Trucking executives warn against radical HOS changes

John D. Schulz, Contributing Editor -- Logistics Management, 12/21/2009

WASHINGTON-The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has gotten down to the nitty-gritty work of rewriting the current hours of service regulations governing approximately 7 million truck drivers.

But top U.S. trucking executives are warning their customers and others that the current rules are working fine and have improved truck safety, and any radical changes would be costly to shippers and might not be a safety benefit.

 

FMCSA's Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee-a three-year-old group comprised of carrier representatives, advocacy groups and law enforcement personnel-held a three-day meeting in Washington on Dec. 7 to begin the daunting task of gathering information as the government begins the task of rewriting the HOS regulations, which were first written in 1937 by the old Interstate Commerce Commission.

Experts discussed such esoteric items as the best way to keep drivers' Circadian rhythms in line, the effects of economic forces on motor carrier safety, how fatigue affects drivers and other topics.
"This is a group that is very, very inquisitive," said Dave Parker, chairman of the advisory committee and an official with Great West Casualty, a truck insurance company. "Our purpose is not to come forth with a recommendation and a report in three days," Parker said. "Rather, it's to ask every conceivable question we can come up with. We are the eyes and ears of the FMCSA. Our charge is to be incredibly inquisitive on this subject."

The issue involves many moving parts but essentially will come down to balancing the safety and economic needs of two disparate groups which rarely see eye-to-eye on most topics: owner-operators and large trucking companies.

Parker called the entire project a "very fluid work-in-progress." The group is planning at least three public "listening sessions" around the country in early 2010 with dates and locations to be announced.

This latest rewrite was a result of a settlement last Oct. 26 between FMCSA and Public Citizen, the Teamsters union, and other advocacy groups who had challenged the rule in courts. Under those rules, truck drivers get 14 hours to drive 11 hours following 10 straight hours off duty. Drivers are limited to 60 hours driving in seven days or 70 hours in eight days. Any period of 34 straight off hours "resets" a driver's work week.

FMCSA has until mid-summer of 2010 to issue a proposed rulemaking to the DOT. Public comments will be sought beginning early in 2010. The advisory committee hopes to have an outline of its proposal in letter form to FMCSA by early February. A final rule is required by law to be issued by 2012. The current rule remains in effect until then.

"FMCSA did a wonderful job of research when they first revised these rules," said Douglas G. Duncan, president and CEO of FedEx Freight. "If it continues to use sound science to formulate a change-and not just listen to the loudness of the special interest groups involved-I think we will be fine. We as an industry have a great safety record. There's nothing in the current rules that we have been able to find that has harmed safety."

Motor carriers, by and large, would like to keep the HOS rules as they are. They say they are working well, based on sound science and have worked to improve highway safety.

Any radical change would be costly, they say, and might not work as intended.

"The hours of service HOS rules for commercial drivers affect multiple systems and programs for motor carriers and significantly impact supply chain operations for customers," Don Osterberg, Schneider National vice president of safety and driver training, told LM. "Changes to the rules will have first, second, and third order consequences."

That would include: retraining the fleet, reprogramming of log auditing software, route and network re-engineering, dispatch software logic modifications, and driver pay adjustments, to name just a few.

Contracts with shippers will have to be re-negotiated, as current rates are based on current hours of service rules.

"Supply chain costs will certainly increase," Osterberg predicted. "Inadequate highway infrastructure will be stressed further and additional trucks will be needed to maintain supply chain operations, leading to greater congestion and in turn, public safety consequences"

Provided the new rules prove to be safer-which is uncertain at this point-Osterberg said the costs associated with the changes would be worthwhile.

"As transportation professionals and stewards of highway safety, we firmly believe that moving freight safely is our first priority," he said. "The economy will need to bear the burden of the increased costs associated with whatever HOS changes are ultimately put in place."

The latest rewrite of these rules were established in 2004 and have coincided with a downward shift in truck accident rates. The American Trucking Associations says the current the trucking industry's truck fatality rate is at its lowest since the DOT began keeping truck crash statistics in 1975.

Since the latest revision began in 2004, the trucking industry is citing statistics that show truck-related fatalities have decreased by 19 percent and injuries have fallen by 13 percent. "Over the past five years we've seen a strong decline in truck-involved crashes on our nation's highways," says ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. "Safety has greatly improved while operating under the current hours of service rules."

On the opposite side of the issue are independent drivers as represented by the 158,000-member Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association (OOIDA). It has called for "meaningful" changes that include all aspects of driving that affect safety, including driver pay and carrier demands on non-driving aspects of the job, including loading and unloading trucks and other issues.

FMCSA officials have said they will not propose a specific rule or conduct a rulemaking on just the 11 hours of driving and 34-hour restart provisions, but rather will take a comprehensive look at the entire issue.
Todd Spencer, executive vice president of OOIDA, interprets that to mean the government has an opportunity to bring up other hours-of-service issues that affect safety. To meaningfully improve highway safety, he said, that would mean proposed changes would need to include all aspects of a trucker's workday that affect the ability to drive safely. This includes loading and unloading times, split sleeper berth for team operations, and the ability to interrupt the 14-hour day for needed rest periods.

"Truckers need the flexibility to get rest when needed rather than more restrictive rules," Spencer has said.

Of particular interest to owner-operators is the "split sleeper berth" provision, which allows drivers to accumulate the equivalent of 10 consecutive hours off-duty by taking 2 periods of rest in the sleeper berth, provided:
1-Neither period is less than 2 hours;
2-Driving time in the period immediately before and after each rest period when added together does not exceed 11 hours; and
3-The driver does not drive after the 14th hour after coming on duty following 10 hours off-duty.

This is literally a life-and-death issue for some truckers and the motoring public. One sleep expert said the effect of a tired trucker behind the wheel is as serious as a drunken driver.

Trying to stay ahead of the curve, the ATA will co-sponsor with the American Sleep Apnea Association the first-ever national conference on sleep apnea and commercial motor vehicle drivers next May 12.

Obstructed sleep apnea (OSA) is a condition affecting at least 20 million Americans in which an individual's airway is blocked while sleeping. This causes frequent breathing interruptions lasting from 10 seconds to more than a minute at a time, loud snoring and non-restorative sleep.