Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/53821
the road and the reality of shipper and receiver locations." That sentiment is echoed by independent Mike Crawford, 's 2010 Trucker of the Year, who runs long-haul on a dedicated contract with Prime Inc.'s logistics arm. Drivers "always get the same answer from regulators: 'You just have to plan better,' " he says. "But we can't always plan around shippers, manufacturers, carriers and these other entities." Limiting the restart to one per week will also disrupt other operations. The current restart for cross-country haulers is less a tool for maximizing hours and more one that provides great operational flexibility, says Jay Thompson, president of Transportation Business Associates. "They run across the country and often reset on either end, whether [they're] close on hours limits or not," he says. Restarting around shipper/receiver delays ensures the driver will be able to get back across the nation without a delay on the return trip, he notes. Without that flexibility, restart changes "could have a big impact on the most productive truckers," those running above 2,300 miles a week, he adds. The impact of restart changes on weekly drive time for operators Interpreting the new rule can be challenging Interpreting all the nuances of the hours of service final rule isn't always easy, says Rich Wilson of Trans Products/Trans Services, a safety services company. That's no surprise, considering the document is 212 pages long. Wilson gives as an example the change in definition of on duty time to exclude time resting in a parked truck. The rigidity of the 14-hour clock remains in place with few exceptions, but Wilson charged that FMCSA hadn't directly addressed practical questions about how parked rest might relate to it. "If I write on my log, 'Parked,' does that stretch my 14-hour clock out? Do I pick up all this time because I'm resting?" he asked. In FMCSA's justification of the rule, the agency spells out a scenario that addresses this question, and the answer is no: "With the 14-hour limit, it is unlikely that either the carrier or driver will want the driver to spend extended periods off duty in a parked truck during the duty day because all of the time counts against the 14-hour period." But on other questions, Wilson said in early January, "I'm just waiting to get some definitive confirmation on what is right or wrong because I can't even go out and teach this rule right now." The challenge in understanding the rule's implications is just as great for owner-operators. 2007 Trucker of the Year Henry Albert read the explanation of the occasional inability at roadside to verify driver compliance with the limitation of one restart every 168 hours (seven days), included in the rule. He asked himself: If drivers are required to keep in the truck seven past days of logs, plus the current day, what exactly is the problem with enforcement? Albert and others then questioned the intent of the restart, and whether it was truly limited to "once every 168 hours." If a driver begins a 34-hour restart period at 11 p.m. on Friday, would he be able to begin another one as early as 11 p.m. on the following Friday — 168 hours after beginning the restart? Or would he have to wait until 9 a.m. Sunday morning — 168 hours after concluding the restart? FMCSA points out that an answer's spelled out in the rule to allow for another restart when "168 or more consecutive hours have passed since the beginning of the last such off duty period." That answer, of course, is buried in the language of the regulatory code in the Federal Register, not exactly easy to find. Then there are areas where the rule can be clear, while failing to address certain situations. For example, Linda Caffee, who hauls team with her husband, Bob, notes that the requirement for a 30-minute break after eight hours of driving holds the potential to disrupt operations on certain high security loads. "Many loads require dual driver protection, and this requires one driver to be on duty at all times watching the freight," she says. "In order to take the half-hour break, the other driver would have to come on duty, which would start their clock," if the driver could even legally do so. Regarding that break, the new rule allows only haulers of certain classes of explosives to "count on-duty time spent attending the CMV, but doing no other on-duty work, toward the break." However, explosives do not constitute the only freight where the carrier or shipper requires on-duty driver attendance of the load, Caffee notes. "The only way on these loads is to go into a safe haven and hand over the control of the load to an observer," she says. Safe havens, typically a carrier yard or other secure facility, will typically have "a fence and a full-time guard." Will the 30-minute breaks thus create a market for safe havens on the highways? Caffee asks. "Who is going to pay for the extra miles, the extra time" to get to the safe havens? "If there comes to be a market for this, there will also be a fee associated." 22 OVERDRIVE FEBRUARY 2012 Rest in pieces Ov er driv e Ov er driv e