Driver Restart Data Collection Concluded, FMCSA Says
It now enters an analysis phase, and FMCSA said by year's end it expects to complete the congressionally mandated study that will assess how the HOS restart provisions are affecting the operational, safety, health and fatigue of drivers.
The agency said the study team collected data to compare work schedules of drivers and analyze such safety-critical events as crashes, near-crashes and crash-relevant conflicts; operator fatigue/alertness; and short-term health outcomes of drivers who operate under the HOS restart provisions that were in effect between July 1, 2013 and Dec. 15, 2014.
The restart provision for truck drivers has been suspended since mid-December and will remain suspended until FMCSA provides Congress with its study reviewing the rule’s safety provisions. The rule requires truck drivers to take off two consecutive periods of 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. during a 34-hour restart.
Congress required FMCSA to review the rule’s impact in response to industrywide concerns that the it was forcing drivers to work during heavily congested daytime hours.
FMCSA said that more than 220 drivers from a variety of fleet sizes and operations have provided a substantial amount of study data as they drove their normal, revenue-producing routes throughout the course of the study period.
The study has captured data from more than 3,000 driver duty cycles, more than 75,000 driver alertness tests and 22,000 days of driver sleep data, the agency said.
FMCSA said in a statement that it does not have preliminary study findings but is “pleased with the high volume of data collected from participating drivers and expects this data will help inform future activities by the agency as well as the current study.”
