Commentary
Late Thursday evening Texas Rep. (R) Brian Babin introduced a bill in the House that will change the hours of service regulations for American truckers. The bill is intended to modifiy the 14 hour rule and would allow drivers to enjoy a three-hour break without the time counting against the driver’s available hours.
The act, called “The Responsible and Effective Standards for Truckers (REST) Act” would require the Department of Transportation to update Hours of Service regulations to allow a rest break once per 14-hour duty period for up to 3 consecutive hours as long as the driver is off-duty, effectively pausing the 14-hour clock. However, drivers would still need to log ten consecutive hours off duty before the start of their next work shift. It would also eliminate the existing 30-minute rest break requirement.
While Rep. Babin has become a polarizing name in trucking circles with his fight over the ELD mandate, changing the hours of service rules would allow drivers to judge their own bodies and current conditions. It would also be an enormous victory for truckers. We also argue that it will make the industry safer.
FreightWaves’ own Chief Analytics Officer, Dean Croke (who ran data science at the largest ELD provider in North America) argued that the 14 hour rule should be scrapped all together. In his article, Why the 14-hour clock rule is the most dangerous of them all, Croke states that “the idea that by regulating hours worked we somehow magically ensure drivers are well-rested for the next shift is completely flawed.”
He describes that drivers need to have flexibility built into their available hours. Current regulations force drivers to compromise sleep schedules to maximize their earnings.
Drivers are paid on a per mile basis, but their capacity to earn is limited by how many hours they are able to drive. The more time drivers are delayed at docks, the less time they have to drive and earn. When shippers create delays, drivers end up pushing harder to make up for lost time.
Also (and perhaps less appreciated) is the impact of disrupted sleep caused by inconsistencies in the shipper community around loading/unloading schedules.
The politics of this debate will play out over coming months and there will be a lot of arguments here. As an organization that believes the answer lies in data and not in political expediency, we are of the opinion that the REST Act is one where data is on Babin’s side. We get millions of ELD data points daily, which we use to answer all sorts of questions around economics, capacity, pricing, driver behavior and safety. Based on our analysis, the drivers that experience the most volatile dock loading and unloading schedules are also the most prone to incidents or accidents.
Clearly, the irregular pattern at which shippers operate has an enormous impact on driver sleep schedule. Anyone that has traveled on a multi-city business trip with flight delays can relate to how exhausting this is.
In an ironic twist, ELDs that Rep. Babin fought so passionately against will end up proving that his proposed REST bill will make the industry safer. Overhauling the HOS rules and allowing for the driver to take a break without penalty will end up encouraging drivers that need a nap the opportunity to do so.
While ELD data can not prove Rep. Babin’s view that the ELD mandate is the “Dodd-Frank law of the trucking industry,” it can prove that driver fatigue without the opportunity for a break is a recipe for disaster.
As with any regulation change, carriers would want to ensure that this time is not given up to shippers for their own benefit. ELDs, combined with blockchain has the potential to prevent this from happening. ELDs record dock times and with blockchain carriers can find out what average wait times and schedule are at a given stop, prior to accepting a load. They can also hold shippers accountable for having inconsistencies either in the form of detention or refusing to accept their loads to begin with.
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54 Comments
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Chris Domanski
We should go back to the 10 hour rule and then would be much safer and more flexibility to us
Bruce Riggins
I drove for three years in an otr capacity. My experience with this endeavor is that drivers need to be paid an hourly rate instead of per mile rate. You already are punching a time clock with the electronic log so companies pay a decent wage to your employees. Teamster’s need to negotiate contracts for the truck driver. Put an end to this BS! No more low pay or slave labor!
Teddy Taylor
Need to do away with the 14 hour rule that would help more !!!!!!’n
Matthew
This would have helped me last night. Was driving way too tired because I needed to get a load delivered and only had just barely enough time to get it done. If I could have stopped for a nap it would have been much safer. Thank God I was able to get where I was going without incident.
Stephen Fisher
This is just another way for companies to make their drivers work longer hrs in a day without pay..
Jason
How would they be working longer hours? The pausing of the 14 hour clock is OFF DUTY only. Not on duty; not driving. So if the driver is working while logged as off duty, that’s just his or her own dumb faultt.
David
Then the simplest solution would be to get rid of paid per mile system & start paying drivers by the hour! Then drivers wouldn’t feel the need to stretch their days as much as possible to get as many miles as possible to obtain a decent paycheck! No other country in the world outwith North America still pays by the mile – they get paid by the hour!
Mark
I feel they should do away with 14 hour rule. Long as you’re rest take as long as you want to drive the 11, once you hit 11 you take a 10 thusly so if there’s a delay at the shipper/receiver, traffic issue, hungry, need a shower etc. You won’t worry about the down time counting against you. Speed regulating isn’t for safety, if anything it’s a hazard, take a truck traveling maxed out at 63mph in a 70mph zone and a four wheeler traveling 74mph approaches no paying attention (texting, putting on makeup, reading the paper, fussing at kids in the backseat, etc.) for whatever the reason doesn’t see the slower moving truck. A split second is all it takes and they’re under the rear of said truck…government mandates in this industry only makes it unsafe…20 30 40 years ago large truck crashes were accruing but not in large scale and four wheelers and general public respected them, today no one wants them around…good luck living without them, everything you need want or have at some point was on a truck, housing food meds. car and all the little luxuries
Jason
Until last year, speed limiters had no involvement by the government. They’re set by the insurance companies via discounts for trucking companies that have lower speeds set on their limiters.
Vocalone
Do away with the 14 hour rule all together and go back to the 24 hour clock. Drive 11 in 24 hrs. Take 10 hour break. If driver did need to take 3hr consecutive break, the 24 hour clock wouldn’t need to be extended. That’s being responsible and respecting professional drivers. All these HOS jirations are only to do with lobbyists, mega carriers that only represent 10% of trucking, lobbing for laws and regulations to force 90% of independent owner operators out the industry, so they could have a bigger monopoly to control rates. Right now rates are low due to mega carriers bidding on volume. If they were the only ones left in the market, rates would be way high, they wouldn’t even bid on volume, they would just commit capacity. So this isn’t about safety. Everyone pays insurance to cover accidents and fatalities -just a fact of life. This is about greedy mega carriers and politicians…