The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has concluded data collection for the congressionally mandated study of the operational, safety, health, and fatigue impacts of two provisions of the hours of service (HOS) restart regulations, the agency reported Thursday.
Sticking to the study requirements set by Congress, the Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Restart Study team collected data to compare five-month work schedules of drivers to assess safety critical events (e.g., crashes, near-crashes, and crash-relevant conflicts), operator fatigue/alertness, and short-term health outcomes of drivers who operate under the HOS restart provisions that took effect July 1, 2013, and those drivers who operate under the previous provisions. The 2013 changes were suspended by Congress last December.
Drivers from a wide variety of fleet sizes and operations provided a substantial amount of data throughout the course of the study period, FMCSA said. More than 220 participating drivers contributed data as they drove their normal, revenue-producing routes, including:
- More than 3,000 driver duty cycles, as captured by electronic logging devices
- More than 75,000 driver alertness tests
- More than 22,000 days of driver sleep data
With data analysis underway, the agency reported the study team is working toward completing the final report by the end of the year.
“The agency does not have preliminary study findings,” an FMCSA statement reads. “However, FMCSA is pleased with the high volume of data collected from participating drivers and expects this data will help inform future activities by the agency as well as the current study.”
FMCSA has posted additional information and an updated list of Frequently Asked Questions here.
