After years of researching fatigue-related accidents, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced they would be making the first changes to truck driving schedule regulations in almost a decade.

1. New Rules Aimed to Reduce
Truck Drive Fatigue Called
Into Question

2. After years of researching fatigue-related
accidents, the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration (FMCSA)
announced they would be making the
first changes to truck driving schedule
regulations in almost a decade. These
new regulations first came into effect on
July 1, 2013 with trucking companies
given 18 months to comply. There were
three core changes:

3. -The total hours that can be driven per
week has been reduced from 82 hours to
70 hours. Drivers are still be allowed a
14 hour work day with a total of 11 hours
of driving per shift.
- The limit is reset if the driver gets 34
consecutive rest hours including two 1-5
a.m. periods, the time of day when the
body feels most sleepy. This reset can
only happen once per week.

4. - The driver must take a 30 minute break
during the first 8 hours of a shift
The FMCSA estimates these new
regulations will prevent around 1,400
crashes, 560 injuries and 19 deaths each
year, saving around $280 million in
property damage and $470 million in
lower driver health costs.
http://www.sslegalfirm.com/blog/caraccident/new-rules-aimed-reduce-truckdrive-fatigue-called-question

5. Calling the Rules Into Question
A survey by the Owner Operator
Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA)
shows that drivers feel they are
experiencing more fatigue and are
getting less time to spend at home,
mostly due to reduced scheduling
flexibility created by the shortened hours
and 1-5 a.m. rest periods.

6. The American Transport Associations
argues that the requirement is
particularly hard on night drivers because
the mandated timing keeps them from
having a consistent sleep schedule.
An American Transportation Research
Institute study showed that the reduced
hours would cost trucking companies
$376 million annually and drivers $1.6
billion in lost pay.

7. Organizations including the ATA appealed
the rules decision, but the federal district
court found in favor of the FMCSA on all
the new requirements except the 30
minute break period when applied to
local carriers.

8. Congress Steps In
The House of Representative’s small
business subcommittee held a meeting to
discuss the new policy. Central to the
argument against the rule change was
the lack of field testing required under
MAP-21 highway funding regulations:
Although a study was conducted, it
wasn’t ready to be released by the time
the rules were enacted.

9. FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro
addressed the committee, stating that
the new changes had more research and
more involvement with the trucking
industry than any previous regulations,
while congress’ inaction on low minimum
pay and long hours waiting for trucks to
be loaded and unloaded were causing far
more problems for drivers.

10. Meanwhile, Rep. Richard Hanna (R-New
York,) Rep. Tom Rice (R-South Carolina)
and Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine)
introduced the TRUE Act to roll back the
changes, reenacting them only after the
Government Accountability Office had
reviewed the FMCSA’s methodology.
Versions of the TRUE Act have been
introduced to the House and Senate with
details being worked out by
subcommittees before they go up for a
vote.

11. As it sits now, the safety evidence
presented by OODIA and the ATA is
merely anecdotal, but the FMCSA finds
itself in a precarious position until it
releases the field test results that should
have been available when the rules were
enacted.
http://www.sslegalfirm.com