Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/221538
Logbook Ferro defends hours rule Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Anne Ferro persistently defended her agency's hours of service rule Nov. 21 in a House subcommittee hearing. "No, absolutely not," she said when asked by subcommittee chairman U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) whether she would be open to undoing the rule. The rule has been "upheld by the court. It's based on sound research," she said. Members of the House's Small Business Subcommittee didn't pull any punches with Ferro, who testified at the hearing dubbed "Wrong Way: The Impact of FMCSA's Hours of Service Regulation on Small Businesses." The hearing was organized to question the agency's data and methodology, as well as the rule's effects on pay and productivity. The hearing also provided a public evidence gathering for Hanna's TRUE Safety Act bill, which he and two other congressmen introduced in the House last month. The bill would undo the hours rule change until the Government Accountability Office could study FMCSA's methodology further. Hanna and U.S. Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.) were the most vocal subcommittee members, continually trying to point out the detrimental effects the trucking industry says it's experiencing due to the rule changes. Hanna said FMCSA has acted "arrogantly and insensitively" by moving forward with the rule without first performing and using the field study required by the MAP-21 highway funding act passed last summer. The agency, he said, "rushed into" creating a rule that "is inflicting pain on people." Ferro said the agency did not rush the rule and that she stands by its methodology. The rule "absolutely is data-based, research-based, fully vetted, [with an] U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna took FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro to task in an hours of service hearing. For details on the hours rule's negative effects on pay, fatigue and productivity, see page 18. unprecedented level of transparency throughout the development of this rule process," she said. Hanna challenged that assertion, saying the agency hasn't completed the field study or taken into account the change of driver workload and how it has, in effect, pushed drivers "into hours that are more" congested. "Why is the agency so numb to the industry?" he said. Ferro insisted the agency has a great sensitivity for those in the industry, adding that Congress needs to address the issue of detention time and, more importantly, the lack of compensation for drivers when held for hours waiting to load or unload. "Inadequate compensation – 36 cents a mile for a driver running 70 hours a week – is unconscionable," she said. – James Jaillet Inspection blitz finds strong compliance Of the 20,067 commercial vehicles inspected during the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance's Brake Safety Week in September, 2,714 vehicles – 13.5 percent – were placed out of service. That rate tied May 2013 and September 2010 for the lowest out-of-service rates for CVSA inspection blitzes since they began in 1998. The out-of-service rate for brake adjustment was 1,811 vehicles, or 9 percent, near the record low of 7.1 percent in 2000. In 2012, 21,255 vehicles were inspected, and 15.3 percent were placed out of service – 9.4 percent for brake adjustment issues. This year, 1,434 vehicles, or 7.1 percent, were placed out of service for brake component problems, compared to 7.8 percent last year. – Jill Dunn 12 | Overdrive | December 2013 Logbook_1213.indd 12 11/26/13 10:26 PM