a letter to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to ignore out-of-service reports based on the agencies’ amended criteria, including reports issued since the amended criteria were enacted April 1, the press release stated.