Four safety groups and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters filed a joint petition Tuesday with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to delay the hours-of-service (HOS) final rule scheduled to go into effect on Sept. 29.
The Teamsters, along with Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (AHAS), the Truck Safety Coalition, Parents Against Tired Truckers, and Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (known as CRASH) assert in their formal petition for reconsideration that the four rule changes, issued last month, will exacerbate driver fatigue.
“Each one of them has some real troubling provisions and we think they are all equally very concerning,” Peter Kurdock, general counsel for AHAS, told FreightWaves. “That’s why we’re asking them to stay the effective date of the rule until they’ve had an opportunity to fully review the issues that we’ve raised in our petition.” Kurdock declined to discuss the details of the petition until it was posted by FMCSA.
The deadline for reconsideration petitions is Wednesday. The FMCSA has no set amount of time to review the petition, Kurdock noted, “but we’re confident they will do so in a prompt manner.”
While much of the trucking industry — from large fleets to small-business owner-operators — has generally welcomed the changes as increasing flexibility for drivers to manage their workday, safety advocates and labor unions say work-rule changes have contributed to driver stress and fatigue, leading to more deaths caused by crashes involving large trucks.
“In an effort to increase so-called ‘flexibility’ for trucking companies, the FMCSA is abandoning safety and allowing drivers to push themselves to the limit even further,” Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said in responding to the new rules.
“Extending the workday to 14 hours for CDL-qualified short haul drivers will result in an increase in occupational injuries and driver fatigue,” added Lamont Byrd, director of the Teamsters’ Safety and Health Department. “We are also concerned with the revised rest break provision. This revised rule could allow a driver to spend hours performing physically demanding work and then drive up to eight hours without having to take a break.”
Democrats in Congress are also seeking a delay in the HOS final rule as a provision in the House version of the reauthorization of the FAST Act surface transportation bill. However, the provision, if passed by the House, is not likely to be included in the Republican-led Senate’s version of the bill.
Related articles:
House Democrats propose delay of hours-of-service rules
Safety advocates considering HOS rules challenge
Quin Essence
I respect the Safety groups wholeheartedly… but if only they really knew how “more” tired Drivers are by the current rules. Split logging actually helped us Drivers autonomy to tailor our daily driving experience. If we felt tired, we could pull over without losing hours to drive or forego on duty hours. But because it was taken away, the mandate to drive in order to earn (use it or lose it), propels us to continue driving no matter how tired we are.
Patrick
If any one is looking for a class A driver please
Email me pat684x4@gmail.com
Jim Dal
21 years driving..never been so pushed as i have the last few years.short haul drivers are in and out of their trucks alot through out the day…14 hours isnt nothing..fighting the clock is more than stressful. Its down right dangerous..Speed of drivers,which turns into higher speeds of 4 wheelers..then the stress that you take home to your family…so lets hear the true numbers of crashes since the ELOGS..thing is and this is one of their issues..Accidents involved trucks went up….Safety! Try jobs..less drivers getting things done more drivers needed…Not everyone is a truck driver..just face it..Training is the biggest thing..and not muvh of it…put your time and effort in that and accidents will go down..i know companys for a fact that get a driver to move the truck and put him on the road.And yes companys thaf Teamsters are in…font get me wrong. Much respect for the Teamsters..but taking a stand that my give a driver a small window…100% AS NOTHING to do with safety…MONEY!!!!
ROBERT LOGER
Sounds like they may have a bunch of lazy drivers to me.
Safety should start with training first and as most of us know these big companies push these new drivers thru in a week or two . They have their own testers in n stead of state testers so more students pass i would be will to bet most students would not pass a state cdl tester.
Nick
Every single person invloved in those all of those groups needs to be put in a semi truck for 6mo and subjected to everything we as drivers have to deal with. These people who run these groups have no idea what being a truck driver is like. You want safety on the roads and highways? Go after the general motoring public and require some actual driver training before anyone is allowed to have a drivers license. But as a nation we’ll pander to the lowest common denominator and make sure the dumbest of our citizens are coddled.
Road Runner
Another fine example of people who have no idea HOW to do this job trying to regulate it. If HOS rules truly promoted safety, why were they suspended for the pandemic? Explain to me how a truck hauling food is safer than a truck hauling clothing. Go ahead … I’ll wait!
Jeff Smith
Right on point.teamsters need to shut there hole.they are nothing but political.
Ben
Watch all the drivers blame ELDs or stress of HOS .
Just like when ELDs where coming, drivers will in droves admit they can’t take personal responsibility and will blame a box for making them speed or be aggressive.
The more they tell us they can’t place safety over money the tighter the box they have to work in needs to be.
Brian
How many years of commercial tractor-trailer driving do you have Ben that allows you to come to that conclusion?
Trucker
I am a driver,and the only stress that we are,as a drivers,facing is a stress due to clicking clock.Every day I am trying to beat the clock and that’s why many drivers doing fatal mistakes which usually leading to crash.If I am stuck at shiper/receiver for 7 hours I am going to have only 7 hours available on my clock,which means,If I want to deliver load,make some money,I would have to drive all 7 hours without stopping.No stopping for coffee,for lunch,to go to the bathroom…etc,.Than I am nervous,I am tired,I am mad….,That’s not safety.I agree with 11 hours driving rule and then 10 hours sleeping,but let me drive my 11 hours.If I am stuck at shiper for 7 hours,why they are taking my Drive time. That’s s why has been called ‘Drive time’, it was ment to be spent while driving. But in this case,I am going to spend 7 hours sleeping at shiper and then what,6 hours driving, and then again 10 hours sleeping. Basically in 24 hours day,I am going to sleep 18 hours and drive 6. Ridiculous. Let’s just then park trucks and don’t go anywhere.
Jeff Smith
Right on sir.im a local driver and i welcome the change.the 30 min.off duty break does nothing but lengthen my day and does nothing for my safety. I can with the change take that break at a stop and be further towards home.