Overdrive

July 2015

Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info

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Voices 10 | Overdrive | July 2015 Toward a sensible hours rule The hours of service rule continues to be at the top of trucking safety conversations after the congressional rollback of the 34-hour restart restric- tions. The House version of the fiscal year 2016 Department of Trans- portation appropriations bill further reinforced the rollback with clarifying language that says the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration must demonstrate safety efficacy with a real-world study before restrictions are reimplemented. President Obama, meanwhile, threatened to veto the funding bill. He noted, among other things, the bill's supposed prevention of "da- ta-driven changes that would improve safety for all travelers by addressing truck driver fatigue." After soliciting ideas for hours improvements, Overdrive asked readers to select up to five improvements that, combined, might produce the greatest safety net result. The top five, with some grouping of individual items from the poll, are shown here. Don Milz voiced his support for No. 2: "Keep the 14-hour total on-duty hours per day, but allow the driver to stop the clock for resting in the sleep- er when tired, sick, in traffic, waiting to load and etc.," wrote the 39-year trucking veteran. "I think I know when I need a break." Too often, as another caller noted, drivers' time is eaten up at loading docks where shippers and receivers have little respect for the value of drivers' time as they wait, unpaid, to load or unload. Such problems present scheduling pressures as the 14-hour clock forces drivers to make undesirable choices, such as pressing ahead through a metro rush hour or into bad weather. The hours rule isn't the only tool to combat such problems. Related items such as increasing regulatory authority over shippers and receiv- ers also might help. It's notable that the Obama administration's Grow America Act highway bill draft includes language that would require carriers to pay at least feder- al minimum wage for uncompen- sated waits. The caller suggested a minimum of $30/hour for company drivers and $110 for owner-oper- ators/fleets negotiating their own contracts for freight. Providing an hours rule that rewards safety with flexibility, while moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach, was the option favored by Fred Count, commenting at Over- driveOnline.com. His three-tier system: "Rule A – minimum 5 years' experience and at least 3 years with no tickets, no accidents = ELD use with no hours restrictions. Rule B – 1-5 years' experience and/or 1 ticket and/or non-chargeable accident = pre-2004 [pre-14-hour] rules. Rule C – less than 1 year of experience and/ or more than 1 ticket or a chargeable accident = today's rules. "This would seriously promote safety, because everyone would try like heck to get on the A system. Just a thought, but what do I know? I'm just a 50-year-old 24-year experienced driver with my last ticket or accident over 9 years ago." THE HOURS OF SERVICE WISH LIST TOP 5 IMPROVEMENTS 1) Roll back 2013-implemented changes (combines removing man- dated 30-minute break and leaving suspension of 34-hour restart restrictions in place). 2) Loosen rigidity of 14-hour on-duty maximum by allowing extensions with mid-period rest (or revert to pre-14-hour-rule regulations). 3) Give FMCSA enforcement power over shippers and receivers relative to detention time. 4) Adopt segment-specific or experience-tiered rules away from one-size-fits-all approach. 5) Bring company drivers under fair-labor protections with over- time-pay requirements. "Nice discussion, but so what?" commented "Joe Schmoe" at OverdriveOnline.com. "Doesn't mean anything to the FMCSA, DOT, Congress or the White House." Equally skeptical – or not – about such dreaming? Weigh in at OverdriveOnline.com, search "Hours of Service wish list." Todd Dills

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