Road to highway safety
Over the past decade, there have been plenty of attempts to decrease the number of fatality crashes.
Technology, such as automatic emergency braking and lane assist, has been added to many new vehicles. In the trucking industry, regulators mandated electronic logging devices to make sure drivers don’t exceed their hours of service. Most of the largest motor carriers run with speed limiters on their trucks.
Meanwhile, deaths on America’s roadways continue to increase. Since 2011, when there were 32,479 traffic fatalities, the number climbed by 32% to 42,915 in 2021.
The first half of 2022 didn’t get much better. In September, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released preliminary statistics that 20,175 people died in traffic crashes through the first six months. Although the numbers indicate a slight decline, fatalities are on pace to exceed 40,000 for the second consecutive year.
Officials from the U.S. Department of Transportation have deemed it a “crisis.”
“Traffic deaths appear to be declining for the first time since 2020, but they are still at high levels that call for urgent and sustained action,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a news release. “These deaths are preventable, not inevitable, and we should act accordingly. Safety is our guiding mission at the Department of Transportation, and we will redouble our efforts to reduce the tragic number of deaths on our nation’s roads.”
Those efforts shouldn’t be focused on throwing more technology and stringent trucking regulations at the problem, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association says.
Truckers point to the ELD mandate as evidence that technology and burdensome trucking regulations aren’t the answers. Fatalities in 2021 increased by 14.5% since 2017, the final year without full enforcement of the mandate.
The statistics indicate that government officials need to take a new direction – one that includes a stronger focus on passenger vehicles. In trucking, OOIDA says the agency should do more to improve driver training requirements as well as give truckers the ability to drive when it’s safe and stop when they’re tired.
“As we approach five years since the original implementation date, it’s clear the ELD mandate has not been the silver-bullet-solution for improving highway safety that federal regulators and other supporters claimed it would be,” said Jay Grimes, OOIDA’s director of federal affairs.
Crash stats
The total number of fatalities in the first half of the year increased from 20,070 in 2021 to 20,175 in 2022. The numbers represent a significant surge in recent years. From 2011 to 2020, the first half of a year yielded no more than 17,717 traffic deaths.
While the latest numbers do not include a breakdown of crashes involving large trucks, recent statistics have indicated that commercial motor vehicles aren’t the main culprit.
Traffic deaths have been on the rise since the pandemic started in March 2020. Fatalities have climbed from 36,355 in 2019 to 38,824 in 2020 and 42,915 in 2021. Even though trucks remained on the road throughout 2020 – and many were operating under an emergency declaration – fatalities involving large trucks decreased by 2%.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration noted in 2021 that more than 90% of the truck drivers involved in fatality crashes did not receive a moving violation.
At a safety summit in June, an FMCSA representative said the pandemic sparked an “aggressive” driving culture among passenger vehicles.
“Overall traffic went down in the beginning, but the aggressiveness of drivers in general, especially among passenger vehicle drivers, went up dramatically,” said Darrell Ruban, associate administrator for FMCSA’s Office of Safety. “I’ve heard that from every state. With that behavior, the culture shifted a little bit, because people had more open road.
“Then, over time, traffic starts coming back. But guess what? The culture and behavior did not change. That’s what I’ve heard around the country. That’s what I’ve seen on accident reports. So when I use the term ‘culture,’ we’ve got a daunting task ahead of us in changing the culture, especially among passenger vehicles.”
Still, truckers contend that much of the U.S. DOT’s focus remains on commercial motor vehicles. Full enforcement of FMCSA’s ELD mandate took effect in 2018, but overall fatality crashes have increased from 37,473 in 2017 to 42,915 in 2021. And despite FMCSA acknowledging that passenger vehicles were the main source of the aggressive driving, the agency is considering requiring speed limiters on most commercial motor vehicles.
FMCSA also is considering doubling down on the ELD mandate. The current regulation exempts trucks with pre-2000 engines. In September, the agency issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking asking the public for feedback on whether or not the exemption should remain.
“The agency must not attempt to alter the current rules regarding pre-2000 engines,” Grimes said. “Modifying this provision would be pulling out the rug from drivers who have maintained older vehicles or have invested in glider kits. Unless FMCSA wants to repeal the costly and unnecessary ELD mandate altogether, they should not change the pre-2000 engine rules.”
Emergency declaration
Amid a safety crisis and the agency’s continued focus on utilizing ELDs to track truckers’ hours of service, a federal emergency declaration has been in effect for nearly three years.
FMCSA issued the COVID-19 emergency declaration – granting hours-of-service relief to truckers hauling emergency loads – in March 2020. As of press time, the latest version of the waiver was set to run through Oct. 15.
Despite thousands of loads being delivered under the exemption, FMCSA told Land Line in August that it was aware of only two crashes involving truck drivers operating under the waiver. Both were single-vehicle crashes. The first crash resulted in only minor injuries to the driver. The driver was uninjured in the second crash.
OOIDA told FMCSA that the success of the waiver indicates that truck drivers can operate safely without strict hours of service.
“This shows that drivers are generally not going to abuse additional hours-of-service flexibility at the risk of highway safety,” OOIDA wrote in formal comments to the agency on Sept. 21. “An experienced driver will know when they need to rest or take a break, and this data shows that more practical hours-of-service rules allow drivers to use their time more efficiently without endangering other highway users.”
More flexibility
OOIDA says now is the time to provide truckers’ additional flexibility within the hours-of-service regulations.
“As the nation emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, FMCSA should take the lessons learned since March 2020 and apply them in ways that improve the quality of trucking jobs,” OOIDA wrote. “We believe granting additional hours-of-service flexibility will provide drivers more opportunities to rest when they are tired, to maintain greater control over their own schedules, and allow them to work more efficiently.
“We encourage FMCSA to take further action to promote hours-of-service flexibility starting with expanded split sleeper options or letting drivers pause their 14-hour clock up to three hours if necessary.”
OOIDA petitioned the agency in February 2018 to revise the hours of service. After a lengthy comment period that included thousands of truck drivers asking for more flexibility, FMCSA added an adverse driving provision and made changes to short-haul limits, split-sleeper options and the 30-minute break rule. Those rule changes took effect in September 2020 and were upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit this past July.
OOIDA says the agency should take additional steps by launching a split-duty period pilot program and expanding split-sleeper berth options.
“Allowing drivers to pause their 14-hour clock would give truckers greater flexibility to rest when tired and avoid congestion, adverse weather conditions, or other factors that make driving unsafe,” OOIDA wrote. “The split-duty period would not increase maximum driving time, maximum on-duty time, or decrease minimum off-duty rest periods between shifts. Additionally, drivers would have more chances to get sufficient rest and would not be as stressed to beat the 14-hour clock. This would result in positive outcomes for driver health and highway safety.”
OOIDA said that a key to the success of a split-duty provision would be to ensure that the decision to pause the clock would be at the “sole discretion” of the driver.
The September 2020 changes to the hours of service, including a new sleeper berth provision that allowed for such splits as 8/2 and 7/3.
OOIDA says the agency should add 6/4 and 5/5 splits to truckers’ options.
“These splits would increase flexibility, allowing drivers to increase their productivity without compromising safety,” OOIDA wrote. “In fact, these splits would help to increase both safety along with health/wellness. The truth is that not all drivers are able to sleep eight or 10 hours at a time. Many OOIDA members have commented that they struggle to sleep more than six hours at a time. Thus, allowing them to split their sleeper time more efficiently will allow them to gain more adequate rest, resulting in increased alertness and better driving performance.”
Many truck drivers reinforced OOIDA’s arguments in formal comments to the agency.
Truck driver Joe Murphy commented that he believes the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s intentions were good when it established the hours-of-service regulations for commercial motor vehicles. However, Murphy recently told the agency that the regulations are causing more harm than good when it comes to highway safety.
The reality is, truck drivers say, that a rule telling them when they can’t drive is simultaneously forcing them to drive during the hours the rule allows. Considering that most truck drivers are paid by the mile, it’s easy to imagine why truckers would feel compelled to keep operating during their allowed driving window even if they are tired or if the road conditions are unsafe.
“Us drivers all understand why you came up with the hours-of-service regulations,” Murphy wrote. “Many companies out there try to take advantage of their drivers. However it’s time to face facts. These HOS regulations are hurting drivers more than they are helping.
“If you want to keep drivers safe on the road, come up with a system that allows drivers to report the company they are driving for if they are being forced to continue driving if they are tired. Anonymously, if need be.”
A new route
A well-trained and well-compensated driver is the best route to improving safety in trucking, OOIDA says.
Instead of mandating costly and unproven technology, the Association wants the government to strengthen driver training requirements and to pass legislation that will encourage the safest drivers to remain in the industry.
A bill in the House and Senate would remove a provision in the Fair Labor Standards Act that exempts motor carriers from having to pay overtime to truck drivers. Citing studies that show a link between driver pay and highway safety, the Truck Safety Coalition and other safety groups have endorsed the measure.
“Every second Congress allows the FLSA Motor Carrier Exemption to exist, lives are recklessly and needlessly put at risk,” said Dawn King, a representative for the Truck Safety Coalition and the Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways. “I know firsthand the ultimate price that is paid by the failure to fairly compensate truck drivers for their time.”
OOIDA spent years lobbying for an entry-level driver training rule. Finally, a rule took effect in February. Now, the Association is encouraging FMCSA to deny all of the organizations asking for exemptions to the rule. In addition, OOIDA says a minimum number of behind-the-wheel training hours should be included.
“Currently, too many new drivers enter the industry without the basic skills to safely operate a (commercial motor vehicle),” OOIDA wrote to the agency. “While the rulemaking that went into effect earlier this year is far from sufficient, the regulation does establish minimum qualifications for training instructors.
“If these standards are maintained and enforced, highway safety will undoubtedly improve.” LL