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CDL Testing Processes Becoming Less Restricted in Effort to Ease Driver Shortage

February 16, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

A variety of actions are in the works to speed up the commercial driver licensing process by streamlining credentialing steps for new truckers.

Regulators have been updating guidelines as two bills are introduced in Congress; the Licensing Individual Commercial Exam-takers Efficiently (LICENSE) Act, for example, will allow state driver licensing agencies to utilize third-party test administrators to conduct both a CDL skills test and knowledge test. This comes as the act would make two Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration-issued waivers permanent.

Through this legislation, states would be able to conduct driver skills tests for any applicant, regardless of what state the driver is from or where the driver underwent training. Additionally, under the act, commercial learner’s permit holders who have already passed their CDL skills test but haven’t obtained credentials would be able to drive with a veteran trucker in the truck.

“With a shortage of roughly 80,000 drivers, we should be making the process of becoming a professional truck driver as user-friendly as possible,” said Chris Spear, President of American Trucking Associations. “By making common-sense changes to the CDL testing process and eliminating redundant background checks, we can cut red tape so these hard-working men and women can get on the road navigating our nation’s highways instead of navigating its bureaucracies.”

The act was first introduced into the House by Representatives Troy Balderson of Ohio, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Josh Harder of California, and Darin LaHood of Illinois. In the Senate, the act was introduced by Senators Mark Kelly of Arizona and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming.

The LICENSE Act also aims to bring boosted support to regulatory FMCSA guidance revisions that will bring to light the regulations and guidelines that won’t hinder any third-party testing administrators from conducting CDL learner permit knowledge tests, as well.

The second bill introduced in Congress is the Transportation Security Administration Security Threat Assessment Application Modernization Act, which calls on TSA to make the application and renewal processes easier for those working toward multiple credentials at a time, as well as to lower overall fees for applicants. This act was introduced in the House by representatives John Katko of New York and Adam Smith of Washington.

The bills are a no-brainer to Commercial Vehicle Training Association president Bailey Wood, who noted that permitting third-party administrators to conduct knowledge tests would ultimately “allow states to address the driver testing backlog” and help ease the ongoing driver shortage. Although state licensing agencies can use third-party administrators for skills tests, only a couple of states currently allow for the usage of knowledge test results conducted by a third-party tester.

“According to my research and discussions with members, only Texas and Virginia permit third-party knowledge testing,” explained Wood. “Almost all states in some shape or form use third-party testing for skills tests, but skills testing is a completely different beast.”

Making the testing process as streamlined as possible should be everyone’s priority, Wood noted.

“We’re going to be encouraging states to adopt third-party knowledge test administration,” he said. “The new guidance allows one-stop shopping for students, letting them get knowledge and skills testing at the same location. Anything that expands the number of testing opportunities is a good thing.”

FMCSA has claimed, up until 2019, that third-party testing should only occur within the skills section of a CDL test, “unless an employee of the state who is authorized to supervise knowledge testing is present during the testing.” Now, FMCSA has announced in a Federal Register post that it has “reconsidered its earlier guidance” and come to the decision that none of its present guidelines block states from allowing third-party CDL knowledge tests.

This is due to the agency’s understanding that third-party testing may still be overseen by federal and state regulators to check for federal requirement compliance, and that test administrators may also need to undergo background checks, as third-party testing would allow any public and private entity to conduct a skills test on the respective state’s behalf.

ATA, Trucking Carriers Express Worry Over Pilot Program Reporting Requirements

February 15, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

A controversial apprenticeship program, gaining funding through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, will allow drivers under the age of 21 to drive commercial motor vehicles across state lines. Now, this program is bringing to light worries around motor carrier reporting requirements.

The pilot program will permit intrastate truck drivers between the ages of 18 and 21, along with their respective carriers, to enroll in a program requiring proper monitoring and training. In a series of comments filed with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Truckload Carriers Association and American Trucking Associates explained their concerns that the outline data collection requirements within the program will hinder its productivity. These comments came in response to FMCSA’s Federal Register information collection request last month.

In this request, the agency predicted that the pilot program’s necessary data collection would take around 20 minutes for each response for every carrier, experienced driver, and apprentice application form; 15 minutes for each response for all safety benchmark certifications; 90 minutes every month for miscellaneous data submission; and 60 minutes every month per driver for all monthly safety and driving data.

Additionally, FMCSA has been urging the White House Office of Management and Budget to rapidly approve its requests, and the agency only allowed for five days of public commentary. It also noted that these extensive data submission requirements may prevent smaller carriers from wanting to be part of the pilot.

“The draft information collection request may create unnecessary administrative burdens and/or prevent or delay small- and medium-sized motor carriers from participating in the program, limiting the success of the program–potentially significantly,” said ATA in the comments it offered. “Every additional burden placed on motor carriers may reduce the number participating.”

Still, ATA is staying optimistic for the potential the program has to improve the ongoing and severe truck driver shortage.

“While we believe the data collection is too broad and a registered apprenticeship mandate may prevent broad participation, ATA and its members will promote the program and [look] forward to assisting FMCSA in supporting the program,” the group said.

Although the Drive Safe Coalition supports the pilot program itself, the group believes that additional data submission requirements should be limited each month to address “only those elements that are essential in evaluating the safety impact of the young drivers,” the coalition explained. “Allowing younger commercial drivers to operate across state lines and transport interstate freight if they meet heightened training and safety equipment requirements will provide a real opportunity to address current and future truck driver shortages.”

TCA agreed, noting that the large amounts of data that will be required will likely create unprecedented difficulty for a majority of carriers.

“We must note our concern with the monthly frequency of the reporting required of the carrier, as well as the vast amounts of data that must be supplied through these reports,” said TCA. “While the statutory language grants the Secretary of Transportation the flexibility to request data relating to the safety of apprentices aged 18 to 20 years operation in interstate commerce, we fear that the breadth of data outlined in the Information Collection Request will present an undue burden to carriers.”

There also seems to be a lack of understanding regarding the extent to which most of the nation’s carriers can comply with these methods of data monitoring, TCA added.

“In particular, the requirement to supply ‘safety event data (as recorded by all safety systems installed on vehicles, to include advanced driver assistance systems, automatic emergency braking systems, onboard monitoring systems and forward-facing and in-cab video systems),’ will be very difficult to satisfy,” TCA said, “particularly for smaller carriers that do not have an extensive staff to handle this reporting.”

Werner Enterprises Inc., a carrier out of Omaha, Nebraska, also expressed its worry that the likelihood that “voluminous” data collection requirements “without some limitations” may come to fruition, and noted that certain changes to these reporting requirements may “help to strengthen the impact of collected data.”

Illinois Cracks Down on Biometric Privacy Law Compliance, Worrying Carriers

February 14, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Trucking carriers and those who provide them with technology may end up in the midst of various federal and state class-action lawsuits regarding Illinois biometric privacy law compliance, legal experts are saying.

Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, implemented in 2008, has been brought up in various recent cases–the law states that any business utilizing the collection, usage, and retention of biometric identifying data like iris scans, fingerprints, voice prints, facial geometry scans, or full hand scans must first inform employees of this intent and receive consent to do so. Additionally, the company must ensure and make clear that all records kept are entirely secure.

Overall liability in regards to this law is likely increasing quickly, and Illinois state trucking companies may be subject to more class action lawsuits in the coming months as a result, stated Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary in a recent public notice. These potential increases come after a December Illinois appellate court opinion expressed interest in boosting this liability.

Various Illinois Legislature members worked last year to try and relax some of the law’s severity, without much luck.

“Biometrics are unlike other unique identifiers that are used to access finances or other sensitive information,” said a bill summary released in the Illinois Legislature in 2021. “For example, social security numbers, when compromised, can be changed. Biometrics, however, are biologically unique to the individual, therefore, once compromised, the individual has no recourse, is at heightened risk for identity theft, and is likely to withdraw from biometric-facilitated transactions.”

Any violation of the law can allow an “aggrieved” individual to obtain liquidated damages totaling $1,000 for each negligent violation and $5,000 for any reckless violation. For a trucking company that has been scanning employees in various manners for a number of years, these damages can add up significantly.

“This is a really big issue right now in Illinois–not just for trucking, but across industries,” said firm partner Chip Andrewscavage. “BIPA has been dormant for a long time, but in the past few years, there have been literally hundreds–if not thousands–of cases filed. The risk is very high to go to trial, so we’ve been seeing a lot of class cases settled outside [of] court.”

Some trucking companies are beginning to panic, many state industry experts say.

“I am hearing from my members about this,” said Illinois Trucking Association executive director, Matt Hart. “I even had one member who reached out to me who literally told me this lawsuit will result in his filing for bankruptcy and moving his company out of Illinois.”

Hart also noted that the Illinois Chamber of Commerce has been working with trucking companies to avoid such large lawsuits, and he has been trying to help.

“While the intentions of the law were to protect privacy, trucking companies are becoming aware of it, but are attempting to adapt to it a little too late,” said Hart. “Now, they’re facing lawsuits because they did not gain consent from their employees.”

Trucking companies should begin working alongside their individual technology suppliers in regards to compliance of this law, although they should have already been doing so to begin with, noted Trucksafe Consulting president, Brandon Wiseman. Trucksafe Consulting, based in Greenfield, Indiana, is a truck regulatory compliance firm.

“Work with your vendor, and see what your vendor is doing about this,” Wiseman said, adding that the carrier and tech vendor should both have data stored properly within their own systems. “I think it’s certainly possible for motor carriers to get pulled into the litigation.”

Some carriers are frustrated, saying that they should not be punished if they had no knowledge of the legislation in place.

“I get the intent of the law,” said a Midwestern carrier’s president who wished to remain anonymous. “But we didn’t do anything wrong. We just didn’t know the law existed.”

Still, many Illinois carriers have been using handprint and fingerprint scanners or inward-facing cameras for a number of years now, and should be doing so as responsibly as possible, Wiseman added.

“The law does not prohibit carriers from collecting data,” he said. “It requires carriers to make it clear to their drivers what exactly [they’re] collecting, and get their consent to do so.”

Most Common Truck Violation in North America: Broken Lights

February 11, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

In national roadside truck inspections taking place throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico during 2021, the highest number of violations came from inoperable vehicle lamps, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s data found.

Out of 2021’s 243,159 roadside truck inspections, 11.75% of all violations were due to non-functioning vehicle lamps, totaling 344,225 violations regarding these required lighting fixtures. In the United States, specifically, out of 212,256 inspections, 300,433–or 11.78%–of all violations were for vehicle lamps. For Canada, 9.57% of violations were for the lamps, coming out to 3,269 violations out of 2,768 inspections; In Mexico, 11.72% of violations were for vehicle lamps, totaling 40,235 violations out of 27,963 inspections.

“It’s important to note–commercial motor vehicles coming in from Mexico are checked regularly as they cross the border and generally have better lighting compliance,” said Texas Department of Public Safety Press secretary, Ericka Miller.

Still, commercial trucks throughout North America had the highest numbers of non-compliant lighting fixtures throughout 2021.

“Obviously, lights are important,” said Roadside Inspection program director for the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, Kerri Wirachowsky. “They can go out at any time. Some lights are critical, such as brake lights and tail lights, and can cause a vehicle to be placed out of service. Some are not, like license plate lighting.”

FMCSA’s data showed that throughout the continent, inoperable headlamps, inoperable tail lamps, and inoperable brake lamps also comprised other top violations, with last years’ second-most-common violation being inoperable turn signal lights.

“As vehicles are traveling, parts wear,” noted public information officer for the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Lt. Bill Miller. “The rougher the roadways, the more the stress on the vehicle components.”

This issue is something state troopers check for daily, and truckers should know the importance of compliance.

“Lamps such as brake lamps, head lamps, and turn signals prevent crashes, especially at night,” said Miller. “Lighting provides visibility and assists in signaling the vehicle movements or driver intentions.”

Commercial trucks often deal with non-functioning truck lamps as their miles add up. Still, safety must remain a top priority.

“All lights are essential; for example, a side-marker lamp on a trailer can warn another vehicle that a trailer is next to them in the dark,” said Georgia Department of Public Safety Information Office official, Franka Young.

LED lighting is an additional factor that often brings about truck lamp violations, especially within recently-manufactured commercial vehicles, added Wirachowsky.

“For drivers doing their truck inspections, LED lights are their friends,” she said. “LEDs don’t all go out at the same time, unless a plug falls out, because they are clusters of diodes…I’m often asked, ‘How many diodes should be out before you fix them?’ I say, ‘As soon as you find any out, fix them and maintain the truck.’”

Typically, drivers will wait for groups of their LED lights to burn out instead of regularly replacing each of them as they stop working. Still, LEDs have a decade-long lifespan, and replacing LEDs on the go is easier than many think, noted Mack Trucks’ director of national accounts, Ray Hasting. Although LED lamps have more upfront costs than incandescent lighting, LED diodes last much longer, are more shock-resistant, use less voltage, and function at lower temperatures–making them a no-brainer for a majority of highway fleets.

The states with the most overall commercial truck and bus inspections throughout 2021 included California, with 282,453 inspections, Texas with 204,336, New York with 57,344, Maryland with 53,149, North Carolina with 48,568, and Florida with 40,872. Those with the lowest number of inspections were Hawaii, Alaska, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.

Another reason truck lamp violations have been so shockingly high–finding non-functioning lamps is particularly easy for the inspector during his or her walk-around inspection, according to Wirachowsky.

Car Safety Ratings Will Now Include How Systems Keep Drivers Alert

February 10, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

As the transportation industry works to find ways to keep drivers alert while on the road, two particularly influential groups will start rating vehicles on how efficient their driver behavior-tracking systems are.

For vehicles using partially automated driver-assist systems, the ratings will become part of the overall scores for new vehicle models starting in 2022, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Consumer Reports, both of which many car buyers seek out for vehicle safety judgments.

“The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is developing a new ratings program that evaluates the safeguards that vehicles with partial automation employ to help drivers stay focused on the road,” said the institute in a tweet on January 19th, when the groups announced their new rating methods. This safety rating comes as more and more new vehicles are becoming equipped with automated safety systems.

These systems have had tendencies to make mistakes while drivers often fail to take swift action, leading to serious accidents. According to the groups, recent studies show drivers typically rely too heavily on their automated systems even though they are only partially automated. Additionally, vehicle advertising often overexaggerates the abilities of the systems, according to both groups.

IIHS and Consumer Reports noted that this new move was motivated by a concern over the lack of standards and ratings from the National Highway Safety Administration; NHTSA explained that it is still finding ways to analyze driver data and monitoring systems to set benchmarks in place.

Partially automated systems typically consist of lane-centerting technology, radar sensors, camera monitoring, and advanced cruise control, although the quality of these systems varies between different vehicles. Still, drivers may often ignore the alerts from their monitoring systems, especially when they’re referred to as “autopilot,” such as within Tesla models.

Tesla launched its “autopilot” driver-assist system in 2015, and a driver in a Tesla operating on the system was killed in a collision with a freeway barrier in Mountain View, California in 2018. The driver, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, was likely playing a game on his or her cellphone at the time.

“Autopilot” is easily considered self-driving, although no self-driving cars are currently available on the market, and all drivers must remain alert and aware at all times behind any wheel.

“Keeping drivers focused on the road and the vehicle is critical for the safe use of partially automated driving systems,” said IIHS president, David Harkey.

Some carmakers with partially automated systems onboard, including Ford, General Motors, and BMW, have cameras installed that monitor whether or not a driver’s eyes are on the road, while others may only look to see if a driver’s hands are present on the steering wheel. According to IIHS and Consumer Reports, the lack of federal standards means monitoring can easily be turned off or ignored.

If a driver decides not to pay attention to these monitoring systems, it could make driving even more dangerous than it would be while driving without any partially automated driving system onboard at all, noted Harkey.

“There are studies that go back probably 80 years that show humans are pretty bad about just watching automation happen,” said senior director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center, Jake Fisher. “It’s just too easy to get bored and let your attention wander.”

There are currently no partially automated driving systems that meet IIHS’ standards, Harkey noted. Monitoring systems must have a variety of alerts available to remind a driver to keep his or her eyes on the road and to make sure the driver’s hands are on the steering wheel at all times, and the system must slow or stop the vehicle if a driver doesn’t respond to the alerts. All of these features must be in place for IIHS to give the vehicle a “good” rating.

“We’re hoping, and we think, that the automakers will respond, and they’ll start to add more robust features into their vehicles that have these systems,” added Harkey.

Transportation Capacity Issues Cause High Inventory Numbers

February 8, 2022 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

“Because capacity is low and costs are high, it is difficult to move inventory efficiently,” said the Logistics Managers’ Index in regards to its latest survey measuring activity within the nation’s supply chain. “This combination of low capacity and high costs likely led to over-ordering this past Fall, and to goods idling at points in the supply chain where they could not be purchased by customers.”

LMI’s supply chain data shows 12 months in a row with a reading of more than 70–a level of “significant expansion” which depicts inventory throughout the United States supply chain continuing to accumulate without sufficient transportation available to quickly turn it.

Logistics Managers’ Index reports are released regularly by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals in collaboration with researchers and experts at Rutgers University, the University of Nevada at Reno, Arizona State University, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and Colorado State University.

“Researchers from leading logistics and supply chain schools are conducting a long-term survey with the goal of identifying trends and developments in the logistics industry over time,” LMI explains on its website. “This data will be used to generate knowledge and content relevant to the logistics industry. Logistics metrics such as transportation, warehousing, and inventory are leading economic indicators, and can point towards potential movements in the overall economy.”

Survey responses allow LMI researchers to continuously analyze the trending movement of these metrics.

“In our monthly survey, we gather the responses of over 100 professionals on the movement and direction of key logistics metrics,” the site continues. “These metrics are aggregated into the Logistics Managers’ Index, which is released on the first Tuesday of every month.”

Specifically, the index rose to 71.9 in January–an increase of 1.8 percentage points. Any reading higher than 50% indicates significant expansion, and a reading under 50% shows contraction. Additionally, the inventory levels’ subindex rose by 9.5 points in January to reach 71.1, which marks the highest recorded growth rate shown since the beginning of 2018. This set of data itself has risen a total 12.3 points throughout December and January.

On top of this, January also saw the inventory costs index rise to 87.9–an increase of 3.9 points.

“Excess inventory in the system is eating up more capacity and causing costs to increase further,” LMI continued. “Essentially, low capacity and high costs led to higher levels of inventory, and now higher inventory is leading to even less capacity and higher costs.”

Costs are reaching record-breaking highs at this point, according to LMI’s warehousing metrics, with space for these goods dwindling rapidly. Capacity within warehouses has continued to stay in a state of contraction with a reading of 47.1, although capacity itself has risen by 0.6 points overall. These capacity numbers have been worsening consistently for the past year-and-a-half.

“The limited availability is encouraging retailers to acquire upstream distribution centers to ensure they have somewhere to store their goods,” LMI’s report noted as warehousing prices data show an increase of 3.8 points, reaching 85.9, and warehouse usage rising 3.7 points to 71. “Until more capacity is available, the growing appetite for e-commerce will keep costs high.”

For nearly a year now, warehouse pricing indices and inventory cost indices have been showing readings reaching 80 or higher–a staggering trend, LMI added.

Additionally, transportation utilization data showed an increase which reached 62.4, with transportation prices reaching 88.7–an increase of 1.1 points. The transportation usage growth rate declined by 4.7 points between December, and transportation prices stayed above a reading of 80 for the 18th month in a row. In January, the transportation capacity subindex rose by 2.1 points to reach 44.8, showing a consistent decline in capacity speed for the third month in a row. For 20 straight months, this particular subindex has been considered to be in a state of contraction.

“Generally, inventory costs are low in January and then increase throughout the rest of the year,” the report explained. “It will be interesting to see if this pattern continues in 2022.”