FORT SMITH - Over a chicken sandwich and fries at an Interstate 40 truck stop near Fort Smith, driver Jonathan West worries a little about new federal rules designed to help him fight fatigue at the wheel.
“Have I ever gotten tired driving? Yes,” West says. “But sometimes the problem can be that you have to followthe rules and can’t rest when you need to. There can be too much micromanaging.”
Arkansas trucking company officials, drivers and other experts say they’re ready to comply with new national “Hours of Service” rules governing work and rest time for tractortrailer drivers. The regulations are scheduled to kick in July 1. Civil lawsuits over the rules, however, are pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for theDistrict of Columbia.
National safety studies say driver fatigue contributes to roughly 20 percent of big-truck accidents. Those studies have spurred the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to reduce a driver’s maximum at-the-wheel hours per week from 82 to 70. The other key provision requires a 30-minute rest break after no more than eight hours of driving.
Many close to the truckingindustry in Arkansas are expressing doubt about whether the changes will help tractortrailer drivers stay awake and alert. The industry already has federal and company rules regarding driver fatigue and rest. What they don’t doubt about the new regulations - efficiency will drop and costs could potentially climb.
“I’m very passionate about the safety of our drivers andthe general public,” said Adam Amorose, director of safety at USA Truck of Van Buren. “As far as the new rules, we still don’t know the true impact and how much benefit they’re going to bring. The approach won’t necessarily provide the flexibility for the drivers to take the break they need.”
A USA Truck company study found “about a 1.5 percent impact” on driver productivity from the new Hours of Service rules, Amorose said. He’s heard estimates across the industry from 1.5 percent to 14 percent negative impact on efficiency.
“Our industry will notice it,” said Amorose. “For us, it will take approximately 1.5 percent more time to do the same work.”
Steve Williams, chief executive officer of Little Rock’s Maverick USA trucking company, said much the same thing last week to a U.S. House transportation subcommittee. Like other industry leaders, he has asked Congress to postpone implementing the new rules to conduct more study.
Dozens of national studies of commercial drivers, wrecks and fatigue issues already have played into developing the new federal rules for commercial truck drivers, said Richard Hanowski, director of the Center for Truck and Bus Safety at theVirginia Tech Transportation Institute in Blacksburg, Va. “It’s not like drinking and driving that you can test for” after a collision, he said. “It can be kind of tricky to recognize.”
But since the early 1990s, Hanowski said, researchers have used video to study commercial drivers at work. One recognizable sign of fatigue is common sense: drivers’ eyes drooping or slowly trying to close, he said. In driving studies, that and other indications of fatigue are found in about 20 percent of crashes, he said.
Hanowski is comfortable with the science behind the new truck driving rules. Federal transportation officials “arelooking at the research, what the science says … the whole domain of research,” Hanowski said. “They’re looking at those studies to come up with a best solution in terms of policy. I think that’s what you want.” ON THE ROAD
Jonathan West started driving trucks almost four years ago, after he lost an office job during the 2008 recession. “It seemed like the only jobs that were hiring were for people with a Class A [commercial driver’s] licenses and for pole dancers. I didn’t think I would do well as a pole dancer,” West said, laughing.
He leases a truck and carries freight for CRST International, a long-haul carrier based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He’s not a company driver paid by the mile. He gets paid by the load but has to make payments on his truck lease, buy gas and foot operating costs.
The Bradenton, Fla., resident says he spent 28 days at home last year. The rest of the time - about 48 weeks - he was on the road. The 49-yearold likes driving through Arkansas because traffic is not too jammed and it’s easier to find spots to park. He talked about the new driving rules last week at a truck stop on Interstate 40 on the Arkansas-Oklahoma border near Fort Smith. About 25 to 30 tractor-trailer rigs were stopped there for gas and rest on a midafternoon. Inside, the intercom announced, “Number 145, your shower is ready.”
West likes federal regulations when they help tired drivers. He thinks about new company drivers who may feelpressured to stay behind the wheel no matter what. “The rules are good in that a company driver can tell a dispatcher: ‘I’m out of hours,’” he said.
He thinks most good commercial truck drivers have their own systems for dealing withroad fatigue. He says he doesn’t hesitate to find a parking place, stop and rest when he’s tired.
But the new rule regarding a 30-minute break, for example, may be too specific. “Not 22 minutes. Not two, 15-minute breaks, but it has to be a 30-minute break.” West said. “Sometimes it just doesn’t work with your schedule.”
Lane Kidd, president of the Arkansas Trucking Association trade group in Little Rock, applauds the aims of the new Hours of Service rules “to provide drivers with more rest and hopefully reduce accidents. But what we may find is the mandatory number of hours the driver must take to sleep or go off-duty are not necessarily what would be natural to do.”
Kidd also worries that some trucking companies using paper logbooks to record driving hours, instead of on-board electronic systems, can find ways to skirt the rules if they want to. Federal transportationofficials say they will require all commercial truckers to use on-board electronic driving logs in coming years. But those rules are not yet in place.
“No one wants to see fatigued drivers on the roads,” Kidd said. “There’s a big segment of the industry that complies with the law. … But now it’s the honor system.”
Combating fatigue has always been part of a trucker’s job and the new rules won’t change that, said CRST driver West. He was headed west through Arkansas to Phoenix last week, half of a two-man driving team.
“If you’re a team driver, you usually have to sleep in the truck while it’s moving and that can be a problem. The truck shakes and sometimes it’s hard to sleep,” West said. “Or, if you’ve been driving a day shift and suddenly [the company] wants you to drive all night, that first night is difficult no matter how much rest you try to get beforehand.”
West likes having more independence than many regular company drivers. He can refuse loads and has more say over his driving schedule. But even he has to keep an eye on the clock. It’s a reality of thebusiness.
West and his partner had about 24 hours to make Phoenix, which electronic maps list as a 17- to 19-hour drive.
“I built in a little time,” West said. “I hope to be early. Being late is a really bad thing.”New RulesHere’s a summary of the new Hours of Service regulations for commercial truck drivers set by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The regulations are scheduled to go into effect July 1.
Maximum weekly driving hours per driver will drop from 82 to 70.
The decline comes, in part, because of new rules regarding when drivers can “restart” their work weeks after a 34-hour rest break. The new rule would limit restarts to one per week. Now there is no limit for restarts.
The 34-hour rest break also now must include two periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., when experts say people’s bodies are most likely to need sleep. Now there are no set hours for the 34-hour rest break used to restart a driver’s week.
Commercial drivers must take a 30-minute rest break after no more than eight hours of driving. If desired, the driver can take the break earlier in the eight-hour period.
A maximum 11-hour daily driving limit, now in effect for each driver, remains unchanged but is under study.
Source: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Business, Pages 61 on 06/23/2013