User-agent: Mediapartners-Google* Disallow: Trucks World News
Google
 
Loading

Jun 7, 2016

TRUCKERS' FATIGUE * Australia - New Research

* ACT - Heavy vehicle driver fatigue data final report released

--- The National Transport Commission (NTC) today released the Heavy Vehicle Driver Fatigue Data Final Report which was endorsed by the Transport and Infrastructure Senior Officials Committee (TISOC) earlier this month... Chief Executive of the National Transport Commission Paul Retter said the final report incorporated stakeholder feedback on the discussion paper released in August last year. "The regulation of driver fatigue is a complex policy issue and more detailed research needs to be done on its causes and impacts." ... He said the fatigue data framework would help to ensure data about the frequency and impact of driver fatigue was collected in a consistent and comparable way across the nation's states and territories... Research activities will be conducted by the Alertness Safety and Productivity Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) who will conduct comparative research in both laboratory and field environments... Mr Retter said the fatigue data framework would also obtain more data about the use of nose-to-tail shifts, where a heavy vehicle driver works two long work periods within a 24 hour period with a major rest break in between. This work would consider factors such as insufficient sleep, long work shifts, the impact of circadian rhythms and the frequency of nose-to-tail schedules... 
(Photo: Lack of sleep? Young drivers care less)  --  Canberra, ACT, Australia - Big Rigs - 5th Jun 2016

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 7:40 AM  0 comments

Jun 1, 2016

TRUCKERS' LACK OF SLEEP * Canada: 80% of highway deaths

* British Columbia - Lack of sleep involved in 80% of highway deaths, says expert

-- The days of pulling all-nighters to earn bragging rights should be a thing of the past, says a sleep expert. Adding, some 80% of highway collision fatalities involve driver fatigue, warns Mike Harnett from Six Safety Systems. Worst of all, some 40% of those fatigued drivers have been awake for more than 17 hours prior to the crash... “Only sleep can cure fatigue. You can’t Tim Horton it away; you can’t Starbuck it away; and you can’t Red Bull it away. You can’t mask it,” said Harnett... Harnett, whose title is vice-president of human factors, says 17 hours of wakefulness equates to a blood alcohol content level of .05%. Up to 24 hours of wakefulness equates to a blood alcohol content level of .10%, which is considered to be impaired... “Sleep is the most important thing in your life, whether you realize it or not,” says Harnett. “Fatigue accumulates. It builds and builds and builds. We can’t just will it away.” ... Thanks mostly to the invention of electric light, humans have actually reduced average sleep durations from nine hours to less than seven, as people no longer depend on the sun to guide the circadian rhythms of the body. The body has over 700 rhythms. Humans have a built-in body clock that responds to both light and darkness. It tells us when to eat, sleep, rest and be active... “We are not nocturnal. We are not cats, rats or bats,” says Harnett, who notes that most traffic collision occur just after a typical work day ends, when people’s bodies start to wind down for the evening... Napping can boost alertness for hours, suggests the expert... 
 (Photo: Mike Harnett talks sleep at Truxpo 2016)   --   Abbotsford, BC, CAN - Today's Trucking, by David Nesseth - May 25, 2016

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 4:55 AM  0 comments

May 12, 2016

TRUCKERS' FATIGUE * USA: Give drivers a break

* Is a 73-hour truck driver work week worth the traffic fatalities it would cost?

--- Here's something you don't see every day — trucking companies that want to be more tightly regulated. But that's what happened last week when some of the nation's motor carriers publicly expressed their concern that the federal government is in danger of allowing truck drivers to be on the road too long... Driver fatigue is a leading factor in truck crashes that kill about 4,000 Americans and injure 100,000 more each year. Truck operators need time to rest and recover or else they put themselves and others on the road in danger. While drivers of large trucks are less likely to cause crashes than the average motorist, the consequences of a collision are far more deadly... But some in the trucking industry would like to see the road hour rules relaxed, and they are attempting to change them in the classic back alley method — by attaching a rider to a spending bill. Under an amendment added to the transportation and housing appropriations bill currently pending in the Senate, the nation's 3 million commercial drivers would be able to work for 73 hours in a 7-day period instead of the current 60-hour limit... Those extra 13 hours are no small change — under current rules, truckers can work 70 hours but only if it's spread over eight days, not seven. But don't take our word for it. One of the strongest objections we've seen voiced so far is from The Trucking Alliance, a driver safety advocacy group that is supported by major carriers like J.B. Hunt and Knight Transportation... Does the motoring public want dangerously tired truck drivers on the road? It's a pretty safe assumption they don't, and that's why you seldom see such anti-safety proposals on stand-alone bills — they wouldn't pass if the voters knew what was going on...
Baltimore, ,USA - The Baltimore Sun - 9 May 2016


* North Carolina - Sleepy trucker's crash amplifies dire need for truck parking

--- When Glen Hamblin’s eyes opened, all he could see was a concrete barrier drawing closer... The 53-year-old truck driver from Hyrum, Utah, had fallen asleep at the wheel after he said he was unable to find a legal place to park while delivering a load of potatoes in North Carolina. Hamblin’s truck, which he purchased less than two months earlier, smashed into the barrier before fuel and thousands of pounds of potatoes spilled onto Interstate 77 about 2 a.m. Friday in Charlotte. The impact of the crash caused the engine to be thrown out of the vehicle, which started on fire... Hamblin was taken to a local hospital with several cuts, but he escaped major injury and was released soon after... Hamblin, who has used electronic logs in the past, said the device adds to the fatigue problem. “E-logs do not work,” Hamblin said. “The company wants you to get your miles in. So when the e-log says you can drive, then you drive. Maybe your body doesn’t say it’s time to drive. With electronic logs, you drive tired” ... Hamblin said this was his first wreck in 11 years. Now he's looking for new employment... 
(Photo CNBC: Truck crashes, dumps potatoes on I-77 North Carolina highway) -- Charlotte, NC, USA - Land Line, by Mark Schremmer - 10 May 2016

Labels: , , ,

posted by Unknown @ 7:28 AM  0 comments

Feb 23, 2016

FATIGUE MANAGEMENT * Australia: Changes coming

* South Australia - Fatigue management, impending changes will affect primary producers
-- Changes to fatigue management requirements in South Australia will be introduced next month to bring the state into line with other jurisdictions... The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) says the notices exclude the relevant drivers and operators from complying with work and rest hour requirement when transporting live bees within a 200km radius, or transporting fruit, vegetables or grain between a farm and receiving point within 100km. The notices are exempted operators and drivers from using work diaries and keeping records... The NHVR says the notices came into force before the Heavy Vehicle National Law was enacted and are now redundant or inconsistent with the current National Primary Production Work Diary Exemption Notice, which covers the transport of primary produce and fatigue management requirements under the national law... 
(Photo: A grape truck near Renmark in South Australia's Riverland region. South Australian primary producers will need to fill out work diaries from March 14) -- Adelaide, S.A., Australia - Owner Driver - 23 Feb 2016

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 5:27 AM  0 comments

Feb 15, 2016

TACKLING TRUCKERS' FATIGUE * Canada

* Quebec - Canada: To require bus and truck drivers to log hours electronically

-- After years of study, the federal government says it will implement new safety regulations in two years that are aligned with U.S. efforts to tackle fatigue among truck and bus drivers... Drivers will be required to electronically record their hours on the road, says Transport Canada, marking a change from the mandatory paper logs that have been in use since the 1930s... The regulations would cover cross-border and interprovincial travel and should be in place when similar rules in the U.S. come into force in late 2017, Transport Canada says... 
(Photo: Transport trucks attempt to drive through snowy conditions in B.C. on Jan. 3, 2015) -- Montreal, QBC, CAN - The Canadian Press/CTV News, by Ross Marowits - February 15, 2016

Labels: , ,

posted by Unknown @ 6:52 PM  0 comments

Sep 9, 2015

FATIGUE MANAGEMENT ISSUES * Australia: CONCERNED TRUCKERS CALL NHVR ABOUT

* Australia Capital Territory - Truck drivers are unsure about how to count work and rest time correctly under fatigue management law

-- A recent spate of calls from truck drivers to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) about fatigue management has prompted a reminder about how to comply with the law... The NHVR says it has received a number of enquiries from drivers about how to count work time correctly to ensure they do not exceed their permitted work hours within a 24-hour period... The agency yesterday sent a memo to industry about correct counting procedures and adds that explanations can also be found in work diaries drivers are required to maintain... Those under standard hours can work 12 hours in a 24-hour period, while drivers with basic fatigue management (BFM) accreditation can work 14 hours... "A 24-hour period starts at the end of any relevant major rest break, which is any period of rest of at least 5 or 7 continuous hours (depending on your work and rest option)," the NHVR memo states... "The 24-hour period ends 24 hours later (at the exact same time on the following day), regardless of how much work you have done or rest you have taken during that time... "It is important to remember that the 5 or 7 continuous hour period for a major rest break is the minimum amount of continuous rest required in a 24-hour period" ... The NHVR became responsible for fatigue management when the Heavy Vehicle National Law took effect in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory... 
(Photo: Truck drivers are required to have rest breaks of at least five or seven hours under fatigue management law)  --  Canberra, ACT, Australia - ATN - 9 Sept 2015

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 11:02 AM  0 comments

Sep 1, 2015

FATIGUE MANAGEMENT * USA: In trucking operations

* South Carolina - Seeking the safety payoff from fatigue management

-- Understanding what fatigue is and how to manage it effectively – through rest, sleep, diet and exercise, even tractor specifications – is a critical component to fostering what Tom DiSalvi calls the “safety payoff” in trucking operations... Southeastern Freight Lines (SEFL) took that strategy a step further by implementing a sleep apnea interdiction program designed by FusionHealth back in 2011... The fleet tested FusionHealth’s system by using one group of some 100 drivers with sleep apnea enrolled in the firm’s program compared to a second group of roughly 100 with the same gender, age, job, claims-based expenditures and medical conditions that didn’t use it... Within the first year of using the FusionHealth system, with a compliance rate of over 90%, the SEFL group using its sleep apnea program demonstrated a reduction in medical and pharmacy costs of 5% while in the case-control group those costs actually increased by 11%... More Importantly, SEFL witnessed what it dubbed an “immediate” impact in terms of accident savings, with preventable accidents in the FusionHealth group dropping by 45% compared to a 48% increase among the control group – helping generate $600,000 in total cost savings within one year... Based on those results, SEFL is expanding FusionHealth’s across its entire driver workforce; a process that should be completed by the end of this year... Yet he noted that voluntary program for SEFL’s drivers required some up-front dedication to work – noticeable improvements wouldn’t be felt for two to three weeks – so the carrier involved the driver’s families and spouses in the program, too... 
 Lexington, SC, USA - Fleet Owner, by Sean Kilcarr - Jul 8, 2015

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 5:54 AM  0 comments

Sep 11, 2014

DROWSY DRIVERS * USA: Forum

* DC - NTSB to hold 'drowsy driving' forum Oct. 21

(Photo: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries, and $12.5 billion in monetary losses because of accidents involving fatigue driving) 
Washington,DC,USA -The Trucker News Services -9 Sept 2014: -- The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Monday announced that it will hold a one-day forum to explore the prevalence, impact and dangers of drowsy driving on the nation’s roadways... The event, “Awake, Alert, Alive: Overcoming the Dangers of Drowsy Driving,” will be held on Oct. 21 in Washington D.C. ... The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conservatively estimates that 100,000 police-reported crashes are the direct result of driver fatigue each year. This results in an estimated 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries, and $12.5 billion in monetary losses. These figures may be the tip of the iceberg, since currently it is difficult to attribute crashes to sleepiness...

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 6:02 AM  0 comments

Aug 29, 2014

TRUCKERS' SAFETY * USA: Truck parking spaces

* Minnesota - Parking availability system takes aim at truck driver fatigue

(Video from MnDOT Research -26 Aug 2014: MnDOT, in partnership with the University of Minnesota and the American Trucking Research Institute, is testing the implementation and deployment of a system to identify available truck parking spaces and communicate the information to truck drivers and carriers. The goal of the project is to improve their operational decision-making along the I-94 corridor west of the Twin Cities and combat drowsy driving)
St.Paul,MINN,USA -Mn Transportation Research, by Nick -August 27, 2014: -- MnDOT, in partnership with the Federal Highway Administration, is test-deploying a high-tech system to help combat drowsy driving and keep truck drivers in compliance with federal hours-of-service regulations... Developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota, the prototype system lets drivers know when parking spaces are available at rest stops ahead. It has been deployed at several locations along the heavily traveled I-94 corridor between Minneapolis and St. Cloud...

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 4:38 AM  0 comments

Jul 19, 2014

TRUCKERS´FATIGUE * USA: Studies and Opinion

* New Jersey - Serious issue: Fatigued truck drivers, focus on economics, not electronics

Princeton,NJ,USA -Los Angeles Times/Opinion, by Karen Levy -17 July 2014: ... Truckers don't work without sleep for dangerously long stretches because it's fun. Let's hope the discussion doesn't stop there. The nation's trucking system needs to be reformed, and the changes must address root economic causes underlying a range of unsafe practices... Truckers don't work without sleep for dangerously long stretches because they have to earn a living. The market demands a pace of work that many drivers say is impossible to meet if they're "driving legal" ... In the face of rising consumer demand for overnight shipments and for fresh produce trucked from the opposite coast, shippers have upped the pressure both to move goods quickly and to keep costs low. Since many truckers are paid by the mile, they're incentivized to stay on the road as much as possible. (As truckers are fond of saying, "If the wheel ain't turnin', you ain't earnin'!") ... One thing that makes this possible is that truck drivers are explicitly exempted from the Fair Labor Standards Act, so they aren't legally entitled to overtime pay or other protections designed to prevent their labor from being exploited... Economist Michael Belzer has compared trucks to 'sweatshops on wheels' because of the low rates of pay, long working hours and unsafe conditions... In an attempt to increase truckers' compliance with the hours-of-service rules, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — the federal agency in charge of regulating the trucking industry — is very likely to soon mandate that all truckers install electronic logging devices... These electronic systems will help guard against some unsafe practices, but they won't address many of the biggest sources of trucker fatigue. Truckers will tell you that long stretches of "detention time" — the (typically unpaid) hours that a trucker must wait at a shipper's terminal to be loaded or unloaded — are what really exhaust them, and force them to be on duty for far more hours than are legally permitted... Most truckers are also unpaid for the many hours they spend completing mandatory inspections, dealing with repairs, filling out required paperwork, checking the security of their loads and many other important tasks that make up their long workdays. None of these activities will be addressed by electronic logs, and drivers will most likely continue to squeeze them into their required "rest" periods, as they have been doing for decades... The road is an unpredictable workplace. As anyone who has driven on the highway knows, road travel is fraught with contingencies, from weather to congestion to accidents, all of which can make a trip take longer than anticipated. Add to that the other pressures to keep driving — economic incentive, employer pressure, the dearth of safe places to park and rest, and the desire to get home after days or weeks away — and you begin to get a sense for why truckers drive for as long as they do... But electronic monitoring is an incomplete solution to a serious public safety problem. If we want safer highways and fewer accidents, we must also attend to the economic realities that drive truckers to push their limits...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 11:54 AM  0 comments

Aug 24, 2013

* USA - TRUCKERS´ FATIGUE

* Virginia - Doubling up on safety technologies 

Blacksburg,VIR,USA -Fleet Owner, by Brian Straight -Aug. 16, 2013: -- Research conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) indicates that fleets can greatly reduce the risk associated with driver drowsiness and fatigue through the use of multiple technologies within the cab... Combating fatigue and drowsiness is just one area of concerns to fleets. Also on the radar of fleets managers are issues such as driver distraction. But while there are technologies such as cell phone blocking, lane departure and forward collision mitigation systems, it really is a carrier’s willingness to set standards associated with poor driving behaviors and follow through with enforcement of said policies that lead to reduced risk...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 7:42 AM  0 comments

Aug 23, 2013

FATIGUED TRUCKERS CONTROLS * USA

* Washington - Fatigued truckers targeted by law enforcement agencies

(Photo: Patrols on the Tumwater Truck Route)
Olympia,WASH,USA -Fleet Owner, by Deborah Whistler -Aug. 22, 2013: -- Law enforcement agencies in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia are partnering to target truck drivers who are running over allowable hours of service... In an attempt to reduce the number of fatigued commercial vehicle drivers, the Washington State Patrol’s (WSP) Commercial Vehicle Division (CVD), will step up enforcement efforts focused on commercial vehicle driver’s hours of service... Officers will stop and cite drivers who exceed their maximum allowable time behind the wheel, according to a Washington State Patrol press release... During the emphasis, Washington will open all truck scales throughout the state as staffing allows, and conduct roving patrols to inspect trucks and drivers who attempt to avoid the inspection sites by traveling on bypass routes... Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia will share data and information during the emphasis to help verify the hours of service of drivers suspected of exceeding their time behind the wheel or altering their driver log books...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 6:14 AM  0 comments

Feb 15, 2012

HOS RULES * USA

* DC - ATA Takes Anti-Fatigue Driver Work Rule to Court

(Photo: Sleeping trucker)
Washington,Columbia,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Feb 14, 2012: -- Trucking lobby says analyses behind rulemaking do not meet ‘legal standards’... The American Trucking Associations will file a petition challenging new final truck driver work rules in federal court, the trucking group said Tuesday... The ATA aims to overturn a provision in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new hours of service rules that would keep some drivers home longer between work weeks, cutting into the amount of time they can drive... The ATA will file a petition Tuesday asking the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington to review and set aside the rules as being “arbitrary and capricious” ...

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 6:14 AM  0 comments

Aug 10, 2010

STUDY * Europe - Fatigue only a limited factor in truck accidents

A new study commissioned by the European Commission and the International Road Transport Union claims that of 624 truck crashes studied, only 6% involved driver fatigue

Brussels,Belgium - Penton Media/Fleet Owner (USA), by Brian Straight -Aug 6, 2010: -- When fatigue was identified as the cause of the accident, the European Truck Accident Causation report said “Most accidents happen between [2 and 2:59 a.m.], probably the time when the driver’s biorhythm is at a low point, and from [3 and 3:59 p.m.] when it is nearly the end of the working day”... The report also said fatigue “plays only a minor role” in accidents in cities. It did note that of the accidents where fatigue played a role, 37% of those were fatal and 68% involved another vehicle... Overall, the report found that human error was responsible for 85.2% of all accidents, although only 25% of those can be attributed to the truck driver. Weather (4.4%), infrastructure (5.1%) or technical failures of the vehicle (5.3%) were the other main factors in crashes... More than 30% of the time, the cause of accidents at an intersection are due to failure to observe intersection rules or non-adapted speed for the situation... Speed remains the top cause in single-truck accidents as well, causing 20.3% of incidents. Fatigue is the reason18.9% of the time... Still the report said that fatigue, only plays a minor role in accidents, and most of those occur on highways...

Labels: ,

posted by Unknown @ 8:24 AM  0 comments

Jul 12, 2010

Truck Driver Fatigue * USA - An Accident Waiting To Happen

Low pay leads many truckers to drive long hours in order to make more money, despite federal regulations prohibiting this

Palm Springs,CAL,USA -one stop information for automotive -11 July 2010: ... A major factor in many 18-wheeler accidents is driver fatigue leading to at least 750 deaths and 20,000 injuries per year. Unfortunately, tight deadlines imposed by employers contribute to the problem with many drivers putting in 100-hour workweeks with no breaks except to get gas or unload... It’s no wonder with such intense work schedules, that some drivers are subject to sleep deprivation allowing them drift into other lanes of traffic, nod off or simply fall totally asleep. An 18-wheeler then can become a 100,000-pound missal prone to a semi truck accident... 30 percent of all fatal semi truck accidents are caused by driver fatigue according to some experts. Although the trucking industry claims the number is closer to 5 per cent and puts the major blame on automobile drivers instead. 15 per cent is the figure assigned by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 11:03 AM  0 comments

Jul 7, 2010

TRUCKERS' FATIGUE * Australia - Industry needs divided rest areas

Governments need to improve the design of rest areas to accommodate all road users

Canberra,Australia -ATN, by Brad Gardner -June 30, 2010: ... Trucking advocate Rod Hannifey says during his address to a NSW parliamentary inquiry into heavy vehicle safety... Hannifey (pictured) called for divided facilities to separate long haul from short distance drivers and general motorists from heavy vehicles... According to Hannifey, it is hard for long distance drivers to sleep when other truck drivers constantly turn up for minor rest breaks. He says drivers are also prevented from pulling over because car and caravan owners are taking up room... Referring to one incident where he had to sleep for seven hours to comply with fatigue management laws, Hannifey told the inquiry he was woken every 15 minutes by a truck pulling over so the driver could rest...

Labels:

posted by Unknown @ 6:35 PM  0 comments