Fleets Urge FMCSA to Keep 11th Hour, 34-Hour Restart
By Sean McNally, Senior Reporter
This story appears in the Feb. 25 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
Several large trucking fleets have urged the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to retain the 11th hour of driving and the 34-hour restart in its hours-of-service regulations, saying those provisions have improved highway safety and given drivers the flexibility to adjust to unexpected delays.
“UPS has not experienced adverse safety effects resulting from use of the 11-hour driving rule,” UPS Vice President Tom Jensen wrote in comments to the agency. “In fact, UPS’ domestic auto accident frequency has declined every year since the introduction of the rule, decreasing nearly 23% from 2004 to 2007.”
UPS was among the carriers who already have filed comments with FMCSA on its interim fleets final rule. The comment deadline, which originally was Feb. 15, has since been extended until March 17 (2-18, p. 4).
Jensen told FMCSA that employee injuries fell to 16,732 last year, from 23,704 in 2004. He also said the 11-hour rule enhanced the safety record of the company’s less-than-truckload unit, UPS Freight.
“In 2003, prior to the implementation of the 11-hour driving provision, UPS Freight trucks were involved in 311 accidents that were reportable under FMCSA regulations,” he said. “In 2006, following the introduction of the 11th hour of driving time, UPS Freight drivers were involved in only 297 report-able accidents.”
UPS purchased Overnite Transportation in 2005. The company has since been renamed UPS Freight.
Other large fleets reported similar reductions in accidents.
Herb Schmidt, president of Con-way Truckload, told the agency that from 2004 to 2006, “our overall DOT recordable accident frequency improved by 22%.”
Schmidt added that the company formerly known as Contract Freighters Inc. “has enjoyed a 53% decrease in driver log violations” between 2004 and 2007.
Don Osterberg, vice president of safety and training for Schneider National, said that company’s serious accidents have reduced in number and frequency since the rule was instituted.
“Our 2006 numbers were down 41.67% from our 2003 experience,” he said, adding that, in 2007, the truckload carrier “continued the favorable trend in reducing severe accident[s] by 37.93%.”
On a per-100-million-mile basis, Osterberg said, Schneider’s “ultramajor” crash rate was down 35.77% in 2006 from 2003.
Osterberg said the company classifies accidents as ultra-major when they result a serious injury or fatality “with a corresponding financial liability exposure in excess of $250,000.”
Tank truck carrier Groendyke Transport Inc. reduced its serious accidents by 10% in 2006 from 2005, while increasing the number of drivers and miles driven, Steve Niswander, vice president of safety policy and regulatory relations, told FMCSA.
“They dropped another 15% in 2007,” he added.
David Grisso, transportation director for Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc., a food distributor in the Midwest, said his company’s rate of “accidents per million miles have been reduced, compared with 2003, in each of the years since the new HOS rules went into effect.”
In 2003, the company’s rate was 1.27 million miles between accidents, and in 2007 the rate had improved to 3.41 million miles between accidents, he said.
Grisso added that AWG’s “rate for employee injuries has also declined consistently from a high of 119 injury accidents in 2003 to a new record low of 38 injury accidents in 2007.”
Jeff Davis, vice president of safety and human relations for Jet Express Inc., said the 11th hour “has not affected our safety record.”
“We have had no accidents in the 10-to-11-hour period of driving,” he said, noting that the 11th hour “provides important flexibility for drivers to manage their schedules, particularly in times of unexpected delays due to traffic congestion, incidents, weather . . . and has helped in scheduling matters related to our customers.”
Davis’ comments on flexibility afforded by the 11th hour and 34-hour restart were echoed by other carriers.
In unsigned comments, U.S. Xpress Enterprises said the rule should incorporate even more flexibility in order to deal with road delays and congestion.
“We would encourage FMCSA to consider an exemption for splitting sleeper-berth time during specific high-traffic time periods in major metropolitan areas. We believe that establishing exemptions for specific rush-hour traffic periods would promote highway safety by relieving congestion,” the Chattanooga, Tenn., truckload company said.
The carrier continued, “We would recommend that a split sleeper-berth exemption be put into place to allow rest periods from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from
4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in cities and metro areas with populations exceeding 1 million people without these hours counting against a driver’s 14-hour workday.”
U.S. Xpress Co-Chairman Pat Quinn recently completed service on a national commission on transportation that recommended similar changes to the hours-of-service rules (1-21, p. 1).
This story appears in the Feb. 25 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
Several large trucking fleets have urged the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to retain the 11th hour of driving and the 34-hour restart in its hours-of-service regulations, saying those provisions have improved highway safety and given drivers the flexibility to adjust to unexpected delays.
“UPS has not experienced adverse safety effects resulting from use of the 11-hour driving rule,” UPS Vice President Tom Jensen wrote in comments to the agency. “In fact, UPS’ domestic auto accident frequency has declined every year since the introduction of the rule, decreasing nearly 23% from 2004 to 2007.”UPS was among the carriers who already have filed comments with FMCSA on its interim fleets final rule. The comment deadline, which originally was Feb. 15, has since been extended until March 17 (2-18, p. 4).
Jensen told FMCSA that employee injuries fell to 16,732 last year, from 23,704 in 2004. He also said the 11-hour rule enhanced the safety record of the company’s less-than-truckload unit, UPS Freight.
“In 2003, prior to the implementation of the 11-hour driving provision, UPS Freight trucks were involved in 311 accidents that were reportable under FMCSA regulations,” he said. “In 2006, following the introduction of the 11th hour of driving time, UPS Freight drivers were involved in only 297 report-able accidents.”
UPS purchased Overnite Transportation in 2005. The company has since been renamed UPS Freight.
Other large fleets reported similar reductions in accidents.
Herb Schmidt, president of Con-way Truckload, told the agency that from 2004 to 2006, “our overall DOT recordable accident frequency improved by 22%.”
Schmidt added that the company formerly known as Contract Freighters Inc. “has enjoyed a 53% decrease in driver log violations” between 2004 and 2007.
Don Osterberg, vice president of safety and training for Schneider National, said that company’s serious accidents have reduced in number and frequency since the rule was instituted.
“Our 2006 numbers were down 41.67% from our 2003 experience,” he said, adding that, in 2007, the truckload carrier “continued the favorable trend in reducing severe accident[s] by 37.93%.”
On a per-100-million-mile basis, Osterberg said, Schneider’s “ultramajor” crash rate was down 35.77% in 2006 from 2003.
Osterberg said the company classifies accidents as ultra-major when they result a serious injury or fatality “with a corresponding financial liability exposure in excess of $250,000.”
Tank truck carrier Groendyke Transport Inc. reduced its serious accidents by 10% in 2006 from 2005, while increasing the number of drivers and miles driven, Steve Niswander, vice president of safety policy and regulatory relations, told FMCSA.
“They dropped another 15% in 2007,” he added.
David Grisso, transportation director for Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc., a food distributor in the Midwest, said his company’s rate of “accidents per million miles have been reduced, compared with 2003, in each of the years since the new HOS rules went into effect.”
In 2003, the company’s rate was 1.27 million miles between accidents, and in 2007 the rate had improved to 3.41 million miles between accidents, he said.
Grisso added that AWG’s “rate for employee injuries has also declined consistently from a high of 119 injury accidents in 2003 to a new record low of 38 injury accidents in 2007.”
Jeff Davis, vice president of safety and human relations for Jet Express Inc., said the 11th hour “has not affected our safety record.”
“We have had no accidents in the 10-to-11-hour period of driving,” he said, noting that the 11th hour “provides important flexibility for drivers to manage their schedules, particularly in times of unexpected delays due to traffic congestion, incidents, weather . . . and has helped in scheduling matters related to our customers.”
Davis’ comments on flexibility afforded by the 11th hour and 34-hour restart were echoed by other carriers.
In unsigned comments, U.S. Xpress Enterprises said the rule should incorporate even more flexibility in order to deal with road delays and congestion.
“We would encourage FMCSA to consider an exemption for splitting sleeper-berth time during specific high-traffic time periods in major metropolitan areas. We believe that establishing exemptions for specific rush-hour traffic periods would promote highway safety by relieving congestion,” the Chattanooga, Tenn., truckload company said.
The carrier continued, “We would recommend that a split sleeper-berth exemption be put into place to allow rest periods from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from
4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in cities and metro areas with populations exceeding 1 million people without these hours counting against a driver’s 14-hour workday.”
U.S. Xpress Co-Chairman Pat Quinn recently completed service on a national commission on transportation that recommended similar changes to the hours-of-service rules (1-21, p. 1).
