FMCSA’s Hutcheson discusses trucking’s top issues

Shortly after being confirmed as FMCSA’s administrator, Robin Hutcheson took time to speak with Land Line Senior Editor Mark Schremmer and Land Line Now News Anchor Scott Thompson about a variety of trucking issues, including speed limiters, hours of service and broker transparency.

The interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

ST: Let’s start with hours of service. As you know in recent years, truckers have been granted more flexibility. Then, we had the recently expired COVID-19 emergency declaration that allowed for even more flexibility for drivers providing relief. FMCSA confirmed with us that there were just two crashes involving commercial motor vehicles under that declaration. Does this show that the industry could be afforded more flexibility going forward?

RH: I would say that hours of service is one of the tools that help us address safety. And I would say that the data supports that tired driving is an issue. One in seven fatality crashes has something to do with fatigue. I also would say that if we focus just on hours of service, we are shortchanging the whole effort that we have here to address underlying issues of driver safety and driver working conditions that lead to why drivers are leaving the profession. We want to look at how compensation affects driving. How detention time affects driving. These are active studies we have going on. We’re really looking at a full range of safety measures not isolated to hours of service.

ST: I’m sure you hear frustrations from truck drivers who see the same data you see and see that there were only two crashes under this emergency declaration that lasted more than two-and-a-half years.

RH: Every time we talk to drivers, we learn something. There’s no doubt. I’ve done one ride-along. Hopefully, I will do another one soon. I learned so much just from talking to an individual driver and hearing their perspective on what they provide to us. There’s no doubt that we are hearing and listening to drivers. We also have congressionally mandated hours of service.

As you know, some modification has been made in the past year or so. We’re not looking at additional modifications right now, but we do recognize that it’s an important tool for us and the industry. For example, we recently issued a nine-state emergency declaration for Hurricane Ian. I also think it’s so important to understand root causes. I want to know more from drivers on why they would like to see more changes. Is it pay? And does that go right back to compensation and detention time? So there’s really a lot to unpack here.

MS: You mentioned hearing from drivers. Back in May, FMCSA issued a supplemental advance notice of proposed rulemaking on speed limiters. That garnered about 15,000 comments. A lot of them were from truck drivers. There was definitely a lot of opposition in there. Was the agency surprised at all by how much opposition there was to a mandate? Also, could you clear up some confusion about where this rulemaking is at in the process and where the agency sees this going forward?

RH: The direct response to your question – we were not surprised to see that many comments. This was not the first time this has been discussed, so we knew there would be a lot of comments. The purpose of the supplemental notice was to listen and to learn. And there’s a lot to listen to and a lot to learn. We really appreciate the comments that came in. We are hard at work reviewing all of the comments.

The genesis is safety. There is a correlation between speed and crashes and more specifically between speed and how often someone dies. There were 5,000 crashes involving commercial motor vehicles. About 800 drivers died last year. So every tool and everything we can do to improve safety on the roadways is on our minds.

MS: I saw from FMCSA’s agenda that it’s planning on issuing the supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking on this next June. What are the next steps? Also, how will the agency go about determining a top speed?

RH: We are required to issue a significant rulemakings report, and we have to provide our projections on when we think things will be happening. The purpose of that report is to increase transparency so that we’re looking ahead and providing our best estimate. But that’s what it is. It’s our anticipated schedule for regulatory activity. Being that it’s an estimate. Being that we have (15,000) comments … We evaluate costs, safety benefits and regulatory options.

Speed is something we’ll need to have careful analysis of to set. So we have a lot of work to do before any decisions are made. We anticipate announcing decisions in 2023 about our next steps on it. We know we have a lot of technical work to do. We want to be transparent and get folks through the process, but I don’t have a date I can give you on when this will be finally finished.”

ST: Let’s shift gears to broker transparency. In 2020, OOIDA petitioned the agency to amend federal broker transparency regulations. And OOIDA recently asked for an update. Can you give us an update on the status of OOIDA’s petition?

RH: I can give some status. This is active work. I will tell you everything I can at this moment. We received the petition. We understand that improving broker transparency is a priority for your readers and for your subscribers. I’m confident that the compensation and driver detention studies will shed more light on this, but those are long-term studies. We can’t wait. That would be too long of a lead.

We have been considering the issues raised by the petition for rulemaking and based on that work, we are targeting early 2023 to issue a decision. We’re reviewing the comments, and we should be able to communicate with significantly more detail on this in early 2023. But given that we’re really close to issue a public decision, it’s probably best that I stop there.

ST: FMCSA clearly views this as a safety issue, correct?

RH: There are so many components that go into having safer drivers … A better and safer working environment. Without saying too much about what the petition is about and where our decision may be going, I would say that we would evaluate this area in the category of how do we create the best conditions for our drivers so that they can thrive and stay in the industry and become safer drivers over time.

MS: Another notice FMCSA issued was in regard to ELDs and potential updates to the regulation. One aspect of the notice was looking at whether pre-2000 engines should continue to be exempt from the ELD mandate. Could you tell me the agency’s rationale for opening this back up and provide some information on some of the other aspects of the notice?

RH: It has been seven years since we last looked at this. I think in the spirit of understanding how quickly technology is changing, we want to come out and ask questions of stakeholders and the broader community. That’s what we’re doing right now. I think of how often we have to update our phones and all of the apps. FMCSA is being very future-focused on the use of technology to improve all aspects of our work.

We are out asking questions right now about this technology. Once again, I want to reiterate how important it is to get comments back. We will be reading those comments as we determine how to move forward.

ST: One issue that people obviously have concerns about, and that you and Secretary Buttigieg have talked about a lot, is truck parking. From your perspective at FMCSA, what are some of the biggest obstacles in front of you to address this issue?

RH: I’m very glad to get this question, because truck parking is a priority. It’s a priority for the secretary and for myself. It’s a priority for the acting administrator at (the Federal Highway Administration). I had the opportunity to speak at and attend just about all of the National Trucking Parking Coalition meetings. More than 300 people attended. Some news that we talked about are the grants that are going out. We talked about some of the tools available for states and others to use to expand or build new truck parking.

I think we at FMCSA do a good job – not as good as the driver community – but we do a good job of demonstrating the problem, and we’ve been very loud about those problems. Drivers deserve a safe and secure place to rest. It also is not only unsafe for drivers, but it can be unsafe for other travelers.

We’ve had listening sessions. We’ve learned so much. We’re going to have more listening sessions. I’m especially interested to hear about this issue of truck parking on what comes out of the new Women of Trucking Advisory Board. I can say that we see the challenges ahead. Many solutions will take time. Other solutions we hope we will be able to move more swiftly on. But one thing is for sure, we have a DOT focus on increasing truck parking nationwide. We are working together. We’re trying to leverage every resource possible to increase the availability of secure parking. Providing adequate rest is just the humane thing to do.

MS: What is some of the feedback you’ve heard from truck drivers regarding the lack of truck parking? Is there anything that really hit home about how much of a crisis this really is for drivers?

RH: It was very impactful to receive a letter jointly from OOIDA and ATA. That really spurred us to ask more questions. I mentioned some of the things we’ve heard from drivers. I’ll note that for female drivers, security is at the forefront – having well-lit places, which can be hard to come by. Sometimes, (rest areas) are closed. Sometimes, they are full. There are sometimes not enough amenities for over-the-road truck drivers who are spending many days out on the road. Those are just a few. We know there are more out there, and we’re really listening to those stories.

ST: Administrator Hutcheson, we know your time is valuable so we appreciate the conversation.

RH: This is so important … We are in a moment in trucking. We are in a spotlight, and we have resources – more than ever – with the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Trucking Action Plan. We’re really looking forward to working with you and everybody in the industry. LL