I had lots of time to kill while waiting for my truck to be fixed while in the shop, so I wrote this letter to the FMCSA. We may be able to stop some, or all, of these changes if enough people send in their comments. If you agree with what this letter says, send a signed copy of it to the FMCSA by one of the methods listed below.
Do it now because the comment period ends at the end of this month.
Be sure to include the numbers at the top of the letter.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov
Fax: 202-493-2251.
Mail: Docket Management Facility (M-30), U.S. Department of Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
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FMCSA-2004-19608
RIN 2126-AB26
To all persons associated with improving the FMCSA commercial drivers hours of service.
This letter is in response to the proposed changes to the drivers hours of service. While some changes could be helpful, most mentioned in this proposal do nothing to increase safety, with some being completely impractical. It is stated in the summary of the proposed rules that these changes will add flexibility. While some of the minor changes could be interpreted as adding flexibility, the added restrictions on drivers makes the proposal as a whole far more detrimental than the current rules.
The change being proposed to limit a drivers working time to 13 hours is very impractical and does nothing to improve safety on the road. It is very common for a driver to reach his destination at the end of his workday and check in to be loaded or unloaded after arrival. It is also very common for shippers and receivers to take several hours to load or unload a truck. If the proposed 13 hour workday becomes law, a driver will have no choice but to violate that rule because they will not be allowed to finish a 10 hour break while backed into a dock.
The proposed changes to the 34 hour restart does nothing to increase safety. An unrestricted 34 hour restart is more than enough time for a driver to get rested before going back to work. Requiring a driver to include two time periods of 12 am to 6 am may, in some cases, actually result in a driver getting less rest. Limiting the restart to only one every 168 hours is incredibly senseless. The goal of the restart is for the driver to get plenty of rest. If a driver has more than one restart per week he would be getting more rest. The only thing this proposed change will accomplish will be to cause scheduling problems .
Adding the ½ hour rest break should eliminate the argument for reducing the driving time from 11 to 10 hours. There will be a drastic monetary cost because of the schedule changes needed to meet this requirement for the very minor if any safety gains.
The proposed change to the split sleeper berth is a step in the right direction, but limiting the split to 8 and 2 hours is too restrictive for many drivers. Closely related to this is the requirement that all work be completed in 14 hours. A considerable percentage of the drivers working under the present rules are forced to keep driving even though they are tired because they can’t stop the 14 hour clock to take a break.
True flexibility is the key to increased safety. A driver needs to be able to rest when his body requires it. For the many drivers that can’t sleep for 8 hours, it would be much safer if they could sleep for the 5 or 6 hours that they can, and be able to stop and rest later when they need it after the 14 hour clock has started. The inflexible rules that a driver must follow increases stress and stress is a contributing factor to fatigue. This means that these rules as written are actually detracting from safety and this will only be exacerbated by some of the proposed rules. If the main goal of the hours of service law is to increase safety, then flexibility must be included.
