Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
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Voices channel 19 6 | Overdrive | October 2015 Visit Senior Editor Todd Dills' CHANNEL 19 BLOG at OverdriveOnline.com/channel19 Write him at tdills@randallreilly.com. If your answer is yes to all of those questions, you may have grounds to request an hours of service exemp- tion allowing more flexible split-sleeper periods. While few owner-oper- ators will meet all of those conditions, they apply – with some fine print – to an underreported exemption granted to private carrier McKee Foods in March and active through March 2016. The exemption allows more permissive splits of the 10-hour sleeper period for McKee team operators – 5/5, 4/6 and 3/7 – as long as the conditions detailed in the questions are met. In the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Adminis- tration's justification for granting the exemption, the agency responds to critics who alleged that doing so would be a "slippery slope" toward essentially indicating that "the current HOS is not suitable for acquiring the needed rest." On the validity of the ex- emption, the agency cited its study ("Investigation of the Effects of Split Sleep Sched- ules on Commercial Vehicle Driver Safety and Health") as providing "a reasonable basis for an exemption of this type, which will enable FMCSA to observe the effects of split sleep in a real-world context." Recent conversations with FMCSA lead me to believe its officials are open to con- sidering further exemptions, with conditions, that will allow them an ability to study this issue further. The rigidity of the 14- hour on-duty window in the current rule was based, in part, on science that seemed to prove dangers associated with split sleep at the time the 2003 rule was developed, according to a FMCSA spokesperson. However, science on split sleep and fatigue outcomes is changing. Read more about what's happening relative to more flexible sleeper splitting in the regs in the Aug. 13 post to the blog. Run an e-log as a team? Keep a regular weekly schedule? Shut down for at least one sundown-to-sundown period and at home for at least 48 hours every week? Would more permissive split-sleeper-period rules allow drivers to get better rest? Yes, allow drivers to split as they see fit 84% Yes, but limit it to a 4/6- hour split 10% Yes, but limit it to a 3/7-hour split 2% No, current 2/8-hour split is adequate 2% I don't know 2% Phase 2 fuel-economy standards proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administra- tion would push truck, trailer, tire and engine makers into uncharted territory for fuel efficiency. Many owner-opera- tors have wondered just how far is far enough. Steven Davenport, an independent based near Dallas, addressed that concern before regulators as part of the Aug. 27 special listening session put together by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association at the Great American Trucking Show. He argued for simplicity in rulemaking so that truckers are not "defeated by the very things that are supposed to help us." The complexity of today's truck equipment is discouraging its adop- tion, Davenport suggested, due to acquisition cost and undue mainte- nance problems. In Overdrive's recent truck-purchasing survey, almost four in 10 owner-operators buying used trucks reported emissions problems for 2010 and newer equipment, and three in 10 for 2007-'09 equipment, as their biggest maintenance issue. Catch the better part of his testimo- ny, and weigh in yourself, in the Aug. 28 post on the blog. Key to cleaner emissions: simplicity This 2013 Overdrive poll shows wide favor among readers for more flexible split-sleeper periods as a safety-enhancing option. If you keep pushing things further and further, and you don't get the technology to [focus on] what's the simplest thing – also if technology just gets pushed [by regulation] beyond what we're capable of — we don't get the environmental benefit, because peo- ple will hold onto those old trucks. — Hitechway Truck Lines owner-operator Steven Davenport at the Aug. 27 listening session