WASHINGTON — They may be hot for EOBRs on trucks, but a group of U.S. carriers are crying foul over the government’s plan to pay for them on incoming Mexican trucks.

Last week, it was reported that under the new cross-border truck agreement between the U.S. and Mexico, the DOT will fund the installment and monitoring costs of EOBRs on Mexican trucks to ensure the agency will own and control all the data.

The Alliance for Driver Safety and Security was formed last year to push legislation to mandate electronic onboard recorders. 

The five founding companies — Maverick USA, Knight Transportation, J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Schneider National and U.S. Xpress Enterprises — lobbied for mandatory devices, but they don’t think American tax dollars should go towards subsidizing foreign companies.

"It has always been the focus of the alliance … to see an EOBR on every truck. Our confusion was, why subsidize these Mexican trucking companies when the cost does seem to be fairly minimal, and we know it is such a strategic tool for safety on the roads?" Alliance director Bill Vickery said last week on "The Lockridge Report" on Sirius XM’s Road Dog Trucking Channel.

"I think everyone applauds the ideas that EOBRs should be on Mexican trucks; they should be on every truck. We’re talking about a fairness issue here."

— via Truckinginfo.com