Truck Driver Hour of Service Recording
On November 15th, United States Senator Dianne Feinstein of California wrote to the U.S. Department of Transportation urging the department to revisit its efforts to improve highway safety by requiring electronic onboard computers on all large trucks and tractor trailers. Senator Feinstein’s letter was prompted by two recent deadly accidents on California interstates involving tractor-trailers. In the letter, Senator Feinstein discussed the risk of long distance truck driver fatigue and requested information about current efforts to address what she deems to be a growing problem.
According to Senator Feinstein’s letter, the regulations which require truck drivers to record their hours of service in written log books continues to tempt drivers to falsify their books, and allow them to drive in excess of the hours deemed safe.
A study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety revealed that about a third of the drivers admit to often or sometimes omitting hours from their log books. Feinstein’s letter pointed out that even more disturbing, the Institute report disclosed that the percentage of drivers who reported dozing at the wheel at least once during the past month rose from 13% in 2003 to 21% in 2005.
In February, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) proposed to mandate electronic onboard recorders for motor carriers that display a pattern of violating the hours of service regulations. The FMCSA estimated that if its proposed rule were in effect, about 930 motor carriers employing about 17,500 drivers would be subject to it. The threshold for mandatory onboard recorders would be a finding based on review of hour of service records on each of two compliance reviews conducted within a two-year period that the carrier had a 10% or greater violation rate for any of the major hour of service regulations. Such carriers would be required to install recorders on all their commercial vehicles for a period of two years.
As previous blogs have disclosed, it is relatively easy and cost effective to install electronic monitoring devices on large trucks and tractor-trailers. Senator Feinstein’s efforts which would require all trucking companies to monitor and record electronically hours of service, would no doubt lead to safer highways for everyone.
