Sleeper Flexibility Would Improve HOS Rule, Trucking Industry Tells FMCSA at Hearing

This story appears in the Feb. 1 print edition of Transport Topics.

DALLAS — Carrier officials and drivers told federal regulators that the hours-of-service rules work well, but could be improved by allowing more flexibility in the use of truck sleeper berths.

In the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s second of four “listening sessions” as it rewrites the contested hours-of-service rule — part of its forum on the HOS rules — nearly two dozen drivers, safety directors and other industry executives testified here Jan. 22.

Sessions also took place in Los Angeles on Jan. 25 and Davenport, Iowa, on Jan. 28.

FMCSA intends to issue a revised driver-hours rule by July.

“Its our stance . . . that the current rules that we have in effect are more than efficient and more than effective in reducing accidents,” said David Hedgepeth, vice president of risk management, compliance and safety for Frozen Food Express. “The only thing that we request that you take into consideration is the possibility of further flexibility in the sleeper berth breaks.”

Hedgepeth said that his fleet’s analysis of the effect of the current rules found that not only have the current limits on driving “not had a negative impact . . . it has had a positive impact.”

The hearing was dominated by supporters of the rule. Unlike an earlier session near Washington, D.C., no representatives of the advocacy groups and organized labor spoke during the nearly seven-hour hearing. Representatives of the groups that challenged the regulation in court, forcing the agency to revise the rule, spoke at the Washington session (1-25, p. 1).

Michael Smith, safety director at Covenant Transport, told the panel of FMCSA officials that the rule revision has made a big difference for its truckload fleet. Since 2004, when the basic framework of the current hours rule went into effect, he said, “DOT preventable accidents have been reduced by 41% — that’s huge.”

Joe Rajkovacz, director of regulatory affairs for the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, said that despite claims of in-creased driving time and fatigue by critics of the rule, “truckers have never been safer.”

“We could all probably cherry-pick from a menu of studies . . . but the data that matters more than ivory tower hypothetical scenarios proves something altogether different,” he said, citing recent reports about the decline in the large truck fatal crash rate and other figures. “The real stats are not indicative that major changes need to be made to the federal hours of service.”

John Spiros, vice president of safety and claims management for Roehl Transport Inc., said that a “common complaint” from drivers was the inability to choose how they split their time in truck sleepers, and he proposed allowing drivers to take a short break during the day by stopping the 14-hour clock that limits a driver’s workday.

The HOS rule limits driving to 11 hours in a 14-hour workday, after which drivers must take a 10-hour break. Before 2004, drivers could work for 15 hours, driving 10 of those, but could log on and off duty when convenient.

“If a driver takes a short rest break during the day, up to two hours of that time would not count against the 14-hour clock,” he said, adding the break “would have the effect of extending a driver’s workday, but by no more than two hours.”

“The sleeper berth rules are really a hardship for drivers, in my experience,” Ralph Garcia, a driver with ABF Freight System and a member of America’s Road Team, said during the session. “If they could split it up and let the drivers have a little bit more flexibility, I think it would be a lot more efficient for drivers, as far as rest periods and how they feel, and it would be a benefit to the company.”

Garcia said even “an hour would be sufficient where it doesn’t count against your 14 [-hour work limit].”

Smith said the rule needed to allow for “necessary breaks.”

“We need to encourage drivers to take naps, which, by the way, would promote shorter continuous driving,” he said, “and we need those breaks to not affect the 14-hour clock.”

Jimmy Sill, chief executive officer at driver compliance firm Fear

NoAuditor.com, said that the rule should allow for drivers to take “short, voluntary breaks” that would extend the shift time for drivers, similar to the exemption the rule allows shorthaul drivers.

Scott Marinello, a driver for Averitt Express, said the provision of the hours rule that limits drivers to just 14 consecutive hours of work “is the one rule that gives me the most heartburn . . . on a daily basis.” Allowing drivers to take a break during their work shift and stop that clock “absolutely . . . would have a positive effect on highway safety.”

Tom Guglielmi, a self-described “one-man trucking operation,” said the 14-hour limit was “not good for every operation” and that, despite predictions that drivers would use greater flexibility to stay on the road longer, “we’re not asking to drive more hours or work more.”