Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/904267
26 | Overdrive | November 2017 BEYOND HOURS N early eight in 10 truck operators say they feel pressured by either their company or the hours of service rule to drive tired on at least a weekly basis, according to recent Overdrive polling. Almost half reported driving fatigued on a daily basis. Those numbers highlight a deficiency in the federal government's primary tool – HOS limits – for dealing with potential driver fatigue. While requiring drivers to take at least 10 off-duty hours out of every 24, the regulations can't control the off-duty period. They don't account for a restless night's sleep, undetected sleep apnea or foolish time management. In the fatal Walmart truck crash involving comedian Tracy Morgan, the truck driver was legal on hours even though he hadn't slept for more than 24 hours prior to the wreck. Fatigue-monitoring technology prom- ises to drastically narrow the often vast gap between the government's formula for alertness and the reality of frequent fatigue. Such systems applied to individ- ual drivers could theoretically replace the clock-based system that attempts to cover all drivers. The systems could help usher in a regulatory protocol where "drivers with good habits go further, longer," says Richard Kaplan, chief executive officer of Curaegis, which makes a wearable device that yields predictive and real-time fatigue assessments. "Drivers who aren't as healthy or who stay out all night or whatever are not able to stay out so long." While the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is studying some of these technologies, it's years away from considering an HOS revision that would even begin to incorporate them. Things are happening much faster in the private sector. Dashcam systems with fatigue-monitoring potential are coming to market rapidly, and a variety of systems that don't use cameras are starting to make headway in trucking. Fleet customers are getting an increas- ingly accurate picture of drivers' fatigue levels, which never has been available. Countering that, though, is potential driv- er resistance over privacy issues, especially with driver-facing dashcams. Don Osterberg, formerly safety head with Schneider National, well knows the challenges fleets face, as well as the huge effect fatigue has on safety. He's an advis- er today for SmartDrive, one of the lead- ing road-facing and dual-camera systems. "There are technologies and programs that we could operationalize today if we were serious about getting after this prob- lem of fatigued driving," Osterberg says. Such systems could measure driver fatigue levels during a duty shift or just before it and do much better than the "outdated" hours reg, says John Elliott, president of Michigan-based expediting fleet Load One. Cameras, performance monitors "and biometrics will better deter- mine a driver's available hours," he says. Elliott envisions a system where a driver approaching a maximum limit under current hours regs "might be good to drive for six more hours" based on current data. Another driver in the same situation, however, "might only be good More technologies than ever can monitor driver fatigue. Are they destined to upend the traditional approach to hours of service? BY TODD DILLS AND JAMES JAILLET REGULATIONS HOW OFTEN DO YOU FEEL FORCED TO DRIVE TIRED WHEN YOU OTHERWISE WOULD BE RESTING? It's a daily occurrence 43% At least once a week, if not more 34% Never 9% Very rarely 8% Once or twice a month 6%