Senate Committee Approves Ferro to Head FMCSA

Is Changing the Hours of Service Rules the Real Answer to Highway Safety?

An excellent article from Fleet Owner Magazine. Former Administrator John Hill is quoted; "I am a little surprised that there’s not more focus on a effort to mandate EOBRs [electronic on board recorders] as that technology would do a lot more to improve highway safety than just changing the current 11-hour drive time limit back to 10 hours. I think EOBRs is where we need to go to really improve safety.”

That's something you LoadTrek.net users already know. Perhaps they should interview safe and successful fleets who effectively use solid technology?

Rules May or May Not Change after Review - Anon FMCSA Official

The Federal Motor Carrier Administration plans to reconsider—and perhaps revise—its hours-of-service (HOS) rule for commercial drivers. This action puts on hold a federal court challenge by a coalition of interest groups including Public Citizen, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, The Truck Safety Coalition, and the Teamsters.

As part of the agreement, FMCSA has nine months to submit its review to the White House and up to 21 months to issue a new final rule to replace the current one. Until that time, the current rule remains in effect.

Issued during the Bush administration, the current HOS regulation contains the 11-hour driving cycle first announced in 2003. That was an increase in truck driving hours from the previous rule. Under the current rule, truckers can drive 11 hours a day as part of a 14-hour workday and to refresh their weekly allotment of hours by taking a 34-hour break. The Court of Appeals for the Washington DC Circuit struck down the current rule in 2004, but Congress revived it as part of the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2004.

An official who asked not to be identified said the move was “procedural,” and the agreement does not bind FMCSA to a particular outcome. The official said it is possible the rule won’t change after the review, but warned that it could.

Teamsters Respond to FMCSA's Reconsideration of Hours-of-Service Regulations

After years of legal challenges, the final rule was published last November. But earlier this year, Public Citizen, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Truck Safety Coalition, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Court to overturn the HOS regulations. This week the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) entered into a settlement with these groups, whereby FMCSA has nine months to review its current rule and submit a notice of proposed rulemaking on this issue to the White House, and up to 21 months to issue a final rule to replace the current one.

In a press release, Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said, “We will continue to push for a rule that protects trucks drivers, instead of the greed of the trucking industry. Longer hours behind the wheel are dangerous for our members and the driving public.”

ATA Responds to FMCSA's Reconsideration of Hours-of-Service Regulations

As the American Trucking Associations (ATA) has communicated for the last five years, the hours-of-service (HOS) regulations, as they are currently constructed, are good safety rules. They are working and the proof is in the industry's safety performance since they took effect in 2004.

"Safety in the trucking industry has greatly improved while operating under the current hours-of-service rules," said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. "Over the past five years we've seen a strong decline in truck-involved crashes on our nation's highways."

Figures from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) clearly demonstrate that the trucking industry is now the safest it has been since the DOT began keeping crash statistics in 1975. The number of truck-involved fatalities on our highways has decreased by 19 percent since the new HOS rules took effect. The number of injuries has decreased by 13 percent since 2004. These substantial safety improvements came at a time when the number of registered large trucks operating on our highways increased by hundreds of thousands of trucks and the number of miles driven by large trucks increased by more than 2 billion miles.

ATA looks forward to participating in the upcoming rulemaking process to further demonstrate how the current safety-based HOS rules are working and why they should be maintained.

The American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of other trucking groups, industry-related conferences, and its 50 affiliated state trucking associations, ATA represents more than 37,000 members covering every type of motor carrier in the United States.

Source: American Trucking Associations

FMCSA to rewrite hours-of-service rules

I have some news that is a bit surprising - the FMCSA has evidently decided to settle the pending litigation from the IBT, Public Citizen and others - rather than fight. The commercial drivers' HOS will be completely rewritten. This is of highest importance and could have dramatic consequences for our industry and the economy in general - it all depends on how it comes down. The first word I received is from the New York State Motor Truck Association. Their message is below. There will be lots of news forthcoming.

"NYSMTA has just learned that The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), in response to a legal challenge to the current hours of service (HOS) regulations, will completely rewrite the 2008 HOS regulations. The agency will issue a proposed rulemaking within 9 months and a new Final Rule in less than two years.

This settlement is in response to a legal challenge brought against FMCSA by Public Citizen, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Truck Safety Coalition and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. In March 2009, the groups asked a D.C. Appeals court to throw out the HOS rule. The March 2009 challenge was the third challenge to the Bush Administration’s HOS rules.

At the time of this notice, the Department of Transportation had not released any comments about the settlement. NYSMTA will continue to update you as more information becomes available."

Things you Should Know About a Compliance Review

Here is a really good article by Eddie Roman. I have worked with a number of clients who are going through compliance reviews in the last 4 weeks. It's never fun, but a lot better when you are prepared.

Top Issues in the Trucking Industry

Top Issues in the Trucking Industry

By David R. Butcher

The trucking industry's not-for-profit research institute this week unveiled its list of the top 10 critical issues facing the North American trucking industry.

The United States economy depends on trucks to deliver nearly 70 percent of all freight transported annually in the U.S., accounting for $671 billion worth of manufactured and retail goods transported by truck in the U.S. alone.

"Add $295 billion in truck trade with Canada and $195.6 billion in truck trade with Mexico and it becomes apparent that any disruption in truck traffic will lead to rapid economic instability," the American Trucking Associations (ATA) says.

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), the trucking industry's not-for-profit research institute, this week unveiled its list of the top 10 critical issues facing the North American trucking industry.

Topping the list: the economy, which debuted on the ATRI's annual list last year.

In 2009, more than half of respondents (52 percent) ranked the nation's economy as the No. 1 issue with which the trucking industry must contend. Truck transportation is one of the first sectors to slow as orders for goods and shipments dry up during an economic downturn, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Before the financial collapse slammed the trucking industry, the sector enjoyed year-on-year growth. In 2007, trucks transported 57.8 percent of the value of trade between the U.S. and Canada, up 3.4 percent from the previous year, and transported 66.2 percent of the value of trade between the U.S. and Mexico, up 4.8 percent, according to the ATA's 2008-2009 American Trucking Trends report.

Analysts see much different conditions for 2009 and beyond, as a large number of small trucking operators have already gone out of business since the recession officially began in December 2007, logistics analyst Transport Intelligence says (via Supply Chain Brain).

Economists believe that freight volumes will not lead the way out of the downturn, as demand for goods has declined quicker than in previous recessions and existing supplies of both raw and manufactured goods remain high.

Government regulation climbed two places from last year to become the second most critical issue for the trucking industry in 2009.

"This year's ascension of government regulation could be attributed to the changes in the national political landscape and election results at the federal, state and local levels," the ATRI report says. "Many industry stakeholders anticipate a new era of costly government mandates."

Fuel, a perennial concern for the trucking industry, dropped from No. 1 in 2008 (and 2005) to No. 3 on this year's list. Commercial trucks consume 53.9 billion gallons of fuel each year. About 39 billion gallons, or 73 percent, is diesel, according to the ATA. Reflecting the ongoing volatility of energy prices, fuel has remained a top-three issue for five consecutive years.

Until several years ago, the average price of diesel fuel was usually lower than the average price of gasoline. Since September 2004, however, "the price of diesel fuel has been generally higher than the price of regular gasoline all year round for several reasons," according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

After peaking at more than $4.70 per gallon in July 2008, the national diesel fuel average declined 45 percent by September 2009. In its Short-Term Energy and Winter Fuels Outlook, released this week, the EIA projects diesel-fuel retail prices, which averaged $2.63 per gallon in August and September, will average $2.60 during the fourth quarter of 2009.

Congestion/Highway infrastructure rose two places to No. 4 this year. Congestion and an overstressed infrastructure continue to worsen, slowing freight delivery, creating unpredictability in supply chains, increasing the cost of consumer goods and altogether diminishing the competitiveness of U.S. businesses.

"The underlying factors behind this issue are becoming more prevalent; ongoing congestion impacts, deteriorating highway infrastructure and increasing interest in dedicated truck lanes and higher-productivity trucks have all worked together to put this issue at its highest level to date," the ATRI report makes clear.

According to The Road Information Project, 36 percent of the nation's major urban highways are congested, while the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2009 infrastructure findings show that one-third of America's major roads are in poor or mediocre condition.

Rules regulating commercial driver hours-of-service (HOS) remain in the fifth spot this year. The ATRI notes that HOS has been a top-10 issue since 2005, having peaked at No.1 two years ago.

"Given the costs incurred by the industry in adapting operations to several HOS rules changes since 2005, the industry is closely monitoring HOS and related EOBR issues," according to the new report.

Rounding out the top 10 critical issues in the trucking industry this year: commercial driver issues (driver shortages); environmental issues (anti-idling regulations and equipment mandates); tolls/highway funding (state and federal shortfalls and GPS-based mileage taxes); truck size/weight (proposed limitation revisions); and onboard truck technology (Electronic Onboard Recorders, in particular).

In addition to analysis of each trucking industry priority, the ATRI's survey also proposes potential strategies for addressing each issue.