In spite of study, no regulation on commute times on the horizon

May 25, 2018

Jami Jones

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As the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration inches closer to studying excessive commute times by truck drivers, agency officials are making it clear that no regulation restricting commute times is in the works.

In a May 24 notice posted on the Federal Register, FMCSA officials are seeking a second round of comments on the congressionally mandated study into excessive – that being 150 minutes or more – commute times of truck drivers.

Typically, agencies conduct studies in the course of implementing or changing regulations. That’s not the case with the upcoming commuter study.

“There are no current or future planned regulations associated with this survey, nor does FMCSA plan to actively track driver commutes to obtain data,” the Federal Register notice states.

The agency is, instead, conducting the study because Congress mandated it in the FAST Act of 2015.

Section 5515 of the FAST Act directs the FMCSA administrator to “conduct a study on the safety effects of motor carrier operator commutes exceeding 150 minutes.” The act further specifies that a report containing the findings of this study should be submitted to Congress no later than 18 months after the date of enactment of the act.

Clearly FMCSA has missed the 18-month deadline because the FAST Act was signed into law more than two and half years ago on Dec. 4, 2015.

And, even though the agency doesn’t have any plans at this time to proceed with regulation of truck drivers commute times, that doesn’t mean Congress doesn’t have something else in mind.

“It’s important to understand that Congress can call the shots on this issue and direct FMCSA to issue a regulation on commute times,” OOIDA Senior Legislative Affairs Director Collin Long said. “That’s why participation in a study like this could actually help stop another unnecessary regulation. If it proves that excessive commute times are rare, this could be the end of this conversation.”

So, to comply with the mandate from Congress to conduct the study the agency is moving ahead with getting all the necessary Office of Management and Budget clearance to proceed with it.

The agency is proposing to randomly sample 12,000 CDL holders and conduct an online survey of their commuting habits. The survey is voluntary and those asked to participate in the survey will be offered $12 for their time – which FMCSA estimates will be about 20 minutes to complete the survey. The agency officials initially expect a little more than 4 percent response rate of 500 participants.

The public is invited to comment on the proposed survey collection and are asked to address four specific questions:

  • whether the proposed collection is necessary for the FMCSA to perform its functions;
  • the accuracy of the estimated burden;
  • ways for the FMCSA to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and
  • ways that the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of the collected information.

This is the second time the public has been asked to comment on the study. Out of the 381 comments received on the previous notice, 22 were deemed not relevant to the study because commenters attempted to address concerns over the electronic logging mandate and were subsequently not considered.

Comments can be sent via one of four methods:

Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments

  • Fax: 202–493–2251
  • Mail: Docket Operations, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12–140, Washington, DC 20590–0001
  • Hand Delivery or Courier: 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12–140, Washington, DC 20590 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

All comments must include the agency’s name (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) and docket number (FMCSA-2017-0313). The deadline for comment is June 25.