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Jan 18, 2011

HOS RULES * USA - Time is wasted with Hours-of-Service rules

Analysis: "The rule requires time – something that is in short supply in an industry trying to meet deadlines"

New York,NY,USA -Fleet Owner, by Brian Straight -December 29, 2010: ... The problems with the new Hours-of-Service regulations proposed by the Dept. of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration: “It’s one of those things where we try to balance highway safety against driver health against driver income against driver happiness (miles and home time),” Jay Thompson at the Gerson Lehrman Group, wrote. “As one who follows and tries to make sense out of numbers, improving safety numbers from where we are now is extremely difficult. The other main ingredient in truck safety is the drivers’ attitude, which these rules have us potentially going in the wrong direction” ... Thompson has a number of issues, but it all comes down to time. While DOT didn’t make the changes many expected - specifically a set 48-hour restart period – it came close to doing that under the guise of the 34-hour restart by mandating two consecutive rest periods between midnight and 6 a.m... Based on my math, that means the only way you can have a 34-hour restart would be if a driver could manipulate their hours to end work exactly at 8 p.m. Anything before that simply extends the restart window to many more hours up to 48... The added time to a driver’s week has another impact, Thompson concludes... “If truckers lose a half hour a day in driving time, that’ll be at least a hundred miles per week - or a penny & a half per mile lost by the truck owner and a 4% pay cut for drivers. For profitable fleets like Swift Transportation, Schneider National, US Xpress Enterprises, Werner Enterprises, Estes Express and others, it can be a minimum 10% addition to the [operating revenue]. For others like YRC Worldwide and Arkansas Best Corp, it’s all of their buffer..." Thompson hints that fleets may look for ways around this, including speeding trucks up to get more miles covered in a given shift. That, he says, will result in more fuel usage and increased potential for accidents...  (Photo from fleetowner: driver thumbnail)

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