Just when we thought the hours-of-service (HOS) issue was finally resolved satisfactorily to balance safety with productivity, it appears it is not. Federal regulators have started hearings on potential plans to rewrite controversial hours-of-service rules for truck drivers. Several public “listening sessions” have now been hosted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to address topics such as driver rest and on-duty time, sleeper berth use and the impact of current rules on loading and unloading times.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) opening this dialogue up has many shippers who rely on trucking on edge, as well as their motor carrier partners. It also is of significant concern to NASSTRAC, a shipper-based industry association that provides advocacy and education to transportation, logistics, and supply chain professionals.



Background on the issue

The Obama administration committed the DOT to propose new hours-of-service rules last October, heading off a Teamsters union legal challenge to Bush-era rules. In 2000, the FMSCA proposed significant new restrictions on the number of hours that drivers for commercial motor carriers may work, and the length of rest periods between workweeks during which they may not be disturbed. The trucking industry through the American Trucking Associations (ATA), and many trucking companies and drivers opposed the proposed rules, arguing that they imposed excessive restrictions on the ability of drivers to work and earn their livings, and were not necessary to promote highway safety.

NASSTRAC participated in the FMCSA proceedings in support of the trucking industry, after determining that safety was likely to improve with less restrictive rules that interfere less with efficient dispatch, driving and shipping practices. In 2003, FMCSA adopted improved hours-of-service (HOS) rules.

As for litigation, since 2003, several safety advocates who supported the rules proposed in 2000 have challenged the 2003 rules in court, obtaining two remands to FMCSA for further analysis. NASSTRAC has continued to support the trucking industry by filing comments with the FMCSA, by intervening in court appeals in support of FMCSA decisions, and going on joint court briefs with ATA.

Public Citizen and other advocacy groups are currently in the court of appeals for the third time, in Case No. 09-1094. NASSTRAC has again intervened in support of FMCSA and the current rules, and will again join ATA in filing a brief supporting those rules.



Considerations

Everyone supports highway safety, including shippers and carriers. However, safety considerations must be balanced with other considerations.

As it happens, most highway fatalities do not involve trucks, and most fatalities that do involve trucks are due to the fault of the driver of the car, not the driver of the truck. More fundamentally important is the fact that fatalities have fallen during the period since 2003, when the 2003 HOS rules have been in effect.

In addition, the HOS debate involves not just safety, but also other factors. Excessively restricted duty hours adversely affect drivers, by reducing their income, and by increasing the risk that their hours will run out and they will be stranded far from home, forced to rest in a motel or sleeper berth.

Excessively restricted hours-of-service also adversely affect trucking industry productivity, by reducing equipment utilization and the ability of truckers to maximize efficiency. Shippers, including NASSTRAC members, are adversely affected when trucking industry productivity is reduced. These adverse impacts on shippers adversely affect the economy and consumers of goods shipped by truck.



NASSTRAC’s position

NASSTRAC will continue to support reasonable hours-of-service rules that appropriately balance the interest of all Americans in highway safety with the need of shippers, consumers, and the economy for an efficient, productive trucking industry, and the need of drivers for adequate rest and incomes and schedules that do not exacerbate chronic shortages of professional drivers.

If it is shown that revisions in the current HOS rules will serve these goals better than current rules, NASSTRAC will support such revisions. wt



Brian Everett is the executive director of NASSTRAC. For more information or to join this association, visit www.NASSTRAC.org.