PORTLAND, Ore. — EROAD, a global technology provider of fleet management, electronic tax reporting and ELD compliance products for the transportation industry, said in a press release Monday that it had provided what it called “valuable and relevant” data to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration as the agency collects public comment regarding proposed changes to the Hours of Service regulations.
“We receive ongoing feedback about HOS rules and their impacts on the road and on the bottom line from our customers,” said Norm Ellis, president of EROAD North America. “HOS flexibility is important, and EROAD is in an excellent position to combine what we see in our data along with fleet operators’ experiences to help FMCSA make the best decisions on improving HOS.”
In August, the FMCSA announced it was seeking public input regarding four provisions of the industry’s Hours of Service regulations that are currently under review by the agency.
Those include:
- Expanding the current 100 air-mile “short-haul” exemption from 12 hours on-duty to 14 hours on-duty, to be consistent with the rules for long-haul truck drivers.
- Extending the current 14-hour on-duty limitation by up to two hours when a truck driver encounters adverse driving conditions
- Revising the current mandatory 30-minute break for truck drivers after eight hours of continuous driving
- Reinstating the option for splitting up the required 10-hour off-duty rest break for drivers operating trucks that are equipped with a sleeper-berth compartment.
To provide relevant input to the FMCSA and represent the viewpoints of its customer base, EROAD took the following steps:
- Performed analyses on millions of anonymized, aggregated data points from trips taken by US-based vehicles and drivers from January 1, 2018, through July 31, 2018, examining ELD data for patterns of FMCSA violations in relation to type, frequency per driver, and time in violation.
- Based on questions provided by the FMCSA for public comment on HOS flexibility, surveyed EROAD customers and other fleet operators to seek context regarding the HOS provisions under review.
- Hosted an open roundtable webinar during which the data from the statistical analysis and the survey were discussed and additional commentary was captured.
- Encouraged carriers to submit comments directly to FMCSA through the webpage provided.
As for how ELD data can be used to support a more flexible split sleeper berth rule, most respondents pointed out that ELDs can support additional flexibility by capturing the events in the driver’s day more accurately and helping carriers to better manage schedules and fatigue. Some pointed out that while ELDs can capture time, they do not capture fatigue.
“If the idea is ‘rested and alert’ drivers behind the wheel, the 14-hour clock needs to allow drivers to stop to let the driver determine his rest periods and when they are needed, not based on the pressure of the current rule,” one respondent wrote.
EROAD ELD data analytics found:
- 30-minute rest break is the most common violation, followed by 14-hour duty limit, 11-hour driving limit, and on-duty limit. One respondent said this rule had created a “nightmare” in fuel lanes at truck stops as compliance had replaced common courtesy. Another respondent said drivers at his company should be able to use more frequent, shorter breaks that they currently encounter. Another said everyone wants a break, but how many trucks “do you see on the side of the road taking all 30 minutes? Many drivers want to stop when they want to.”
- The proportion of violations by type has remained fairly consistent since the mandate was introduced
- Average time spent in violation is reducing over time
- The number of violations per driver is increasing for 11-hour driving limit and 14-hour duty limit violations
“We appreciate suppliers like EROAD that get involved with our industry by providing actionable information for the FMCSA,” said Dave Heller, vice president of government affairs for the Truckload Carriers Association. “Going beyond offering a solution to provide data and expertise is what makes having highly engaged industry suppliers so valuable.”
The full report submitted to the FMCSA can be found at: https://go.eroad.com/hos_research.
EROAD was founded in 2000 and headquartered in in New Zealand with North American offices in Portland, Oregon.
For more information, visit www.EROAD.com.
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Should note that their ‘violation data’ has nothing to do with actual violations. It refers to violations flagged by their system.
The sharp curves seen in their actual report is really only saying that: ‘people did not know how to use our system so their got a lot of false positive violations – now they are better’.
Their analysis & suggestions for the 14h rule are good. However these are not based in quantified-data.