Would you like to make an impact? We have heard this before, in fact, many times before, and often it precludes a statement or phrase that encourages someone to get involved or give money. Nine times out of ten, many of these are just carnival barkers seemingly pitching snake oil, yet this one is different. Why? Because getting involved is what got us to this point in the first place. I am talking about the recent changes to the hours-of-service regulations and the implementation of a study commissioned by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to examine the 34-hour restart provision.
Why do I encourage everyone to get involved? Data, data, data… the king of rulemaking is data and the agency wants drivers to participate in a five-month, on-the-job research study to compare fatigue and safety performance levels of drivers who take two nighttime rest periods during their 34-hour restart break compared to those who take less than two nighttime rest periods during their restart break. Not only are they looking for data to support a rule that makes sense, they are willing to pay for it. Drivers will receive a stipend for agreeing to participate in this study and the hope is to find more than 106 drivers who are willing to take part.
I mention the 106-driver study because that is one of the reasons we got started down this path in the first place. The most recent (I could say new, but it would inevitably confuse me) hours-of-service regulations were studied at length by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), and the myriad of problems that it discovered was astounding. Since my word count for this column is not nearly enough to go into the issues that ATRI revealed in its review of the rule and many of you know the results anyway, let’s just say that the rule, which is based on the 106 drivers that the agency studied, was muddled to begin with. And this brings us to where we are right now, with an opportunity to set the record straight.
The Driver Restart Study is looking to compare data from five months of driver work schedules to assess safety critical events, operator fatigue and level of alertness, and driver health. Each one of these issues is important and relevant to the policies of TCA. The findings of the study should help improve the industry’s knowledge of driver fatigue and alertness management and aid in creating an hours-of-service rule that makes sense and helps our driving fleet by providing rules based on knowledge, not rules based on a figurative shot in the dark.
We, as an industry, have spoken with a unified voice when it comes to this rule—and we should continue to do so. The king of rulemaking is data and we, as an industry, possess that. While we cannot prepackage our data into a nicely gift-wrapped bag, we can provide it in the rawest form to a group that specializes in compounding, analyzing, and explaining that data to us. In other words, FMCSA and its partner organizations like the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute specialize in deciphering this data and promulgating a rule that will hopefully make sense.
Who knows? Maybe by the time all is said and done, we will work under hours-of-service regulations that will truly serve our industry and the people we deliver to.
David Heller, CDS, is director of safety and policy for the Truckload Carriers Assn. He is responsible for interpreting and communicating industry-related regulations and legislation to the membership of TCA. Send comments to [email protected].
