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The House on Friday passed a transportation spending measure that would block rules requiring electronic onboard recorders on trucks.

Allied Systems Holdings Inc., the largest U.S. car hauler, last week filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the second time it has done so, saying it’s continuing to provide service and blaming weakness in the car and light-truck business for the move.

Vehicle hauler Allied Systems Holdings said it is restructuring its finances after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday.

Those in our industry can make whatever excuses they want for not using EOBRs. The bottom line is they haven’t wrapped their minds around how to make money legally. I mean, they might as well be bootlegging whiskey. It’s the same damn thing.

We live in an age of electronic information. Computers, the Internet, iPhones, iPads, GPS . . . all these technological wonders work to make our lives easier, reduce paperwork and give us all more time to do other things.

After carefully weighing the pros and cons in the sometimes overheated debate over whether the federal government should mandate electronic logging devices in heavy-duty trucks, we unequivocally support a requirement for electronic logging to monitor hours-of-service compliance.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has formally withdrawn its regulation that would have mandated electronic onboard recorders for some carriers.

Recent advances in rubber compounding processes have helped make tires more durable and fuel efficient, according to manufacturers who compare the techniques to the culinary arts.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration continues to be dead set on forcing every commercial vehicle in the United States to carry an electronic onboard recorder — better known as an EOBR — despite the device’s hefty price tag and general uselessness as a safety tool.