OOIDA questions FMCSA’s emergency declaration proposal

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is a bit perplexed about the FMCSA’s motivation for changing the rules regarding emergency declarations.

By the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s own admission, there is no evidence the added flexibility provided by the hours-of-service waivers deterred safety.

“We are unclear on exactly why FMCSA is proposing these regulatory changes at this time,” OOIDA wrote in comments filed on Feb. 6. “The agency has no information that suggests that existing emergency exemptions have negatively impacted road safety.”

In December, FMCSA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would “narrow the scope of regulations from which relief is provided automatically for motor carriers providing direct assistance when an emergency has been declared.”

FMCSA proposes to narrow the automatic applicability of an emergency declaration (390.23) to the hours-of-service limits in 395.3 and 395.5, which are the 30-minute rest break and maximum driving time portions of the regulation, respectively.

Some of the other proposed changes:

• Modify the definition of “emergency” to clarify that emergency regulatory relief under 390.23 generally does not apply to economic conditions that are caused by market forces.
• Remove the definition of emergency relief and amend the definition of “direct assistance” to incorporate the essential components of the former emergency relief definition.
• Although presidential declarations of emergency would continue to trigger a 30-day exemption from all regulations in parts 390-399, the proposed rule would limit the duration and scope of the existing automatic relief when issued by a governor or a governor’s representative for the FMCSA. In these instances, the automatic regulatory relief would apply for only five days and would exempt drivers only from 395.3 and 395.5.
• Simplify the language allowing FMCSA to extend and modify the regulatory relief outlined in 390.23.

The public was given 60 days to comment on the FMCSA’s proposal.

OOIDA took issue with FMCSA’s efforts to reduce a state’s initial emergency declaration to only five days.

“We believe reducing the duration of the existing automatic regulatory relief from 30 days to five days when a regional declaration is issued by a governor, a governor’s authorized representative, or FMCSA will obstruct the trucking industry’s ability to operate effectively in communities impacted by the emergency,” OOIDA wrote. “In our experience, the current 30-day period provides sufficient time to deliver emergency assistance without negatively impacting safety. FMCSA even states in this notice of proposed rulemaking, ‘The agency has no information that suggests that existing emergency exemptions have negatively impacted road safety.”’

Some state departments of transportation and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials also spoke out against the proposal.

No issues reported

The timing of the agency’s proposal is puzzling considering that FMCSA reported no issues following an unprecedented federal waiver that lasted more than two-and-a-half years.

Truckers were allowed to operate under a federal emergency declaration from March 2020 until Oct. 15, 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data provided by FMCSA to Land Line, the waiver didn’t deter safety. In August, the agency told Land Line 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. LL