Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/725427
64 commercial carrier journal | september 2016 BUSINESS: STOKING THE LOG FIRES adding the 30-minute-break require- ment. In 2015, 30-minute-break violations accounted for around 20 percent of total hours violations written in that state. That share was a decline, but Arkansas increased its hours violations elsewhere, climbing far above the next closest state. Thompson says his state program's emphasis on hours might best be viewed in the context of an FMCSA request to all states in the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program. Most states participate in MCSAP, meaning they accept grant funding from the federal government, but with certain strings attached. In recent years, FMCSA asked those states to do at least a third of their inspections on the driver only, which is Level 3 in the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's standard inspection levels. Thompson, CVSA president, says that FMCSA "saw contributing factors [in crashes] were often driver error." Oregon has not participated in MCSAP for the past two years, but McKane echoes such thoughts in the context of more states jumping up the hours rankings. Such states are "realizing that when a truck causes a crash, it is usually the driver that fails, not the equipment," he says. Thompson adds, "I think you're going to see that decrease [in viola- tions] with ELDs. … Once we get to the point where every commercial vehicle is equipped with an ELD, I don't see how the violations won't decrease." For a small fleet concerned about hours violations, ELDs might be the best short-term tool toward elimi- nating problems, given the dynamic Thompson notes. McKane, however, stresses that Oregon's "most common hours violation is falsification of records of duty status. Some of these are drivers who simply don't fill out a log book well. Others are drivers who are trying to squeeze in a few extra hours." His advice for carriers both large and small: "Ensure drivers under- stand how to complete a record of duty status, either paper or elec- tronic." And most importantly, he adds: "Be honest. It is very difficult to cheat with your log book today and not get caught. A good inspector has a readily available supply of data points to use to verify the validity of a log book." McKane's state records time and location of every truck weighing there. "That is just one data point used by Oregon and any other state that requests the data." 2011-'12: 500,046 annual violations** Montana 23.5% Oregon 22.4% Wyoming 20.4% Utah 18.5% South Dakota 17.4% New Mexico 17.3% 2013: 515,460 annual violations Oregon 24.6% Wyoming 23.7% Arkansas 21.7% Georgia 20.9% Montana 18.2% Arizona 17.1% Iowa 17.1% 2014: 534,926 annual violations Arkansas 29% North Dakota 24.4% Wyoming 24.3% Oregon 23.1% Kansas 22.6% Indiana 18.7% Iowa 18.2% South Dakota 17.8% 2015: 485,232 annual violations Arkansas 35.6% Wyoming 23% North Dakota 22.8% Oregon 22.1% Colorado 21.9% Indiana 21.1% Kansas 20.7% Iowa 17.8% South Dakota 17.5% Nevada 15.8% Percentages indicate the share of hours-of-service violations within each state's total issued violations. While annual violation totals rose in each of the first three analyzed periods, reaching an apex in 2014 (a full year in which the hours-of-service changes to the restart and the 30-minute break were in effect), they declined in the most recent year. However, the number of states rapidly increasing their focus on hours in driver inspections is apparent and did not abate in 2015. Since CCJ's CSA's Data Trail series began with analysis of the 2011-12 period in 2013, there have never been as many states where hours violations account for more than 20 percent of all violations. **Average annual nationwide hours-of-service violations over the first two years of the CSA program. Have you received an hours violation in the past two years? OverdriveOnline.com poll No 65% Yes, both of the above 15% Yes, a violation other than 'form and manner' 5% Yes, a 'form and manner' violation 12% Not sure 3% About a third of CCJ readers reported receiving some kind of hours violation over the two years prior to this poll, conducted last month, whether a minor 'form and manner' violation or a more serious infraction. 20% HOURS-OF-SERVICE VIOLATION LEADERS