Category Archives: Truck Safety

Fact Sheet on the Collins’ Amendment & its impact on Hours of Service Rules

Truck Safety,

I made a YouTube video of the debate and vote over the Collins’ Amendment to suspend part of the Hours of Service at the Senate Appropriations Committee Meeting . You can listen to it while watching video clips of AnnaLeah and Mary.

The senators were given a copy of the amendment as it was introduced  and then expected to vote on this issue despite confusion.
http://youtu.be/JeuOqy_lOEc

Media Coverage on the Collins’ Amendment attempt to change the Hours of Service (HOS) Rules:

 

“None of the industry arguments ring true to Daphne Izer, the founder of Parents Against Tired Truckers, which has pushed for tighter rest rules for 20 years. The Lisbon, Maine, resident founded the group after her 17-year-old son, Jeff, and three of his friends were killed by a fatigued truck driver.

Collins hasn’t spoken to her constituent as she has been crafting the Senate amendment, which Izer describes as a ‘back-door way of sneaking it in.’

‘This is fighting the battle all over again,’ Izer said in an interview. ‘I’m mad, but I’m not doing this just to be angry. It’s hope for the future. It’s sparing others from going through what we’ve been through.’”

Basic Information About the Collins’ Amendment

& Its Impact on the Hours of Service (HOS) Rules (From the Truck Safety Coalition)

 Talking Points

HOS and Truck Driver Fatigue

  • Every year, on average, 4,000 people die in truck crashes and about 100,000 more are injured at a cost of at least $87 billion, a large number of them due to driver fatigue.

  • Truck driver fatigue has been recognized as a major safety concern and a contributing factor to fatal truck crashes for over 70 years.

  • The 2006 Large Truck Crash Causation Study reported that 13 percent of Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) drivers were considered to have been fatigued at the time of a serious crash.

  • FMCSA studies reveal that 65% of truck drivers report they often or sometimes feel drowsy while driving and nearly half admit they fell asleep while driving in the previous year.

  • Working long daily and weekly hours on a continuing basis is associated with chronic fatigue, a high risk of crashes, and a number of serious chronic health conditions in drivers.

  • Truck driving is one of the most dangerous occupations in our country, and is consistently one of the top ten most dangerous jobs in the U.S. In 2011, fatalities among large truck occupants increased 20 percent, and by another 9 percent in 2012.

  • Every minute and a half of every day, there is a large truck crash.

  • Truck crashes are on the rise. From 2009 to 2012, truck crash injuries increased by a staggering 40 percent, resulting in 104,000 injuries in 2012. During this period, truck crash fatalities increased three years in a row, a cumulative 16% increase, with nearly 4,000 deaths in 2012.

  • The current HOS Rule will:

    • Prevent approximately 1,400 crashes each year — saving 19 lives and avoiding 560 injuries;

    • Provide $280 million in annual savings from fewer crashes and $470 million in annual savings from improved driver health (i.e., reduced mortality).

  • We cannot roll-back the restart provisions in the HOS rule and cause more deaths and injuries when saving lives should be first and foremost.

  • Support the CMV Driver Restart Study instead of a roll back on safety regulation.

    • The public health and safety community, the trucking alliance, and labor jointly support the Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) Driver Restart Study. The CMV Driver Restart Study directs DOT to conduct a peer-reviewed study of truck driver fatigue with specific deadlines based on objective data produced by electronic logging devices (ELDs) that will be installed in 2015.

 

Restart provisions:

 

  • The restart provision ensures that truck drivers cannot take another 34 hours restart until 168 hours or 7 days have passed. 

  • This provision is necessary to reduce the cumulative, chronic fatigue that results from working 80 plus hours, week in and week out – nearly twice as many hours as the regular 40 hour work week.

  • Under the new HOS rule, drivers can continue to work 70 hour weeks. The restart limits the 80 and 80 plus hour work weeks to every other week.

  • The 34-hour provision is scientifically valid:

    • One of the largest naturalistic field studies to measure fatigue among commercial motor vehicle drivers provided further scientific evidence that the 34-hour restart provision in the current hours-of-service rule for truck drivers is more effective at combatting fatigue than the prior version.

  • The two consecutive 1:00 – 5:00 a.m. rest periods are absolutely necessary to reduce fatigue. After working 7 days in a row, and nearly twice as many hours as the 40 hour work week, truck drivers need and deserve two days off.  Even working at the reduced 70 hour work week, truck driving continues to resemble a sweatshop on wheels.

  • Drivers with only one night of rest (as opposed to the two nights in the restart provision):

    • Exhibited more lapses of attention, especially at night;

    • Reported greater sleepiness, especially toward the end of their duty periods; and

    • Showed increased lane deviation in the morning, afternoon and at night.

  • The restart provisions do not prevent drivers from continuing to drive at night.

 

Additional points:

 

  • Senator Collins is misleading when she claims that her amendment will not make a big change.  It’s a significant change that will perpetuate fatigue, and especially the cumulative, chronic fatigue of the most overworked truck drivers.

  • With one amendment, Senator Collins will undue 25 years of research and input from thousands of stakeholders representing a broad range of interests.

  • Some truck drivers work 70 hour weeks – nearly double a typical American work week – and they are controlling 80,000 pound trucks. They should be given a weekend off to spend time with their families. The Collins amendment pushes truck drivers even further beyond their limits. These sweatshops on wheels must be reformed.

  • Senator Collins needs to stop doing the bidding of the trucking industry and protect her constituents.

  • The hours of service (HOS) rule is based on years of scientific research and this amendment is a backdoor attempt to ignore the research and evade the rulemaking process.

  • There have been absolutely no hearings, no public input, and no adequate safety review of removing the truck driver weekend off provision.

  • This rule is not even 1 year old. Striking it will lead to confusion in the industry and to law enforcement. If police officers don’t understand the rules, how are they going to enforce them?

  • The safety of motorists and truck drivers should come before the economic demands of the trucking industry.

  • Who is Senator Collins doing this for and why?  It’s certainly not for Maine families and her constituents – the people she represents – so then who?

  • Senator Collins is creating a legacy of plowing over truck safety rules and regulations. She’s already assured that her legacy is bigger, more dangerous and damaging trucks.  Why is she determined to add fatigued truck drivers?

 

 

 

 

Debunking the Myths on Federal Hours-of-Service Rules for Truck Drivers (from DOT)

Truck Safety,

   Myth: There was no need to update the Hours-of-Service rule.

  Fact: Thousands of people die in large truck crashes each year and driver fatigue is a leading factor. In 1995, Congress directed the U.S. Department of Transportation to address fatigue-related motor carrier safety issues. Through a series of rulemakings, FMCSA attempted to do so but was embroiled in litigation for nearly 10 years, creating uncertainty for the industry.

In 2011, after years of research and public input from industry and safety advocates, FMCSA finalized the rule that took effect on July 1, 2013 and is in place today. In August 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the current hours-of-service rules, after twice overturning previous versions. The Court said, “…our decision today brings to an end much of the permanent warfare surrounding the HOS rules.”

 

  Myth: The latest rule was put into place without proper research, study or public input.

  Fact: Before finalizing the current Hours-of-Service rules, FMCSA held six public listening sessions, an online question and answer forum and carefully considered approximately 21,000 comments that were also submitted from drivers, carriers, and industry associations.

The 2011 final rule lists 80 sources of scientific research and data considered by the Agency and the Regulatory Impact Analysis cited nearly 50 scientific sources. All of this was on top of hundreds of studies regarding fatigue and hours of work that were considered in past HOS rulemakings.

 

 A third-party also conducted one of the largest naturalistic field studies to measure fatigue among commercial motor vehicle drivers that concluded the current 34-hour restart provision is more effective at combatting fatigue than the previous version.

Researchers measured sleep, reaction time, subjective sleepiness and driving performance, and found that drivers who began their work week with just one nighttime period of rest, as compared to the two nights in the updated 34-hour restart break:

 

  • Exhibited more lapses of attention, especially at night;

  • Reported greater sleepiness, especially toward the end of their duty periods; and

  • Showed increased lane deviation in the morning, afternoon and at night.

 

  Myth: All truck drivers are negatively impacted by the updated rule.

  Fact: Less than 15 percent of long-haul truck drivers — those who worked the most extreme schedules– are impacted by the current rule, according to the Regulatory Impact Analysis. Those extreme schedules, averaging more than 80 hours per week, are limited in the revised HOS rules by requiring these drivers to adopt schedules averaging no more than 70 hours per week. Short-haul truck drivers who operate within a 100 or 150 mile radius are not even required to take the new 30-minute break.

 

 Furthermore, working long daily and weekly hours on a continuing basis is associated with chronic fatigue, a higher risk of crashes and a number of serious chronic health conditions in drivers. A recent study by the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that 69 percent of truck drivers were obese and 54 percent smoked. Additionally, 88 percent of long-haul truck drivers reported having at least one risk factor (hypertension, smoking, and obesity) for chronic disease, compared to only 54 percent of the general U.S. adult working population.

 

 Myth: Crashes, injuries and fatalities were lower under the old Hours-of-Service rule.

 Fact: While the rate of fatal crashes involving large trucks per 100 million vehicle miles traveled decreased each year from 2005 through 2009, it rose, along with increased demand for freight shipping, from 2009 through 2012.

Myth: The Hours-of-Service rule is hurting a trucker’s ability to make money and trucking companies’ bottom lines.

 Fact: This rule has been in place almost a full year; a year in which the industry has seen higher profitability than any year since 2009. Only those drivers who were working up to 80 hours per week before may be affected by having their work limited to an average of 70 hours per week, which is still nearly double the national standard of a 40-hour work week. Such long hours of work can lead to ailments and disabilities that would greatly impact the driver’s income.

Myth: The Hours-of-Service rule is forcing truck drivers to be on the road during the day and rush hours.

  Fact: This rule does not prevent drivers from setting their own schedules or restrict them from being on the roads during any time of the day. Only if a driver exceeds 60 hours of work in 7 days (or 70 hours in 8 days) does he or she have to take at least 34-hours off duty including two periods from 1-5 a.m. in order to “restart” the clock on a fresh work week. Even then, there is no requirement that such a driver “hit the road” at 5:00 a.m. The revised HOS rules provide considerable operational flexibility.

 

  Myth: The rule’s drive-time restrictions are forcing some drivers to shut down their trucks when they’re just a few miles from their destinations.

  Fact: That will always be the case, no matter what the limits on driving and work hours are, if the motor carrier and driver plan the schedule so tightly that the driver can barely complete the run legally.

 

  Myth: This rule is exacerbating the driver shortage.

  Fact: As the economy strengthens and demand increases, more truckers are needed to transport freight. However, high driver turnover is endemic in the trucking industry due to the difficult working conditions, low wages and the demands of the job. The American Trucking Associations determined that in 2013, driver turnover averaged 96 percent compared to 2005 when it reached an all-time high of 130 percent. Shortages of drivers, when and where they do exist, depend more on salaries and working conditions than on other factors.

(Note, 12/8/16: I think that this is from here: https://annaleahmary.com/2014/06/fact-sheet-on-truck-driver-hours-of-service-from-dot-fmcsa/)

 

Fact Sheet on Truck Driver Hours-of-Service from DOT (FMCSA)

Truck Safety,

 

We cannot roll-back the Hours-of-Service rule and cause more deaths and injuries when saving lives should be first and foremost.” — Daphne Izer of Maine, whose 17-year-old son and three other teenagers were killed by a trucker who fell asleep at the wheel.

 

 

Fatal Crash Rates

 

While the rate of fatal crashes involving large trucks per 100 million vehicle miles traveled decreased each year from 2005 through 2009, it rose, along with increased demands for freight shipping, from 2009 through 2012.

 

 

Data from the U.S. Department of Transportation shows that in 2012 there were:

 

  • 10,659,380 large trucks registered in the United States;

  • 317,000 traffic crashes involving large trucks – an average of 6,100 each week, or 868 per day;

  • 3,921 fatalities involving large truck crashes – an average of 75 per week, or 11 per day;

  • 73,000 large truck injury crashes – an average of 1,400 per week, or 200 per day.

 

 

Driver fatigue is a leading factor in large truck crashes. The 2006 Large Truck Crash Causation Study reported that 13 percent of Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) drivers were considered to have been fatigued at the time of a serious crash.

 

 

The Revised Hours-of-Service rules from the FMCSA went into effect in July 2013 to reduce fatigue-related crashes and ensure that drivers get the rest they need to be alert, safe and awake when operating up to 80,000-pound vehicles on roads they share with the traveling public. The regulations reduce the maximum average work week for truckers to 70 hours from 82 hours and require them to take a 30-minute break during the first eight hours of their shift.

 

 

Analysis shows the revised rules:

 

  • Prevent approximately 1,400 crashes each year — saving 19 lives and avoiding 560 injuries;

  • Impact less than 15 percent of the truck driving population;

  • Provide $280 million in annual savings from fewer crashes and $470 million in annual savings from improved driver health (i.e., reduced mortality).

 

Scientific study of the 34-hour provision:

 

One of the largest naturalistic field studies to measure fatigue among commercial motor vehicle drivers provided further scientific evidence that the 34-hour restart provision in the current hours-of-service rule for truck drivers is more effective at combatting fatigue than the prior version.

 

 

Scientists who measured sleep, reaction time, sleepiness and driving performance found that drivers who began their work week with just one nighttime period of rest, as compared to the two nights in the updated 34-hour restart break:

 

  • Exhibited more lapses of attention, especially at night;

  • Reported greater sleepiness, especially toward the end of their duty periods; and

  • Showed increased lane deviation in the morning, afternoon and at night.

 

 

Working long daily and weekly hours on a continuing basis is associated with chronic fatigue, a high risk of crashes, and a number of serious chronic health conditions in drivers.

 

 

A National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health survey found that 69 percent of truck drivers were obese and 54 percent smoked. Additionally, 88 percent of long-haul truck drivers reported having at least one risk factor (hypertension, smoking, and obesity) for chronic disease, compared to only 54 percent of the general U.S. adult working population: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/updates/upd-01-16-14.html.

 

The Daines Amendment Passed: Contact Your U.S. Representative

Truck Safety

J, M, I The Hill

See how your U.S. Representative voted yesterday—for or against the Daines Amendment, which would block increases to minimum liability insurance levels for trucks. It passed 214 – 212: http://trucksafety.org/see-how-your-representative-voted-the-daines-amendment/

Make a difference…Tell your Representative:

  • “Thanks for your vote!” OR
  • “Please reconsider your vote! The minimum insurance levels have not been raised for over 30 years. Who will suffer? Independent Owner Operators. Accident victims & their families. Taxpayers.”

Impact of Hours of Service Rules: What is the truth?

Truck Safety

IMG_4491

I would like to know the truth of the matter regarding yesterday’s Amendment to the THUD (Transportation, Housing, & Urban Development) bill suspending the 34 Hour Restart Rule for truck drivers for a year while a study is conducted, as well as the requirement for truckers to have two consecutive nights with sleep during the 1-5 a.m. time period.

The American Trucking Associations are saying that there have been unintended consequences due to those two provisions of DOT’s Hours of Service (HOS) rule implemented last July. ATA says that, “…the motor carrier industry’s safety performance while operating under the former 34-hour restart rule from 2004 through 2012 (latest data available). The number of truck-involved fatalities dropped by 21 percent between 2004 through 2012, and the number of truck-involved injuries dropped by 20 percent over the same timeframe. The only publicly available fatigue-related data from the Trucks Involved in Fatal Accidents database (now discontinued due to lac of US DOT funding) showed a very low percentage of fatal crashes involved fatigue–less than 2% with the latest year (2009) coming in at 1.4%.”  (Taken from a letter sent by the ATA on June 3, 2014, to the chairs and co-chairs of the Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, & Urban Development, & Related Agencies)

On the other hand, Anne Ferro (FMCSA) says this: “Since 2009, we’ve seen an 18 percent increase in large truck crash fatalities. To put that in perspective, in one year alone, large trucks were involved in 317,000 traffic crashes resulting in an average of 75 deaths per week. That’s 11 per day.”

According to Ferro, the proposed amendment would cause a setback in DOT attempts to decrease driver fatigue and truck crash fatalities. Read more here: http://1.usa.gov/1hzbF59

Anne Ferro also said: “Fatigue is under-reported in crash accounts because drivers often don’t want to admit to being at-fault or sleepy. However, we know that driver fatigue is a leading factor in large truck crashes; in fact, analysis has shown that upward of 13 percent of commercial drivers involved in a crash were considered to have been fatigued at the time of that crash.”

What is the truth?

Truck Driver Fatigue: 1.4% vs 13%

Truck-Related Fatalities: Dropped 21% vs Increased 18%

I don’t know. But I do know that there were 2 horrific deaths caused by a truck driver on May 4, 2013 near Greensboro, Georgia. And I hear of many more all too often.

In our crash, log books were never found and the issue of driver fatigue was not even mentioned in the SCRTE Crash Report put together by the Georgia State Patrol. The fact that there were no log books is not affecting the charges one iota.

In addition, in many truck crash fatalities, the truck driver survives and the driver/passengers in the other vehicle do not. The victim cannot offer any input. In our case, I am alive to question what happened.

Senators on the Appropriations Committee were asked to make a quick decision based on the presentation by Senator Collins and the debate they heard over the course of less than half an hour. Many of them were confused about this issue.

The American Trucking Associations claim that those two restrictions–34-hr. restart provision and sleeping 2 nights from 1-5 a.m. have caused truckers to put more trucks on the road during congested daytime hours and that this is causing  more accidents. Is this the truth?

* “Why Congress shouldn’t roll back safety provisions set in place to keep tired truckers off the road”: http://1.usa.gov/1hzbF59

* “Administration to Congress: Leave trucker schedule rules alone.” Read more: http://bit.ly/1ktZuXA

You can hear the half-hour debate & vote over this Amendment at the Senate Appropriations Committee meeting on June 5, 2014:  http://youtu.be/JeuOqy_lOEc

( Video clips of AnnaLeah and Mary during their life. Audio: Recording of the public livestream of the Senate Appropriations Committee meeting on June 5, 2014, when an amendment was introduced and passed to suspend two of the components of the HOS rules for truck drivers.)

IMG_20140508_114515_341

 

Certified Medical Examinations: Reminder from DOT to Commercial Drivers

Truck Safety

 

May 21, 2014 was the effective date of the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners. This is a measure to ensure that DOT physicals are conducted by certified medical practitioners and, bottom-line, commercial motor vehicle drivers meet our health requirements. See the article below to learn more about this important step:

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/newsroom/dot-reminds-commercial-drivers-physicals-must-now-be-performed-certified-medical-examiners

More Opposition to DOT Safety Measures? You Have Got To Be Kidding!

Truck Safety

IMG_4465

When will resistance to safety measures come to an end? Guess what…more delays are sure to mean more deaths.

How is it that anything can take priority over human life?

Maybe part of the problem is that “safety” is a word which can be argued back and forth. “This is being proposed to improve ‘safety’.” “That is not really helping ‘safety.'”

We aren’t talking about simply safety. We are talking about life and death, and horrific injuries.

Yet, the American Trucking Associations–I found out just today (May 21, 2014)–have thrown yet another monkey wrench in DOT attempts to decrease driver fatigue. What is likely to be the result? More confusion and delays and ultimately more untimely deaths due to crashes which come about as a result of driver fatigue…

http://www.truckinginfo.com/channel/drivers/news/story/2014/05/ata-stirs-reaction-with-bid-to-cut-funding-for-hours-of-service-restart.aspx

headstone

Two Years to Comply: Electronic Logging Devices

Truck Safety

Once the final rule for Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) is published–possibly by the Summer of 2015 according to DOT on May 5—then the trucking companies will have two years to comply (i.e., Summer of 2017).

What I want to find out is: Why are they allowed two years? What takes so long to get ELDs installed?

That’s what I am going to investigate.

It looks like part of the situation is the need for a management system which will monitor the ELDs:

“Other provisions state that every motor carrier will have to set up and use an hours-of-service management system to detect and prevent violations. This has always been a best practice. Now it would become a requirement when the rule is finalized. This management system will likely include the use of supporting documents that carriers generate or receive in the normal course of business. The rule will specify the exact criteria these documents will have to meet.” http://truckcompliance.com/industry-updates/elds-electronic-logging-devices-matter/

But why two years?

Here are details on the rule-making process:

”So, to break down the EOBR / ELD mandate process so far:

The road to the ELD mandate began when Congress passed MAP-21 in June 2012.

The president signed MAP-21 shortly thereafter, requiring the FMCSA to write a rule requiring use of electronic logging devices, or EOBRs, for all drivers that keep a Record Of Duty Status—about 3.1 million trucks and 3.4 million drivers today.

The FMCSA developed a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) that was sent to the Office of the Secretary, who approved it and sent it back to the FMCSA in July 2013.

From there, the rule moved over to OMB, where it cleared today, March 12, 2014.

The FMCSA will keep the rule for the next two weeks, eventually publishing the SNPRM for public comment.

A comment period will then take place, published as 60 days, giving anyone a chance to add their feedback.

The FMCSA will take those public comments and revise the rule, a process that can take between six and nine months.

According to these time frames, we can estimate a final rule to be published in the first calendar quarter of 2015.

Based on MAP-21 requirements, fleets will have two years to comply with these rules—meaning you will be required to implement an EOBR for an Electronic Logging Device by January 2017 at the latest.”

Taken from: http://eobr.com/eobr-news/eobr-mandate/eld-mandate-clears-omb/#more-849

 

 

 

Product Liability

Truck Safety,

underride guards trip to RDU 005IMG_4465

According to Wikipedia: “Product liability is the area of law in which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers, and others who make products available to the public are held responsible for the injuries those products cause.”

According to our lawyer, product liability regarding underride guards on the back of semi-trailers would involve one of the following:

  • design according to federal standards
  • proper installation
  • maintenance

Should a company also be held liable for the safety of their products if there are higher known standards than what federal law requires of them?

Paper Log Books

Truck Safety

Washington DC 151

On the way home from DC, we stopped at a truck stop for gas. On the way through the convenience store, I walked down an aisle which displayed Driver’s Daily Log booklets. Never saw one before. I just had to buy it for $2.99—good for keeping track of a month’s worth of driving days and nights and however many hours of service a driver logged.

 Never found one for the driver in our case. But apparently nobody takes these too seriously. Unreliable. The reason for the change to Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs). I hope that they can make ELDs work better than the paper log books and not just for after-the-fact evidence but for PREVENTION–for changing driving behavior to save lives.

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Washington DC 152