In The News
Hours of Service Listening Sessions Wrap up at Mid-America
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says it has heard the trucking industry's pleas for more flexibility in the hours of service rules. Now it wants to know, if we give you that flexibility, how can we stop people from abusing it?
That's what Anne Ferro, FMCSA administrator, said during her opening remarks at the fifth and final hours of service listening session going on today at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky.
During the first four listening sessions, Ferro said, "I heard a very strong call to please get to the Mid-America Truck Show. So I'm very glad our team was able to get us here."
The first four listening sessions - in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Dallas, and Davenport, Iowa - Ferro said, about 300 people physically participated in the room, and they've had better than 7,000 people participate via e-mail, phone and webcast. "I can tell you the input has been tremendous," Ferro said.
"We've heard about the need for flexibility," she continued. "What I haven't heard yet is how you take a rule with flexibility in it and ensure you've got sufficient structure to go after the folks that are going to abuse that flexibility. We all know it happens today, it happened before, and it will happen again."
Friday's Session
Drivers, owner-operators and fleet executives came forward with their comments (limited to 5 minutes because of the number of people wishing to speak). Many spoke favorably of the current hours of service, saying it has made hours of service simpler and improved safety.
Bill Usher, president of Usher Transport, said that despite initial concerns, after bout six months, his drivers started reporting that the new hours of service regulations weren't so bad. "The drivers are still making money, they're more productive, they're considerably safer," Usher said. "Are there some things we can do to make it better? Of course we can. But we have a very good, solid foundation in these rules."
Usher pointed out that the trucking industry has seen a large decline in the truck-involved fatality rate since the current hours of service rules took effect.
Since the new HOS regulations took effect in 2004, the rate of persons injured in large truck crashes has dropped 25 percent and the truck-involved fatality rate has dropped 22 percent, he said.
Usher brought up the issue of the difficulty of training a fleet's drivers each time hours of service regulations are changed. Wilbert Noe, a driver who has previously taught orientation for his company, said the current hours of service are easy to teaech. "There's no gray area, it's black and white. You've got 14 hours and you'rd better do what you can in those 14 hours."
It was more difficult to teach the "sleeper berth split" from the previous regulations, Noe said, but he and many others speaking Friday said they would like to see the ability to split the 10 required hours in the sleeper reinstated, at least for team drivers.
Teams and Sleeper Time
Sue walker, a long haul chemical tanker driver for 10 years for Enterprise Transportation, said she has no problems sleeping eight or nine hours in a sleeper if she's driving solo. "But to try to stay in a sleeper for 10 hours with the truck rolling? I can't imagine a worse torture. I think for at least teams, there needs to be something figured out."
Heather Hogeland, currently a driver for UPS Freight and a former owner-operator, has driven team with her husband for 25 years. "I don't think I've ever in my life been so tired as I am under these hours of service," she said. "When we try to stay in the sleeper while the truck is moving, five or six hours of sleep is the most I can get."
These drivers say they could get better rest sleeping in two five-hour shifts than the current 10-hour mandated sleeper time.
The sleeper berth split was just one aspect of the call for more flexibility. Others said there needs to be the flexibility for a driver to take a nap when he or she feels tired. Many said the current rules, with the 14-hour clock that doesn't stop once it's started, discourages drivers from stopping for meals or to stretch their legs, actually increasing fatigue.
Enforcement
Some speakers tried to address Ferro's question of how the agency could include more flexibility and still enforce the rules.
Clare Shaffer, a 50-year driver suggested that the agency pay more attention to the quality of new drivers and the amount of schooling and experience they're getting. "In my mind it's just not enough," he said. "I've seen people go to school for three months, be on the road with a trainer for three months, be on the road for six months, and then the company makes them a trainer."
Another longtime driver, a Teamster with 3 million safe miles, said a trained commercial truck enforcement officer "can stand by the side of the road and tell the drivers are tired." Why not have a DOT official wait on the back roads to catch the drivers that are going around the scales? I punch a clock, and every minute of every day I work is dictated by the clock. There's no way I can falsify anything. I feel we've got everything in place to really crack down and make people run legal."
Next Steps
Because of a settlement between FMCSA and several safety advocacy groups that had filed suit over hours of service regulations, the agency is required to have a formal draft of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by mid-July of this year. Then it will go to the White House Office of Management and Budget. After they review it, which will probably take several months, the NPRM will be published and there will be more opportunities to comment on the revised rules. The final rule is due in July 2011.
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