Executives Say HOS Cut Adds Costs, Aggravates Shortage of Drivers

WASHINGTON — A federal move to cut truck drivers’ working hours would be very costly and exacerbate a shortage of drivers, while putting more trucks on the road, a panel of industry executives told Congress last week.

Ed Nagle, CEO of Nagle Cos., a Toledo, Ohio-based refrigerated carrier, said two provisions of the proposed hours-of-service rule — one that calls for cutting driver hours to 10 from 11 and another modifying the 34-hour restart provision — would cut his company’s ability to generate revenues by 17%.

“For every truck, we need to generate $4,500 per week plus fuel to meet fixed overhead,” Nagle told members of the House government reform committee’s regulatory subcommittee on Nov. 30. “The cost per truck is $75 per hour currently. With the proposed change to 50 hours a week, our fixed cost becomes $90 per hour, with nothing more than the stroke of a pen.”

Glen Keysaw, executive director of transportation and logistics for Associated Food Stores Inc., Salt Lake City, said his company would pay 3% more for shipping if the hours proposal becomes final. That would trigger higher food prices for customers, he said.

Jesse David, senior vice president at Edgeworth Economics, Washington, told the committee that while the hours rule would likely reduce truck-related fatalities, it also would be costly.

The hours proposal from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration leans toward cutting driving hours to 10 and modifying the 34-hour restart by requiring it to include two rest periods of at least six hours and mandating that they fall between midnight and 6 a.m. (1-3, p. 1).

The agency said it plans to announce its final hours rule by the end of the year.

Anne Ferro, FMCSA administrator, told the committee that reducing hours would cut fatigue-related crashes and that preliminary truck-involved fatality numbers show an uptick in 2010, “approaching 4,000.” Roughly 500 of those fatalities, or about 13%, were related to a fatigued driver, Ferro said.

Ferro said the agency estimates that the proposed 10-hour maximum would save 49 lives annually.

“Crash rates still remain at historic lows, which is a tremendous outcome — but not even close to being low enough,” Ferro said.

David Osiecki, American Trucking Associations senior vice president of policy and regulatory affairs, declined comment on the new estimate of fatalities involving trucks, saying it was not final number.

“Fatigue is an issue,” Osiecki told Transport Topics. “But the size of the issue is not nearly what the government is saying.”

Truck driver fatigue is a complex issue and requires “far smarter solutions” than revising the hours rule, Osiecki said.

There were 3,380 truck-involved fatalities in 2009, according to FMCSA’s final statistical report. Fatal truck crashes have declined by more than 30% since 2007, Ferro said.

The 2010 preliminary truck fatality data cited by Ferro comes from FMCSA’s Motor Carrier Management Information System, which is fed by state law enforcement agencies, an FMCSA spokeswoman said.

“The initial 2010 data on fatal truck crashes indicate that the downward trend reversed in the second half of the year as the economy improved,” Ferro told the subcommittee. “Recent crash reports provide a painful reminder of the need to continue doing everything we can to improve truck safety.”

However, several Republican members of the committee questioned the validity of a new rule, when truck-related fatalities were at historic lows and the economy was still in a fragile state.

“It’s a solution in search of a problem,” said subcommittee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Jordan accused federal regulators of “playing games with numbers” and using “fuzzy math” to bolster their case for toughening the hours rule.

A safety advocate on the witness panel testified that, while cost is a consideration, fatigue is a major factor in truck crashes and that the proposed rule would save lives.

“Despite the decline in recent years, large truck fatalities still took a toll of 3,380 lives and caused 73,000 injuries in 2009,” Henry Jasny, vice president and general counsel of the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, told the subcommittee.

Ferro also testified that in opposing changes to the current HOS regulations, the motor carrier industry has assumed that fatigue-related crashes, the target of the hours rule, have declined sharply, along with crashes as a whole.

“Many commercial drivers are still not getting enough rest and breaks under the current rule,” she said.

In a related development, FMCSA said last week it expects to complete work on the final HOS rule, which is currently being reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, within 30 days.

At a news conference by rule supporters before the hearing, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), ranking member on the subcommittee and the son of a truck driver, said regulators and members of Congress should not worry about how much the rule will cost the industry.