Controversy continues over HOS sleeper-berth ruling

By Jeff Berman -- Logistics Management, 3/1/2006

WASHINGTON—Since the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued revised commercial drivers' hours-of-service (HOS) rules earlier this year, there's been a considerable amount of negative feedback about the so-called sleeper-berth rule.

That rule dictates that truck drivers sleep for one seven-to-eight-hour period out of their 10-hour off-duty/sleep time. Drivers previously were allowed to split their sleep time into two periods, with the shorter period being at least two hours long. Remaining unchanged is a requirement that limits drivers to 14 hours of on-duty time in a 24-hour-period, including a maximum of 11 hours of driving time, following 10 consecutive hours off duty.

The FMCSA contends that drivers operating on split-shift sleep schedules are twice as likely to be involved in fatigue-related fatal accidents. "The reason this rule is there is that it approximates a normal opportunity for eight hours of sleep," said FMCSA spokesperson Patricia Lee. "The intent of this rule [change] is to establish regular daily cycles of rest and work. When we developed it, the studies we referred to did not support the continued use of the split sleeper-berth provision. Our research says that drivers need eight consecutive hours of sleep to maintain a healthy lifestyle."

Some critics, however, say the rule will cause other problems. "This rule takes away flexibility from the driver, and in doing so the driver is going to lose some productive time on the shipping end or the receiving end," said David Osiecki, vice president of safety and security operations at the American Trucking Associations. He cites the example of a driver who arrives before the appointed time and has to wait at a shipper's premises for several hours. In the past, drivers could have waited in the sleeper berth and time spent there would not have counted against the 14-hour on-duty limit. Under the revised rule, if the time spent waiting to get into the shipper's yard is less than eight hours, it counts as on-duty time.

"The allocated eight-hour sleep period is rigid, because it has to be consecutive," said Osiecki. "It hinders productivity to a degree because the driver has lost the flexibility to decide not only where he is going to stop but for how long. A driver's day is just not that rigid. There are too many variables—like traffic conditions and weather—to account for."

John Gentle, global leader of carrier relations at Owens Corning, said that since the revised sleeper-berth rule went into effect, he's seen little in the way of customer complaints or a decrease in service, but more hard data and time are needed to ascertain the true impact of the rule. "I have some empathy for the FMCSA, because they are put in the difficult role of finding the right formula that allows the American economy to move its goods and services to the marketplace in an orderly manner, and also of trying to manage the safety proposition, which is their primary charter," Gentle said.

The Owner-Operator Independent Driver's Association (OOIDA) intends to take the FMCSA to court over the agency's denial of OOIDA's request that sleep time remain split and that the two-hour sleep period not be counted as on-duty time.

Meanwhile, five organizations, including Public Citizen, Citizens for Safe and Reliable Highways, Parents Against Tired Truckers, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, filed a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit last month. The organizations are asking that the court review the final HOS rules issued by the FMCSA last August because the federal government never replied to the Petition for Reconsideration of the latest version of the rules.