Blog

Sleep Apnea in Truckers Becoming Much More Difficult to Regulate than Expected

July 2, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Following complaints from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s own medical review board, the FMCSA will be making efforts to boost accessibility in regards to obstructive sleep apnea information for the medical experts conducting medical exams for truck drivers and assessing their ability to perform their jobs safely and efficiently.

A group of medical professionals on the agency’s medical review board have urged FMCSA leaders to link apnea-related information within the FMCSA’s medical examiners handbook, and made clear this necessary during last month’s virtual meeting. The current 250-page handbook was taken off FMCSA’s website six years ago and still requires major updates–which was, consequently, the main focus of May’s virtual meeting.

Because some medical examiners, as well as FMCSA, have hesitated to push the issue of sleep apnea and the knowledge surrounding it on truck drivers, the medical board’s physicians have even stressed that the overarching subject of sleep apnea has become far too “political.” As of now, FMCSA has not released any particular regulatory guidance on when a trucker at risk for apnea should be required to participate in a sleep lab study to better evaluate the actual risks at hand.

A big player in this issue is Congress’ 2013 legislation that has prohibited any official regulatory guidance in regards to a medical examiner’s ability to diagnose truck drivers who may be at risk for sleep apnea before undergoing the strenuous process for rule-making.

Referring to the attempt to bring back to light the sleep apnea problem in 2016 for regulatory apnea guidance through an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking along with the Federal Railroad Administration, FMCSA’s associate administrator for policy, Larry Minor, noted during the virtual meeting that sleep apnea in truckers has become a “nearly nuclear” topic. FMCSA declared the currently-in-place fatigue risk management-related safety programs “are the appropriate avenues to address OSA” in 2017, and the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was withdrawn at that time. As of now, FMCSA has held on to the claim that apnea is not directly related to potential accidents, as determined by the present evidence.

FMCSA will, however, add further information about apnea to its examiner’s handbook and will indeed include a link and references to previous discussions and diagnosis recommendations, as well as treatment possibilities, from the medical review board. The agency still does not plan to issue any particular rule-making guidance on the topic, though.

Additionally, FMCSA has stated it does understand the worries regarding the potential risks related to a commercial trucker’s health and safety when it comes to moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea.

“Drivers with untreated moderate to severe OSA are at increased risk of being fatigued while driving–regardless of the amount of off-duty time prior to the beginning of the work shift,” said FMCSA in a statement. “The agency believes all medical examiners on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners should be aware of the OSA risk factors so that drivers exhibiting such conditions are referred to a sleep specialist for evaluation.”

Even though this may sound promising, FMCSA maintains that the evidence needed for any potential rule-making is not yet present. The agency says it also “does not have sufficient data or information to support issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to establish requirements for mandatory OSA testing and treatment,” according to its statement.

Because of this lack of data, “we’re still not clear why it’s obstructive sleep apnea [acting as a major issue] more than anything else,” Minor explained during the meeting. He also added that there are currently no regulations mandating that an examiner screens “each and every driver that comes in for OSA, and we don’t have any regulatory criteria that says you must send him out for an OSA [sleep] test.”

Many medical professionals are saying this process should be much more of a no-brainer than it is during out to be.

“The board put a lot of effort in coming up with guidelines for sleep apnea that included a menu of symptoms and signs by which you could screen people, and then get sleep studies to look for the presence of sleep apnea,” said physician and review board member, Brian Morris. “The special interest groups stepped in and kind of torpedoed the whole process.”

One big roadblock in the way of these guidelines? Out-of-pocket costs for truckers.

“Drivers commonly don’t want to be screened for apnea because they may have to pay for sleep studies, which can cost more than $1,000,” noted Morris, who also serves as OccMed’s corporate director of medical surveillance in Boston.

Truck Speed Limiters Bill Introduced in House of Representatives

June 28, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

A bill requiring speed limiters for commercial trucks has been introduced within the U.S. House of Representatives, and has been named the Cullum Owings Large Truck Safe Operating Speed Act.

The act will aim to urge the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to ensure all commercial motor vehicles have speed-limiting technology implemented onboard. This technology would either have a maximum speed of 65 miles per hour preset, or a speed of 70 miles per hour preset in collaboration with a truck’s automatic emergency braking systems and adaptive cruise control systems.

The bill currently has bipartisan sponsorship by Representatives Lucy McBath of Georgia and John Katko of New York, and is named for Cullum Owings. Owings was killed when a tractor-trailer on cruise control struck his passenger vehicle in 2002.

“The safety and security of our families, our friends, and our loved ones is always of the utmost priority,” said McBath when the legislation was first introduced in late May. “The Owings family has done so much to protect other children like Cullum, and I want to thank them for all they have done. This is an important, bipartisan step to make our roadways safer, protect drivers, and stop these heartbreaking crashes from happening.”

Cullum’s father, Steve Owings, co-founded the safety organization Road Safe America following the incident, and believes the act will help prevent other parents of children from experiencing a loss like the one he and his family had to endure.

“Our lives changed forever in the worst of ways after a speeding truck driver using cruise control crashed into our son’s car, [which was] stopped in an interstate traffic jam as he headed back to college after Thanksgiving Break,” said Owings. “Back then, Susan and I were completely unaware that most large trucks already had speed limiter technology built in, which could have saved our son’s life had it been used. We are so thankful to Representative McBath for understanding the grief of losing a child and for introducing the Cullum Owings Large Truck Safe Operating Speed Act to ensure other families do not suffer the same needless loss we deal with every day because of speeding big rigs.”

The bill was submitted for consideration to a committee of jurisdiction, and gained support from Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia during its previous Congressional session. Now, many freight stakeholders have begun backing the legislation, and Road Safe America, along with American Trucking Associations, requested support for speed limiter guidelines from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg earlier in 2021.

In their letter to Buttifieg, the groups noted the 2016 rule making proposal that requested a speed limiter rule, as well as the recent updates within driver assist safety technologies. In the 2016 proposal, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration urged for a requirement that would ensure speed-limiting devices be implemented onto trucks, buses, and multipurpose passenger vehicles weighing more than 26,000 pounds. Additionally, maximum top speeds were recommended in the proposal–of 60, 65, or 68 miles per hour.

It is clear that ATA is worried about strict regulations regarding speed limitations for all commercial motor vehicles.

“When the Department of Transportation initially published the 2016 notice of proposed rule making, ATA and many motor carriers shared several concerns about the efficacy of a one-size-fits-all solution applied to a sector as complex and nuanced as trucking,” wrote ATA President Chris Spear and Road Safe America in their letter to Buttigieg. “Foremost among them were the unintended and potentially dangerous consequences of limiting commercial drivers to one universal speed limit despite the varying limits set for passenger vehicles on interstate and secondary roads.”

The groups added that they were particularly worried about the rule’s longevity as safety technology continues to evolve and more and more commercial trucks are receiving regular tech upgrades than ever.

“Another question is how such a rule would adapt to the rapid evolution taking place in vehicle safety technology,” the letter continued.

Driver Assistant Tech Finally Winning Most Truckers Over

June 27, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Car interior with digital interface on blurry bokeh background. Double exposure

Truck drivers have had to adapt to more new onboard technology than ever in recent years, updates that originally saw a lot of hesitancy from the truckers themselves. Now, as drivers are more often seeing the benefits of technology like safety alert systems, they have embraced these changes.

Driver assistance systems (ADAS) tech has been able to help drivers avoid many kinds of crashes–whether they occur as a result of a driver’s own behavior or outside circumstances. Thousands of commercial vehicles are now equipped with such technology, which involves aspects like blind-spot detection and warning, rollover prevention, active braking, radar-enabled lane-keeping assist, variable-power-assisted steering, active radar-enabled forward collision mitigation, and side-of-truck displays made by video as opposed to having to use side mirrors.

Keeping up with these constant changes and upgrades has been tricky, explained executive vice president of TFI International, Greg Orr.

“Our drivers continue to adapt to new technology, which we support with training and education,” he explained. “It’s a process. You always have a break-in period and familiarity time, but once [drivers] get used to the technology, understand and incorporate it into their skill set, they realize it helps make them better. The majority would tell you that.”

Still, many drivers have maintained skepticism as more and more driver-assist tech comes into play, which Orr notes is really “rooted in experience.”

“For the driver,” he said, “any new system has to prove, without a doubt, two things: It does not diminish or get in the way of my ability to control and operate the truck, and it never fails or gives me false information.”

Because companies are doing more to educate drivers and are making an effort to keep this conversation ongoing, driver acceptance has become much easier, added Werner Enterprises‘ vice president of operations, Angelo Gibson.

“Adoption is quicker today than in years past,” he said, although “it still comes down to culture. Are we educating and talking about it the right way? That matters when you are trying to get driver buy-in.”

Because many drivers tend to be set in their ways, though, continuous feedback and testing is vital, Gibson explained.

“Again, there is a process you have to go through to get people comfortable with change,” he noted. “We do a really good job promoting [the advantages] and keeping things positive, educating on the benefits of the technology. That encourages buy-in.”

Additionally, ensuring that proper training is underway in regards to these new kinds of systems before they’re implemented is really the key in the success of their usage.

“We make sure, before we roll out any technology–whether retrofit or new–[that] we have a good training program to bring drivers up to speed on what it does and how it affects operating a truck, [as well as] what the signals mean.” said Old Dominion Freight Line’s president of safety and compliance, Sam Faucette. “Then, they learn what they can do in their driving to keep those [alerts] from happening.”

All trucks operated by ODFL have implemented active mitigation systems, Faucette said. For the company to secure its lowest accident rate to date in 2020, collision mitigation tech was the main contributing factor.

Interestingly, when younger truckers enter the industry, they are likely much more accepting of ADAS. For example, because they have spent a majority of their lives utilizing a variety of applications on their smartphones, they are much less concerned with additional applications utilized in a truck’s operating system. Additionally, the independence that truckers obtained in the business decades ago–that isn’t as prevalent now–isn’t as much of a concern for these younger drivers.

“Most of today’s young drivers have never experienced the freedom of truly driving a truck like it was 20 years ago,” Orr added. “They don’t have that frame of reference. They’re comfortable with technology, so having tech in the cab isn’t a big deal. In fact, it’s expected and almost universally embraced.”

Now, more drivers are understanding the overarching benefits of new technology implementation, especially when safety tech ends up helping to prevent an accident–or even exonerating a trucker from being at fault.

“We know that at least 80% of crashes involving [commercial trucks] are the other driver’s fault,” Werner’s vice president of safety and compliance, Jaime Maus, explained.

The Truck Driver Shortage–What is Really Going On?

June 26, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Truck or bus driver hands holding steering wheel and smoking cigarette in public places.

The truck driver shortage continues to run rampant throughout the United States, even making ATRI’s Most Wanted List of trucking industry concerns year after year. But, is this nationwide shortage really as prevalent as the industry says?

Sisu Energy out of Texas recently made headlines when it offered to pay truckers up to “$728,000 a year” due to the shortage being so pervasive.

“Those news stories flying around out there are very misleading and inaccurate,” said Sisu’s director of recruiting, Karrie Gundy, who noted that the company doesn’t even pay yearly salaries to truckers. In fact, Sisu hires independent contractors solely, meaning they get paid by the loads they haul and can only begin earning once they have the certifications, licensing, skills, and commercial truck needed to haul “frac sand” for the company. Still, the company maintains that productive truckers can eventually make $14,000 a week (although they have to cover their own insurance, fuel, equipment, and maintenance costs).

American Trucking Associations, along with other lobbying groups, have pushed the argument that the shortage of truck drivers has remained a major national issue for four decades now, but one may wonder how could such an employee shortage last so long? Has it really affected the average consumer? It is simple economics that when worker numbers are low, you need to raise wages to solve the problem. So, what’s really going on?

“In our type of economy, worker shortages are usually solved by employers paying higher wages to entice people to work for them,” said Levinson and Stefani’s Jay Stefani. “It is beyond believable that a driver shortage could last four decades without the trucking industry improving working conditions or paying fair wages.”

Groups like ATA have been claiming that relaxed regulations in the trucking industry would help to bring in more drivers, such as legislation like the DRIVE-Safe Act. This bill would allow drivers between 18- and 21-years-old to operate commercial trucks across state lines.

The trucking industry loves cheap labor, and has found ways to secure it for decades.

“The driver shortage has been a persistent issue in our industry for many years,” said ATA’s chief economist, Bob Costello. “We have numerous examples of fleets of all sizes raising pay, increasing bonuses, and increasing benefits–like time at home–in response to the shortage.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened this shortage, Costello explained, noting that recent regulation changes, and even stricter truck driver drug testing, have added fuel to the fire.

The main area the shortage affects within the industry is within that of long-haul trucking as more of these truckers leave the industry or retire, according to ATA. The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators adds that while 450,000 new commercial driver’s licenses are issued each year, there are only currently between 300,000 and 500,000 long-haul truck drivers currently operating throughout the country.

“We have millions of people who have been trained to be heavy-duty truck drivers who are currently not working as heavy-duty truck drivers because the entry-level jobs are terrible,” said University of Pennsylvania sociologist and trucking industry expert, Steve Viscelli.

Millions of Americans have been drawn to the trucking industry, but the way in which large trucking companies operate causes these new truckers to give up quickly. The largest concern? Wages.

Although the median annual income of a truck driver is just over $47,000, long-haulers often operate their trucks for an excessive number of hours–around 70 hours a week, if not more. Additionally, truckers are usually only paid for the number of miles they drive–on average, 52.3 cents per mile.

If these truckers must slow down en route due to construction, traffic, or inclement weather, they do not get paid more. They also don’t receive more pay for the time it takes to load or unload their hauls, nor for their “off-duty” time while they’re on the road.

“Driving a truck–especially interstate–is a difficult and demanding job,” noted Stefani. “These folks work long hours at physically demanding jobs. They’re being pressured to drive more miles in less time and for less money. And if they don’t? The trucking companies threaten to hire someone who will. And weakening safety standards–such as allowing teenagers to obtain CDLs–only lowers the bar, allowing these motor carriers to pay even less.”

The issue at hand isn’t finding ways to make entering the trucking industry more enticing to younger drivers. The solution? Make trucking companies pay their drivers enough–or more than enough–to do this difficult job that is essential to the American economy.

New Partnerships Arise to Increase Sustainability Capabilities Throughout Trucking

June 25, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

We recently reported on Albertsons Cos. working with Volvo Trucks North America to complete the first ever zero-emission grocery chain delivery in the country when Albertsons used a Volvo VNR Electric truck to distribute goods to its hub in Irvine, California.

To do so, Albertsons also obtained Advanced Energy Machines electric-power transport refrigeration units, as well as its VNR Electric trucks through Volvo Financial Services.

These efforts come as part of the Volvo Low Impact Green Heavy Transport Solutions (LIGHTS) Project, an effort to create a strong ecosystem introducing electric trucks and battery-electric equipment widely into the North American transportation industry. The LIGHTS project is a partnership between VTNA, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, and a dozen other groups.

“Albertsons is providing a great example of how this type of technology can reduce emissions and provide a sustainable zero-emissions goods delivery option,” said South Coast AQMD governing board member, Lisa A. Bartlett.

Through Volvo Gold Contract service, Volvo LIGHTS project collaborator TEC Equipment will offer contracted repairs and maintenance for these vehicles at its Fontana, California location.

“Clean up on aisle everywhere,” said Volvo Trucks North America in a tweet. “Albertsons Companies is leading the way with the nation’s first 100% zero-emission refrigerated grocery delivery deploying two Volvo VNR Electric trucks, the first in their fleet.”

As part of California Climate Investments, the California Air Resources Board launched the Volvo LIGHTS project into fruition as a statewide effort. This initiative added billions of cap-and-trade dollars to help push for the reduction of all greenhouse gas emissions in the country, as well as to boost the health of the public, the environment, and the economy.

As of now, 1,400 Class 8 trucks are operated by Albertsons across the country and are all certified as meeting high transportation sustainability and efficiency standards under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency SmartWay program. Albertsons’ Southern California fleet consists entirely of VTNA-manufactured trucks and serves 335 store locations between the Central Coast and the Mexican border.

Also partnering in a plan for emissions-reduction are Penske Corporation and Shell Oil Co., who are now working together in a new effort to boost sustainability and decarbonization.

“NEWS: Shell and Penske announce strategic collaboration to help drive decarbonization and sustainability across sectors,” said Team Penske recently in a tweet.

Customers of the companies’ supply chains will now be granted access to a new integrated solution to lower carbon emissions, including within key supply chain aspects such as sustainable transportation routes, vehicle and fleet technologies, and warehouse facilities.

“Shell and Penske have a long history of working together across truck leasing, logistics, automotive retail, and motorsports,” explained Shell’s downstream director, Huibert Vigeveno. “Customers have many choices to make when navigating the challenges and opportunities of decarbonization. Our strategic collaboration will allow us to offer customers more options and integrated solutions for a smoother transition.”

This isn’t the first time Penske has worked with Shell, as Shell has previously delivered dealer site energy savings to Penske and is currently providing fast charging capabilities for Penske’s heavy-duty electric trucks. Additionally, Penske has, in the past, offered benefits in regards to optimization for Shell’s lubricant supply chain through outside logistics program services.

“Over 10 years ago, Shell and Penske [Corporation’s] Team Penske began a business-to-business, technical, and motorsports collaboration,” said Roger Penske, CEO of Penske Logistics. “Now, by combining Shell’s energy solutions with Penske Logistics and technology expertise, the companies aim to help customers achieve their sustainability goals faster and at a lower cost.”

Additionally, in collaborative efforts to reduce the NTT IndyCar Series’ overall Carbon footprint, Penske has upgraded many facilities to have more environmentally-friendly capabilities since acquiring the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year. Shell Oil Co.’s subsidiary, Pennzoil-Quaker State Co., is now working with Penske to lower the race facility’s carbon footprint, and the groups are also certifying events as meeting green standards alongside the Council for Responsible Sport.

Electric Vehicle-Related Infrastructure Becomes Priority Across America

June 24, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Local and regional agencies have been working to promote and implement commercial electric vehicle infrastructure, according to experts at a recent North American Council for Freight Efficiency workshop discussion. These efforts come as Congress is also working toward proposals for national electric vehicle charging infrastructure–which is also part of President Biden’s current American Jobs Plan.

“There are lots of different options for how these vehicles will be charged,” said Rocky Mountain Institute’s Carbon-Free Mobility program senior associate, Jessie Lund. “I will note: [Almost] all of the charging we are seeing, with a couple of exceptions, is fleet depot-based charging.”

For this kind of charging, sites could include areas like truck stops, rest areas on toll roads, interstate rest areas, warehouses, stores, shared-card-lock locations, or ports.

“There is a whole plethora of options,” Lund added. “Some may have some challenges, such as interstate rest areas where it’s illegal to do commerce. So that is probably not a great option for the near-term future.”

If three particular conditions are met, some trucking industry experts believe that electric vehicle deployment for commercial fleets will grow rapidly. These conditions include the accessibility of charging for the public, electric grid resiliency that can handle more demand, and overall truck availability in regards to a positive total cost of ownership.

“Truck OEMs are responsible for the trucks and the servicing, and are addressing this with technological innovation,” said Daimler Trucks North America’s vice president of product compliance, Sean Waters.

In it’s recently-released top research priorities list for 2021, the American Transportation Research Institute included an industry-wide focus on electric truck deployment and the attention needed for infrastructure capabilities and updates to accommodate it.

“Incentives, like Section 45 in the Clean Energy for America Act, also are critical to spur the early adoption of zero-emission vehicles,” added Waters. “Similarly, to support a nationwide charging infrastructure, a vast coalition of players will need to participate in order to identify where to place charging infrastructure, ensure common standards and resiliency, and to help fund its creation.

To help this move forward in the way it should, federal backing is a must, he added.

“The federal government’s support for all of the above will be required in order to create a universally accessible, cohesive, [and] nationwide experience viable for the nation’s fleets,” said Waters.

Commercial truckers would be granted a 30% credit for their electric vehicle purchase through Section 45 in the Clean Energy for America Act, and such credits would last until electric vehicles are determined to comprise more than half of all vehicle sales each year.

Non-profit organization Calstart, which works toward clean transportation technology expansion, has been collaborating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate nearly 150 sites along Interstate 5 down the West Coast for potential infrastructure for alternative fuel methods. As of now, this evaluation includes 62 sites for depot and public charging infrastructure.

“We are going to need not only partner collaboration, but also finding resources to really support being able to build out that infrastructure,” said Calstart’s senior director of clean fuels and infrastructure, Alycia Gilde.

Calstart has also been working toward analyzing what is needed for an efficient EV Infrastructure electric grid to exist along that corridor.

“We wanted to understand, where do we anticipate the transition to zero-emission vehicles, the traffic, and throughput in terms of where we should be prioritizing infrastructure?” said Gilde. “For example, at truck stops…and then understanding what is the current load, and what additional load do we need in order to support electrification along I-5?”

According to Gilde, 27 sites will be able to be planned for medium-duty charging along the interstate corridor, and then eventually placed at every other site location for heavy-duty truck charging.

Natso, a truck stop- and travel plaza-representing trade group, is also aiming to boost electric vehicle charging station numbers across the country through National Highway Charging Collaborative group efforts.

“We have the real estate and the amenities,” said Natso’s vice president of government relations, David Fialkov. “We know what drivers want.”

Fialkov added that Natso and its industry are ready to collaborate with Congress, the utility sector, and state and local governments to push forward these innovative efforts.

“Utilities are enthusiastic about these projects,” added Peter Thomas, commercial business deployment manager at Electrify Commercial, a company which customizes programs for electric vehicle charging.