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HOURS OF SERVICE / FATIGUE

P.A.T.T. Action Alert for Opposition of New Hours-Of-Service Rule That Increases Driving Time and Risk of Truck Crashes!

P.A.T.T. and CRASH Oppose Rule -- One Step Backward for Safety!

New Rule Will Not Adequately Address Truck Driver Fatigue

Friday, April 25, 2003

Contacts – CRASH and P.A.T.T., (888) 353-4572

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released a revised final hours-of-service (HOS) rule, touting it as a science-based initiative designed to improve highway safety by addressing truck driver fatigue, thereby reducing the number of people killed and injured annually in truck related crashes.

The Truck Safety Coalition, including Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.) and Citizens for Reliable And Safe Highways (CRASH), believe that the new HOS rule ignores the real truck safety issues. The new HOS rule will not reduce fatigue by allowing eleven hours of consecutive driving time with no requirement for on-board recording devices, a necessary action to ensure enforcement.

Decades of research, both on commercial drivers and shift workers, has shown that increasing the length of time a worker must spend performing certain tasks correspondingly reduces alertness and performance. This leads to an increased risk of worker deaths and injuries, as well as driver errors such as motor vehicle crashes.

Under this final HOS rule, truck drivers will be forced to deal with personal and family matters and get sufficient sleep to restore alertness and safe driving performance in as little as 10 hours each day. This is an unrealistic demand and will likely result in insufficient quality sleep and increased crash risk.

The FMCSA’s exclusion of on-board recording devices only goes to illustrate the agency’s reluctance to meaningfully enforce its own proposed HOS rule changes. In 2000, the FMCSA admitted that commercial driver paper logbooks were widely falsified and that a high percentage of drivers routinely violated the maximum number of driving hours permitted. Drivers themselves have admitted this fact in independent surveys, such as the survey published by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Safety groups believe that the FMCSA has placed trucking productivity ahead of safety in its decision making process, thereby violating both the spirit and the letter of its enabling legislation, the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999. Congress explicitly directed the agency to “consider the assignment and maintenance of safety as the highest priority, recognizing the clear intent, encouragement, and dedication of Congress to the furtherance of the highest degree of safety in motor carrier transportation.” Increasing the number of consecutive hours that commercial drivers are permitted to operate their trucks is clearly an effort to trade off trucking industry economic interests against improved safety, an action that violates congressional instruction and intent.

Michael Jackson, Deputy Secretary of Transportation, was quoted in the media as stating, "Probably we won't have thunderous applause and unanimity from all sides on this issue, and that's a sign that we've likely done the right thing."

Unfortunately, Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson, the Department of Transportation did not do the right thing!

In all this, however, there are a few victories for truck safety advocates:

The original HOS rule proposal from the FMCSA would have extended the consecutive driving time to 12-hours. With the support of truck safety advocates around the nation, we were able to get this decreased to 11 hours. Additionally, the new rule moves the trucking industry towards an appreciation for a driver’s circadian rhythm, which is the foundation for normal sleep patterns in people.

Ten years ago, the elected officials and government policymakers paid little attention to concerns of safety in the debate over truck issues. P.A.T.T. and CRASH have changed that and have helped bring this issue to the forefront of the American public. Daphne and Steve Izer, as well as the tens of thousands of supporters of P.A.T.T. and CRASH, should be congratulated for their tireless efforts in changing the nature and direction of the debate on truck safety.

Over the coming months, P.A.T.T. and CRASH will make requiring on-board recording devices to monitor driving hours a top priority with the U.S. Department of Transportation and Congress. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTBS) has repeatedly called on the FMCSA to ensure HOS compliance by requiring the installation and use of on-board electronic recorders. P.A.T.T. and CRASH will continue to support this position.

We encourage everyone who is concerned about extending the driving hours to eleven hours for truck drivers and not requiring on-board recorders to voice their concerns by contacting:

Michael Jackson
Deputy Secretary of Transportation
(202) 366-2222 or
E-mail Michael Jackson

Your Member of Congress in the House and Senate:
Write your member of Congress in the House or Senate – Click Here!

Additional Resources:

In response to the new hours-of-service rule released by the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration on April 24, 2003, several articles were written in newspapers around the nation.

Without exception, media outlets turned to P.A.T.T. and CRASH more than any other source to receive comments and concerns from the truck safety community. Below are links to a Washington Post article and a Kansas City Star article, which include comments from our organization's board members.

New Rules Let Truckers Drive More, Require Additional Rest - Kansas City Star, April 24, 2003

U.S. to Let Truckers Drive Longer, Rest More - Washington Post, April 24, 2003

FMCSA New HOS Rule Press Release and Proposal