Hours of Service Court Arguments
Oral arguments in the fourth hours of service lawsuit are scheduled for March. Both parties, the ATA and Public Citizen, will present their opposing claims to a three judge panel at the federal appeals court in Washington. The disagreement over the rules scheduled to take effect in July centers around the 34-hour restart and driving hours:
- The ATA feels that the restart provision is too restrictive and that FMCSA misrepresented fatigue data.
- Public Citizen wants the 34-hour restart removed and driving hours cut back to 10. They claim that FMCSA did not consider its mandate to improve safety.
- FMCSA has publicly stated that the rule is reasonable and based on scientific evidence and a consideration of the effects on health and safety along with financial impact.
Given the widely diverging opinions on the matter it’s hard to predict how the court will rule. However, we should all keep in mind that in the last three cases the court’s opinion sided with the plaintiffs. The appeals court has not said when it expects to reach a decision but that decision will certainly have an effect on what happens on July 1 when the regulations take effect. Both the ATA and CVSA asked FMCSA to delay implementation until at least 90 days after the court’s decision but that request was turned down. The effective date remains July 1, we just don’t know what those regulations will be.
The other unanswered question is: “Is this the last hours of service lawsuit?” Only time will answer that one.
NHTSA Reports Lives Saved
Credit given to technology
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that Electronic Stability Control (ESC) saved over 2,000 lives between 2008 and 2010. Under a mandate issued in 2007 all cars and light trucks manufactured after September 1, 20011, must have ESC factory installed. Prior to that many vehicles offered it as an option.
Last year NHTSA published a Notice of Propose Rulemaking that would require electronic stability control systems on truck tractors and certain buses with a gross vehicle weight rating of greater than 26,000 pounds. Electronic Stability Control systems are currently available as an option and in 2012 about one fourth of truck tractors and over three quarters of buses were built with an ESC system.
ESC systems are designed to reduce rollovers and mitigate severe understeer or oversteer conditions that lead to loss of control by using automatic computer-controlled braking and throttle reduction. NHTSA estimates that the technology could prevent up to 56 percent of rollover crashes and 14 percent of loss-of-control crashes for large trucks.
Consumers interested in purchasing used vehicles should consider vehicles equipped with this technology. NHTSA maintains a list of model year 2005 to 2010 vehicles at safercar.gov equipped with this life-saving technology. Alternatively, consumers can search by individual make and model at the same website.
View the NHTSA report, “Estimating Lives Saved by Electronic Stability Control, 2008-2010” at:
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811634.pdf
Random Positive Rate Drops
Is this good news?
The Department of Transportation (DOT) reported that in 2011 the random drug test positive rate for the trucking industry was at an all-time low of .9%. If the industry has two consecutive years below 1% the random testing rate will drop in half to 25%. Trucking is the last of the DOT regulated transportation segments to test at the higher rate. In 1996 when drug testing began the positive rate was 2.2%.
This is certainly good news but these numbers may not necessarily reflect the actual rate of drug use among truck drivers. An increasing number of motor carriers are using hair testing in addition to the DOT mandated urine based testing. The proponents of hair testing say that it’s far more effective in detecting drug use. In fact, motor carriers that utilize hair testing for new hires have reported a dramatic increase in positives. In many cases the urine based test was negative for drivers who had a positive result from the test performed on their hair sample. Without the hair test the motor carrier would have employed the driver based on the negative urine based test.
Many feel that the time has come for the DOT to seriously consider endorsing hair testing for drugs. As with any change there are pros and cons and those should be carefully considered. However, in the long run, it appears as if hair testing may help motor carriers avoid potential liability. Even once this issue is resolved there’s still the issue of the so called “synthetic” drugs being manufactured. The science of drug testing is ever evolving and motor carriers as well as FMCSA will need to endorse new technologies to combat the potential drivers who feel that they’ve found a flaw in the system that they can exploit.
CVSA Event Calendar
Roadcheck: June 4 – 6
Brake Safety Week: September 8 – 14
Operation Safe Driver: October 20 – 26
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