Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/737157
Hours of service While the 34-hour restart provision in HOS rules has been suspended, fl eet owners are still concerned over its possible reinstatement pending FMCSA's release of the results of its second fi eld study, according to ATRI's Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry report. A majority of fl eets want to see the suspension of the restart provision continued until there is proof of the economic and safety benefi ts of the rule. 2 0 1 6 V 2 | B U L L D O G | 1 9 CSA Among the ATRI respondents, worries about their Compliance, Safety and Accountability scores showed up as the second most pressing concern. There is ongoing worry that the Behavioral Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASIC) used to judge fl eets are not good predictors of a carrier's crash risk. Another issue is uneven enforcement by various states as well as disparities in reporting CSA scores. The economy The U.S. economy continues to grow at a very slow pace, but is weighed down by an overvalued U.S. dollar, a growing trade defi cit, high retail inventories and sinking commodity prices, says Dan Meckstroth, economist at Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation, speaking at the 2016 FTR Conference. He thinks those factors are enough to push the economy into a recession. But even if that does not happen, Noel Perry says, "Late in recovery cycles, transportation tends to perform below the level of GDP." His advice: "Don't bet the farm on growth unless you're ready to steal market share from competitors." Truck parking Tied closely to HOS, "The growing scarcity of available truck parking creates a dangerous situation for truck drivers who are often forced to drive beyond allowable HOS rules or park in undesignated and, in many cases, unsafe locations," the ATRI report said. Some fl eets are reporting productivity losses: When looking for a legal place to park, 39 percent of drivers said they spent more than one hour and 83 percent said they took longer than 30 minutes doing so, according to a group that is seeking funding for a Regional Truck Parking Information Management System. Put in monetary terms according to a study, "Taking the roughly $120 per hour operational cost of truck and applying it across the nearly 400,000 national parking events that occur on a daily basis, the economic cost of 83 percent of drivers spending 30 minutes or more each day looking to fi nd parking is over $7 billion annually." CSA Among the ATRI respondents, worries about their Compliance, Safety and Accountability scores showed up as the second most pressing concern. There is ongoing worry that the Behavioral Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASIC) used to judge fl eets are not good predictors of a carrier's crash risk. Another issue is uneven enforcement by various states as well as disparities in reporting CSA scores.