A loss in equipment capacity and rising freight increases are coming if new trucking hours of service regulations are implemented by the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) come July 1st.
A FMCSA field study analyzing the effect of new rules, particularly the 34-hour restart provisionwhich is due at the end of March, could change those new regulations. The American Trucking Associations and others have challenged the rules in court.
The FMSCA hels nationwide meetings across the USA before issuing its new rules in December 2011. Rules were finalized in early 2012, requring with full compliance by July 2013. Despite truck related accidents being the lowest ever the past two years, rules were specifically designed to improve the safety record of long-haul drivers as the result of a few accidents tied to driver fatigue.
A point of contention is many in trucking want to continue the regulation allowing 11 hours of drive time in any day, while many highway-safety activists are promoting a 10-hour maximum drive day. FMCSA maintained the 11-hour day but reduced maximum driving hours per week to 70 hours from 82, and mandated a 30-minute break after every eight hours of driving. Additonally, there is a new regulation involving the 34-hour mandated layoff at the start and end of each driver’s work week.
Under the existing rules, it is possible for a driver to include a 34-hour restart every six days. Under the new rules, only one restart is allowed per week.
In addition, under the new rules, the restart period must include two consecutive free periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.
Many in the trucking industry believe these two provisions combined are going to greatly reduce the productivity of drivers. For example, a solo driver currently making 26 cross-country round trips per year would be limited to a maximum of 24 coast-to-coast trips under these new rules. That will mean either a 7 percent drop in capacity or the need to hire additional drivers to maximize the use of the tractor-trailers. Both scenarios would mean higher costs.
The new restart provisions is believed by many to adversely affect on-truck owner operatiors or small fleets even more than larger carriers because the smaller operators are the back bone of produce trucking.
For example, middle-of-the-night East Coast unloading or produce is commonplace. If a driver ends his trip unloading produce at an East Coast terminal in the middle of the night, which is common, and then begins his restart period, he’ll be off the road for more than 48 hours because he has to include two consecutive middle-of-the-night free periods.
A truck making a 2 a.m. delivery to the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market, for example, on a Monday morning, marks the end of a cross-country long haul. He will then have to park his truck the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday before scheduling a pickup after 5 .a.m. Wednesday.
Under the old rules, if it was 4 a.m. by the time he unloaded and got back to the terminal, he could begin driving again 34 hours later, or 2 p.m. on Tuesday. Over time, these delays will result in fewer cross-country trips.
The FMCSA claims that off-duty breaks, including the amended 34-hour restart rule, provides the greatest safety benefit and will result in fewer crashes and fewer highway deaths.