A trucker’s passionate argument against the upcoming ELD mandate has recently gone viral, describing the negative effects he believes the mandate will have on not just truckers — but the general public as well.
Truck driver Charles Claburn spoke with the media as a spokesperson for the grassroots organization “ELD or Me,” in a video posted to Facebook on Monday.
In the interview, Claburn claims that the ELD mandate benefits only the mega-carriers and will harm individual owner-operators and small fleets, driving many of them out of business. He claims this dynamic could lead to higher rates for companies and higher costs for consumers.
“If you take competition [owner operators] out of the market… things aren’t going to get to where they need to be on time. There’s gonna be a backlog on everything… then the rates go up… that’s what’s going to happen… they are going to set the rates where they want them to make it profitable for them.”
“Stuff is gonna start to cost a lot of money because remember, mega fleets could have control and have things their way,” explained Claburn.
On top of potentially higher prices, Claburn points to the lack of evidence about the effectiveness of ELDs as a tool for safety.
“They say that this is going to increase safety and prevent 26 deaths a year, but they have 0, let me say it again: 0 statistics to prove it… 10,600 people die in alcohol related car crashes a year, are they going to install breathalyzers in everyone’s car? I don’t think so. They’re using mythical numbers and floating around lies to promote their agenda.”
“The 14 hour clock is gonna make drivers speed up a little bit, look at the clock, racing the clock, that’s a safety issue… [Because of the mandate] we’re gonna be right there during rush hour, making traffic in big cities worse,” he added.
Claburn also discussed President Trumps’ inaction and threatened to ‘take a knee’ if the mandate is allowed to take effect.
“Trump is the only one who can sign an executive order to delay this until studies can be done to help us,” Claburn said.
“He promised us when he got elected that he was gonna drain the swamp, that he was gonna do away with regulations that invaded upon our privacy and our businesses… we’ve reached out every way you know… he’s ignored us…. if he doesn’t step up and he doesn’t listen, we ARE going to take a knee, and unlike the NFL, if we take a knee, game over,” he concluded.
The ELD mandate is set to go into effect on Monday, December 18th, 2017.
Watch Claburn’s passionate interview below.
