Local semi-truck drivers staged a protest in Hialeah Monday against new federal regulations.
The drivers present at the demonstration are not pleased with regulations that require truck drivers to install digital devices known as ELDs – electronic logging devices – to monitor the number of hours they spend behind the wheel.
The deadline to incorporate the ELD Mandate was Monday.
“The problem that we have is that this electronic mandate is actually going to stop us from working what we normally work with common sense. And that’s where the safety goes for us and for the public," Fernando Collazo, who has been a truck driver for 22 years, told NBC 6 News. “We can’t do anything and unfortunately a lot of people are leaving the business because it’s not worth it.”
The regulations would limit driving to no more than 11 hours a day and drivers must be off-duty for 10 consecutive hours.
The American Trucking Association said there are over 3.5 million trucks in the United States.
“What we’re trying to achieve is to tell Washington: listen, we’re here and we’re trying not to lose our trucks, we’re trying not to lose our business. We give everything to this country. We’re truck drivers because, in a way, it’s in our blood," Collazo said.