truck driver fatigue

FMCSA told to strengthen ELD requirements

WASHNGTON — Safety investigators have warned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to tighten electronic logging device (ELD) requirements to prevent trucking companies and their drivers from creating fake driver hours-of-service (HOS) logs.

The recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board was included in a crash report issued on Wednesday concluding that truck driver fatigue, due to excessive driving time and limited opportunity to sleep, was the probable cause of a...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-told-to-strengthen-eld-requirements

FMCSA considers hours-of-service exemption for truck driver

Monitor inside a truck cab.

Federal regulators are considering a company truck driver’s request for a sweeping exemption from hours-of-service (HOS) and ELD rules, and the public will have a chance to comment.

In applying for the exemption, Ronnie Brown III, a driver for Waterloo, Iowa-based Gray Transportation, contends that the “one-size-fits-all” aspect of the regulations poses safety risks because the rules do not always coincide with his “natural sleep patterns,” according to his application filed with the Federal...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fmcsa-considers-hours-of-service-exemption-for-truck-driver

Truckers: Safety groups ignore driving ‘realities’

Representatives of small-business truckers have asked a federal appeals court to deny safety advocates’ challenge to hours-of-service (HOS) rule changes, saying the challenge is not based on truck-driving realities.

In a petition filed in support of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association outlined how its members are benefiting from more flexibility provided by the changes — a somewhat rare occasion in which OOIDA, large carriers and...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truckers-safety-groups-ignore-realities-of-driving

Time to lift emergency hours-of-service waiver?

Livestock haulers want federal regulators to keep in place the 16-month-long emergency hours-of-service waiver for truck drivers and carriers until at least the end of August despite an economy that has largely reopened for business.

The first-of-its-kind, 50-state exemption was rolled out in March 2020 in response to a national emergency brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak. The waiver gives drivers more time to make deliveries without violating federal work-hour requirements. It has been...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/time-to-lift-emergency-hours-of-service-waiver

Trucking, labor haggle over driver work rules

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the Teamsters union agree that truck driver fatigue is an issue, but the two organizations disagree on how to solve the problem.

Testifying on Tuesday at a Senate Commerce committee hearing on freight transportation issues, Lamont Byrd, director of the union’s safety and health department, told lawmakers that a big part of the problem are the changes made to the hours-of-service (HOS) regulations last year, which he says is resulting in drivers...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trucking-labor-haggle-over-driver-work-rules

Safety groups rail against HOS exemption for ag truckers

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) and other truck safety groups have warned federal regulators that relaxing hours-of-service (HOS) rules for ag haulers threatens safety by exposing more drivers to fatigue.

In a petition for reconsideration filed in late December with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), CVSA stated that the interim final rule (IFR) issued by the agency in November that attempts to clarify the definitions of “agricultural commodity” “livestock”...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/safety-groups-rail-against-hos-exemption-for-ag-truckers

Will truck drivers use the new HOS split-sleeper provision?

Trucks parked at rest stop

As Tuesday of this week came and went, truck drivers gained several new benefits from changes to hours-of-service (HOS) regulations. One significant change is the split-sleeper berth exception.

Tuesday’s change is not technically new to the HOS regulations but rather an addition to the existing rule. Previously, drivers could utilize a split-sleeper berth exception in an 8/2 split. The new option adds a 7/3 split.

It’s unclear how many drivers utilized the provision before, and it’s even more...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/will-truck-drivers-use-the-new-hos-split-sleeper-provision