Fleets Make Last-Ditch Hill Effort to Delay July 1 HOS Changes

This story appears in the June 24 print edition of Transport Topics.

WASHINGTON — Trucking industry officials made a last-ditch plea to Congress to stop implementation of changes to the hours-of-service rule scheduled to take effect July 1 until the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration shows those would improve highway safety.

In testimony last week on behalf of American Trucking Associations to the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, Steve Williams, chairman and CEO of Maverick USA, said the changes were “unnecessary and can best be described as ‘a solution in search of a problem.’ ”

The former ATA chairman asked for the changes to be delayed until FMCSA completes two actions Congress mandated in last year’s highway funding law known as MAP-21: a study of the new restrictions to the 34-hour restart and a mandate that all carriers use electronic logging devices.

Many subcommittee members said they agreed with Williams’ sentiments, but none suggested they were ready to take steps to delay implementation of the changes.

“Congress should postpone the effective date of the new hours-of-service rules until the restart study is completed and the results are reported to Congress,” Williams said in his testimony June 18. “Given the fast approaching effective date of the rules, however, we realize that may not be possible. We certainly hope Congress will require FMCSA to modify the rule based on statistically valid findings from FMCSA’s MAP-21 directed field study of the restart changes.”

As of July 1, commercial drivers will be limited to using the optional restart provision of the rule to reset their weekly driving limits once every seven days, and the restart will have to include two rest periods from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Drivers also will have to take a 30-minute break before driving eight consecutive hours in any shift.

Williams said “productivity losses are inevitable” from the rule changes, as are higher operating costs. At the same time, he disputed FMCSA’s assertion that “health benefits and some very modest safety benefits will offset these industry and societal costs.”

Williams referenced a study from the American Transportation Research Institute released last week that found the restart provisions will cost the industry $189 million annually — $322 million more than the $133 million benefit that FMCSA had estimated.

“One thing is clear: FMCSA’s motivation to change these rules is not based on evidence of a real problem,” said Williams, who also is ATRI’s chairman.

 “All of this makes me feel like we’re creating a whole host of rules, confining a whole lot of people to do less, make less and cost the public more,” Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) said to FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro, who also testified at the hearing. “And we’re not doing the one thing I thought we were charged to do, and that is to do a study before we write the rule.”

“Why aren’t we getting all the information before we enact it?” asked Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.). “It seems to me you have incomplete information.”

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), ranking member of the subcommittee, called the complicated restart restrictions “an extraordinarily difficult-to-explain concept” and questioned whether it was accomplishing the safety goals.

However, Ferro defended the agency’s actions, saying that FMCSA used data from a lab study to justify the rule changes.

She also said the study mandated in MAP-21 is under way.

“We launched it as soon as Congress incorporated this into MAP-21,” Ferro said. “In fact, we actually had the first driver start under the field study conditions in January.”

In February 2012, ATA filed a federal lawsuit urging that the court overturn the 34-hour restart changes and the requirement for a 30-minute break in which the driver is off duty. In addition, the once-per-week restriction, the operational restart — which drivers can use to reset their weekly driving limits — must include two periods from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. under the rule.

Arguments were heard in March of this year, but the court had not ruled on the case as of last week, and Ferro has said that the agency is set to enforce the rule.

FMCSA has turned down requests from ATA and congressional leaders to delay the rule’s July 1 start while a court decides.

Also during the hearing, a witness representing the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said the rule takes flexibility away from truckers.

“This makes it harder for us to meet the many demands of customers, regulators and the on-road environment,” Edward Stocklin, president of Stocklin Trucking, said on OOIDA’s behalf.

Likewise, Jeffrey Dean Hinkle, transportation manager for Chandler Concrete Co., said the half-hour rest break would be bad for his sector, because concrete can start setting quickly.

In addition, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association submitted written testimony asking that all construction vehicles be exempt from the rest breaks, saying the shorthaul nature of construction trucking does not warrant it.