A recent report from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) debunks the idea that changes to hours-of-service rules have a big impact on highway safety. Despite the implementation of four revisions in September 2020, data suggests that crash rates among truck drivers have remained steady. The FMCSA’s findings provide new insights for those in the transportation industry grappling with regulation changes and safety concerns.
The four changes implemented in September of 2020 are as follows:
- The on-duty limits for short-haul operations increased from 12 to 14 hours and from 100 air-miles to 150.
- The adverse driving provision extended the driving window two hours if the driver encounters adverse driving conditions. In the final rule, the definition of “adverse driving” was modified so that the exception may be applied based on the driver’s (and the dispatcher’s) knowledge of the conditions after being dispatched.
- In addition to splits of 10/0 and 8/2, drivers are allowed a split-sleeper option of 7/3. Also, the qualifying period doesn’t count against the 14-hour window.
- The 30-minute break provision was modified to require the break after eight hours of driving time (instead of on-duty time) and allows an on-duty/not driving period to qualify as the required break.
After these changes went into effect FMCSA was instructed by Congress to study the outcome, and their recent report has found the effects are largely inconclusive. The agency says this is partially due to the unforeseen circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The data does not show a significant difference in crash or fatality rates, although it is important to note that initial trends may have been confounded by the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on industry operations and FMCSA’s emergency declaration that provided HOS regulatory relief for commercial motor vehicle operations providing direct assistance in support of COVID-19 relief efforts,” the agency wrote in the report.
For deeper insights, the agency has proposed investigating safety outcomes of those who took advantage of the new hours-of-service regulations.
ELD Study
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration also recently released a report analyzing the effects of the 2017 electronic logging device mandate. The report found that compliance with hours-of-service regulations has improved, but it remains unclear whether this correlates with improved highway safety.
In December 2021, only 0.77% of driver inspections resulted in an hours-of-service violation, demonstrating a significant decrease from 2017. However, the report doesn’t infer that ELDs have contributed to a safer driving environment. Once again, the agency points to the COVID-19 pandemic and extraneous factors causing a gap in the data.
When we scrutinize the numbers, the improvement in safety related to ELDs seems to be absent. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s latest data exhibits an overall diminution in traffic fatalities for 2022, but significant figure increase since 2017. According to their results, 42,795 people died in motor vehicle accidents in 2022 – a decrease of 0.3% from 2021’s figures (42,939). However, fatal crashes have rampantly increased since 2017 when only 37,473 traffic deaths occurred.
Source: Land Line
