Safety Group wants Hours of Service Reduced

Image by toshism via Flickr

Daily driving time under a new Hours of Service rule should be reduced by 27 percent, a document filed by a group of safety advocates reveals.
 

The document, filed by Henry Jasny on behalf of the Truck Safety Coalition, Public Citizen and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, was posted last week on the www.regulations.gov and is one of over 300 documents related to the new rule.

Under the heading Daily Shift Drive Time Maximum, the document reads: “[There should be] No more than eight consecutive hours of driving per shift, based on extensive research findings that show dramatic increase in relative risk of crashes after eight consecutive hours of driving.” 

The document lists basic safety parameters for a new rule:

• 24 hour-circadian schedule

• Lower daily driving and work time limits

• Lower weekly driving and work time maximums

• Increased daily off-duty time, including in sleeper berths

• Increased end-of-week rest time

• Recognition of safety hazards of night-time driving, and

• Universal electronic on-board recorder (EOBR) equipment. 

 

The coalition said it wants to see a maximum of 40 driving hours in a seven-day period and a maximum of 60 hours of work time in a seven-day period.

FMCSA Defends the new Safety Act

Image via Wikipedia

The trucking industry’s top regulator says her agency is moving forward as planned with a long-awaited safety program, even as lawmakers and trucking representatives suggested the agency should focus more on getting the program right than on rolling it out on time.

Noting that a field test in nine states wraps up this month, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Anne Ferro on Tuesday told a House panel that preliminary findings show a 35 percent increase in investigations under Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, meaning more carriers are being reached, and with greater efficiency.
 Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010, CSA 2010, is a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) initiative to improve large truck and bus safety and ultimately reduce commercial motor vehicle (CMV)-related crashes, injuries and fatalities. It introduces a new enforcement and compliance model that allows FMCSA and its State partners to contact a larger number of carriers earlier in order to address safety problems before crashes occur. When the program is fully rolled out by the end of 2010, FMCSA will have a new nationwide system for making the roads safer for motor carriers and the public alike
The roll-out for CSA 2010 officially began in April with the carrier data preview, Ferro explained. As previously announced, the actual safety measurement system — in which carriers will be compared to industry peers —will be previewed in late August, followed by full public availability at the end of the year. Remaining components — warning letters, the intervention process and the new fitness determination rule — will continue to the end of fiscal year 2011, she added.


Source