Uncle Sam wants to climb into truck cabs and peek over drivers' shoulders as they go about their work.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) last month issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, putting the industry on notice that it will examine the costs and benefits of requiring motor carriers to install electronic onboard recorders in every truck. Onboard recorders automatically keep a record of a truck's speed, distance traveled, and stops and starts.

FMCSA took that action just two days after it asked a federal appeals court to stay its decision vacating the controversial hours-of-service (HOS) rules that govern truck drivers' work and rest periods. If that request is granted, the current rules would remain in place while the agency weighs its options for addressing the judges' concerns.

The appeals court decision had suggested that onboard recorders could be useful for monitoring compliance with the HOS rules, and hence would lead to reductions in operator fatigue. Motor carriers and independent truckers, however, vigorously oppose any federal requirement for adoption of what they see as an intrusive technology.

Motor carriers aren't necessarily opposed to onboard monitors altogether. Some have adopted the recorders to improve their fleets' efficiency. European governments, moreover, have required monitoring devices in trucks for almost three decades. But the trucking industry has defeated previous attempts by federal authorities to impose that requirement in the United States.

It didn't take long for motor carriers and independent truckers to gear up to defeat this new attempt to mandate the adoption of onboard recorders. "There are questions about the reliability, purpose, and sanctity of the information, and whether the onboard equipment does the job," says Mike Russell, spokesman for the American Trucking Associations. "It's getting into a 'black hole' that we're not ready to step into."

Likewise, independent truckers are strongly opposed to the plan. "A 'black box' has no way of measuring fatigue and alertness," says Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA). "It's not going to record the time a driver spends loading or unloading, which is the real logbook problem. And onboard recorders raise constitutional issues that haven't been explored or resolved."

Any government mandate for those recorders, however, appears to be years away from implementation. Last month's notification of advance rulemaking represents just the first step on the road toward the possible adoption of a federal rule. The notice calls for an outside consultant to determine whether any research exists that demonstrates that onboard recorders actually reduce driver fatigue. If past practice serves as a guide, then it's likely truckers and their allies will try to persuade Congress to rein in such a proposal. "I do expect entities to talk to lawmakers about a legislative fix," Spencer says.