Officials Prepare For January Hours Deadline
The safety agency has clarified its original language, but even this change leaves enforcement officials wondering how they are supposed to interpret the provision.
Oliver B.Patton
Washington Editor
With three months to go before the new hours of service rules take effect, government officials are working overtime to ensure that they will be ready for the new regime.
The job will be done by the Jan. 4 deadline, officials say, but drivers and companies can expect occasional confusion as regulators come up with interpretations for how the rules will be enforced in unusual scenarios.
"There are some sticky wickets" with respect to interpretation of the rules, said Stephen Campbell, executive director of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance. CVSA, which represents U.S., Canadian and Mexican enforcement officials, and trucking companies, is working with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to train roadside inspectors in the new rules.
"It will take trial and error," Campbell said, "but these problems can be worked out."
Trucking companies are preparing to train drivers, but have not done so yet, said Dave Osiecki, vice president of safety and operations at American Trucking Assns. The fleets want to get closer to the deadline, so the training will not be lost as drivers wait for the new system to take effect. Also, fleets are concerned that the details of the rules may change as the safety agency comes up with amendments and interpretations.
FMCSA did issue technical amendments to the final rule at the end of September, clarifying details about the sleeper berth provision, oil-well service drivers and the 16-hour on-duty limit for short-haul drivers.
Two other factors are in play as the deadline nears. The safety advocacy group Public Citizen has challenged the rule in court. Briefs have not yet been filed and probably won't be until after the Jan. 4 start date, but there remains the chance that a court order could disrupt the process of implementation.
And since some states have not yet been able to adopt the federal rules, there is the possibility of gaps in enforcement come Jan. 4. Most states can adopt the rules with a stroke of a pen, but some must hold hearings and pass legislation.
Osiecki of ATA said carriers are worried about this situation. They envision a worst-case scenario in which the rules change as a driver crosses a state line. Regulatory officials share that concern, but believe that common sense will prevail, said Campbell of CVSA. Ted Scott, executive director of government relations for Roadway Express, said his research indicates that just a handful of states have the legislative problem, and most of them have made temporary arrangements to enforce the new rules.
Sleeper Berth Provision
One of the "sticky wickets" in the rule is the sleeper berth provision. The safety agency has clarified its original language, but even this change leaves enforcement officials wondering how, precisely, they are supposed to interpret the provision.
Part of the problem is that the provision is not simple. It provides the sole exception to the new prohibition against working longer than 14 hours in a day. Sleeper drivers are excepted from the general rule that the driver must include off-duty time when he adds up the hours he has been on the job. Off-duty time in the sleeper berth does not count toward the 14-hour limit when it is taken in two periods, each of which is at least two hours long.
But what about when a driver takes more than two sleeper berth periods that are more than two hours long? In an amendment to the final rule, published in late September, the safety agency said that any two sleeper-berth periods totaling 10 hours may be used to calculate the mandatory 10-hour rest period in a duty cycle. Sleeper berth periods that are not used in counting the 10-hour rest limit must be counted in calculating the 14-hour work limit.
The agency summarized it this way: when calculating his 14 hours of work, a sleeper driver must count on-duty time, off-duty time out of the sleeper berth, any period less than two hours in the sleeper berth, and any sleeper berth time of two hours or more that he did not count toward his 10 hours of off-duty time.
As an example of the complexity of the issue, CVSA asks the following question:
Suppose that after a 10-hour break, a driver records four hours driving time, two hours in the sleeper berth, three more hours of driving, three hours back in the berth, five more hours behind the wheel, and then seven hours in the berth?
There are two sleeper periods that add up to 10 hours, so a Compliance Review of the carriers records would find no problem, CVSA points out. But the driver violates both the 14-hour rule and the 11-hour rule before he reaches the end of the cycle, so a roadside inspector might find a problem.
FMCSA's interpretation of this and other, similarly detailed questions, will shape the way the new hours rule is enforced.
In its amendments to the hours rule, the agency made it clear that that drivers involved in oil well servicing may accumulate their 10 hours of rest either in the sleeper berth or in other accommodations that are routinely available at well sites. In another clarification, the agency said short-haul drivers may work as long as 16 hours one day in seven.
Administration Asks Supreme Court to Clear Border Roadblock
By Oliver B.Patton, Washington Editor
The Bush administration is asking the Supreme Court to clear the roadblock at the southern border, so Mexican and U.S. trucks can commence long-haul international service.
The petition for high court intervention counters a lower-court ruling that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration must complete a major study of the environmental impact of incoming Mexican truck traffic before the border can open.
At issue is a federal appeals court ruling last January that the safety agency did not provide the necessary environmental impact analysis when it posted rules that would permit Mexican carriers to provide long-haul service into the U.S. That ruling was the result of a suit by opponents of the border opening, including the Teamsters union, the advocacy group Public Citizen and the California Trucking Assn.
The administration is responding on two tracks: FMCSA has begun the environmental study, which will take as long as a year and a half to complete, and Bush's challenge of the appeals court decision. The agency scheduled public hearings on the environmental issue in late October.
In its petition to the high court, the administration argued that the appeals court's decision misapplied environmental laws, restricted the President's ability to conduct foreign affairs and prolongs the ongoing trade dispute between the U.S. and Mexico.
Word on whether or not the Supreme Court will hear the case should come by the end of the year. If the court does take on the case, it is possible that a decision will be handed down by the middle of next year.
But in any event, the border is not going to open any time soon.
FMCSA Postpones New Rules For Household Goods Movers
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration postponed the effective date of new rules aimed at cleaning up misbehavior in the household goods moving industry.
The rules were originally set to take effect March 1, 2004. The agency has not said what the new date will be, but promises to do so before next May 15, when the industry's high season begins.
The rules are intended to promote fair dealing by movers and to give consumers better information when they are shopping for moving services. They came about because of growing concern on Capitol Hill about movers who jack up the bill and refuse to deliver the furniture until the bill is paid. Among other things, they require interstate movers to provide written estimates and to set up an arbitration program for consumers.
The agency said it is delaying the rules because the moving industry has raised "substantive and technical" questions that need "careful analysis." The industry petitions were filed by the American Moving and Storage Assn., United Van Lines and Mayflower Transit.
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