Opinion: Does the U.S. Hate Big Trucks?

By Mac McQueen

Safety and Compliance Manager

Wyoming Casing Service

This Opinion piece appears in the March 21 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

As the latest round of hours-of-service regulatory change plays out in Washington, I have come to the realization that the trucking industry is broken. With taxes and fees that leave companies and individual owner-operators barely able to continue operations and a regulatory environment that seems determined to drive the last nail into the coffin of small business, one could be forgiven for the cynical conclusion that trucks are unwelcome on our nation’s crumbling roadways.

The current HOS rules were well-conceived, well-written and logical. Their success is reflected in the industrywide improvement in safety performance. Having read the study of environmental effects that accompanies the proposed HOS rule, I have to wonder where the assumption that rail can and will take up the bulk of displaced freight capacity originated? The study itself fails to cite a source, and the numbers, at least on the surface, appear to have been conjured from nothing more substantive than wishful thinking.

The process itself is flawed. As a safety manager, if I were to respond to a perceived safety issue simply by writing new policy, my employer would be fully justified in dismissing me. Before adopting a sweeping reform of a regulation, it would be wiser to conduct a root-cause analysis and determine what truly is at issue here.

For those unfamiliar with the process, root cause is simply a matter of asking questions until the real issue is exposed. Only when that issue is dealt with does the problem become manageable. In this case, the issue, real or imagined, is driver fatigue. So what drives that? Does the problem truly exist? If so, how do we address it without turning the economy on its head?

One underlying cause I can identify through personal experience — and anecdotally through a recurring theme in written responses to the proposed rule — is uncompensated time lost at shipper and receiver loading docks. One study I recall from several years ago asserted that the average truck driver donates 30 hours to his or her employer every week. In any other industry, this would be a scandal of massive proportions.

The U.S. Department of Labor and its Occupational Safety and Health Administration have told me they have no mandate to govern employee safety or fair wage practices for the trucking industry. Those matters are the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, both of which have failed miserably in their mandate.

There are no rules outlining safe work practices for truck drivers. Owner-operators work under the fiction of being self-employed, despite the exclusive and dictatorial nature of their contracts with the carriers they serve. Recent workers’ compensation court rulings have made the true nature of that relationship clear and have opened the door for other regulatory bodies to step in and properly govern the industry. Unfortunately, it seems FMCSA is concerned about drivers only when they intersect with the health and safety of the public.

The 600-pound gorilla in the room is driver compensation.

While senior management and fleet owners may be content to be the beneficiaries of what amounts to a normal workweek for most without pay, the cost to the industry, our insurers and, ultimately, safety should be addressed. I find it astounding that, in this new century, we are still treating a vital segment of our economy as if the industrial revolution were in its infancy.

The argument has been made that in order to pay over-the-road drivers an hourly rate, an accurate means of gauging their time must be devised. With the advent of electronic onboard recorders (EOBRs) and their mandatory use, there no longer is any excuse for ignoring the issue of driver compensation. I am not suggesting we immediately turn the industry upside down and pay all drivers by the hour. However, careful study should be undertaken sooner rather than later.

While it is tempting to concentrate on the downside of such a radical alteration in the industry model, the upside deserves careful consideration. Driver retention and recruitment become more straightforward. Because of regulation, trucking is rarely the first career choice of the new driver. With federal regulations requiring that interstate drivers be at least 21 years old and insurance companies frequently adding to that minimum age, new drivers tend to come from another stalled or failed career path. Giving prospective employees a more predictable pay scale makes them more likely to attend driving school and to stick with that career after they are trained.

I don’t know if changing the trucking industry’s business model is the answer to the perceived safety issues so dear to the hearts of FMCSA and the various advocacy groups out there. But I do know that the hours-of-service proposal currently on the table is both destructive and counterproductive to its own stated goals. It’s time to introduce simple logic to this emotional issue and conduct an industrywide analysis of root cause.

Does the political will exist to go beyond our current thinking?

Wyoming Casing Service, New Albany, Pa., installs oil and gas well casings — the alternating layers of steel and cement that line and reinforce drill holes.