federal motor carrier safety administration

Annual Roadcheck Event Takes 6,710 CMVs off North American Roadways

August 19, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

“Hours of service was the most cited driver out-of-service violation during this year’s International Roadcheck, accounting for 41.5% of all driver out-of-service violations,” said CVSA in a recent tweet, following the release of their latest annual Roadcheck numbers. “That’s 1,203 violations.”

During the annual International Roadcheck which took place between May 4th and May 6th, CVSA inspectors took 6,710 commercial motor vehicles off of North American roadways and 2,080 total drivers off of roadways, which came out to a 16.5% commercial vehicle out-of-service rate and a 5.3% driver out-of-service rate for the continent.

The annual International Roadcheck takes place across Mexico, Canada, and the United States through a CVSA program initiative, with collaboration from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the National Guard, Transport Canada, the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, and Mexico’s Ministry of Communications and Transportation.

The three-day event was an inspection and enforcement effort of high-visibility and high-volume; this year’s event saw more than 40,000 commercial motor vehicle inspections be conducted. Of those, around 83.5% of all commercial vehicles did not have any out-of-service violations.

Still, the most highly-cited out-of-service violation for drivers was hours of service violations, making up 41.5% of all violations and totaling 1,203 citations. Along with hours of service, lighting was another major category in which inspectors accounted for violations. 14.1% of all violations were in this category, making it the third-most-cited violation for out-of-service vehicles and coming out to 1,367 of these particular violations.

Commercial motor vehicles and combination trucks, non-cargo tank HM/DG trucks and combinations, motor coaches and buses, and cargo tank hazardous materials and dangerous goods trucks and combinations were all inspected during the annual Roadcheck initiative by CVSA-certified inspectors. These professionals conducted these inspections throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico at designated inspection stations, weigh stations, and other designated roadside locations.

“Inspectors performed 23,135 Level I Inspections and removed 5,048 vehicles (21.8%) and 1,200 (5.2%) drivers from roadways due to the discovery of critical vehicle or driver inspection item violations as identified in the CVSA North American Standard Out-of-service Criteria,” explained CVSA.

This kind of inspection–the North American Standard Level I Inspection–is a 37-step process and was the primary method of inspections conducted during the event. 2020’s Roadcheck event was delayed due to the pandemic and finally took place between September 9th and September 11th, finding an out-of-service rate for commercial vehicles of 20.9% throughout the continent. This was a considerable increase from 2019’s out-of-service rate, which came out to be 17.9%–a surprising boost in regards to to the lessened roadway traffic that came from the pandemic era.

Additionally, although overall miles driven dropped by 13% in 2020 with shelter-in-place orders active throughout North America, roadway fatalities rose by 24% in 2020 as compared to 2019, according to the National Safety Council’s figures in CVSA’s recent news release.

During 2020, the fourth-most-cited driver violation was the “failure to use a seat belt while operating a commercial motor vehicle,” which totaled more than 32,000 violations of this kind just in the United States, according to the Management Information System data released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. During 2021’s Roadcheck event, only 773 seat belt usage violations were found throughout the entire continent, with 464 cited in the United States, 305 in Canada, and just four in Mexico.

In regards to the most commonly-cited violations found during the 2021 International Roadcheck event, the top five for commercial motor vehicle drivers were having the wrong class license (565 citations making up 19.5%), having false or inadequate logs (427 citations making up 14.7%), having a suspended license (132 citations making up 4.6%), hours-of-service violations (1,203 citations making up 41.5%), or other various violations (482 citations making up 16.6%).

For commercial motor vehicles themselves, the top five violations this year were issues with tires (1,804 citations making up 18.6%), lights (1,367 citations making up 14.1%), brake systems (2,564 citations making up 26.5% percent), brake adjustment capabilities (1,203 citations making up 12.4%), and cargo securement capabilities (1,192 citations making up 12.3%).

Trucker Violation Numbers Looking Bleak in FMCSA Clearinghouse Data

May 5, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

In the midst of an industry-wide driver shortage, a national database has been tracking truckers’ compliance history and working to prevent truck drivers from leaving the industry due to failed drug tests. During 2020, the number of drug and alcohol violations recorded hit over 56,000.

This number was around 10,000 higher in the last two months of the year as compared to the 10 months prior. 2020 was the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouses’ first full calendar year of operation, and the year saw 1,203 alcohol-related driver violations, as shown in its latest summary report. Out of those violations, the majority were drivers testing with a blood alcohol concentration of at least 0.04.

Around 45,000 drivers lost their jobs after these violations were recorded, and only 11,000 of those have undergone the return-to-work program. Because of this, many industry experts are worried that the remaining drivers will not be returning to the industry at all.

A large number of violations also included many drivers either declining a drug test, testing positive for drug use, or being suspected of cheating on a drug test.

“The good news is that the system is working in capturing violations by drivers and allowing employers and enforcement personnel to verify a driver’s status prior to permitting him or her [to drive],” said FMCSA spokesman, Duane DeBruyne. “Any violation reported is a bad thing; blocking prohibited drivers from endangering themselves and the lives of the motoring public is a good thing.”

The Clearinghouse–which is used by law enforcement, state driver licensing agencies, and carriers alike to monitor driver violations–has made it trickier for drivers to illegally skip a return-to-duty process once they’ve been prohibited from re-entering the industry. This helps bar them from returning to commercial motor vehicle operation and endangering “themselves and the lives of everyone traveling our nation’s roadways,” DeBruyne explained.

Vice president of safety policy for American Trucking Associations, Dan Horvath, agreed. “I believe the 56,000 drivers with violations reiterates the importance of this Clearinghouse, and shines a spotlight on a rather large loophole in the drug and alcohol testing process that has existed for many years,” he said.

This issue has seen little change over those years, Scopelitis Transportation Consulting President, Dave Osiecki, explained. He also noted that FMCSA’s final Clearinghouse rule, which was released in 2016, used historical data to create an estimate of yearly violations.

“FMCSA’s estimate was 53,500 drug and alcohol violations annually,” he said. “Their estimate was remarkably close.”

Even the number of those who do decide to return to the industry after undergoing the proper treatment and testing is not enough to fill the gap made by those leaving trucking for good, he continued.

“It’s concerning, and it bears watching and tracking. The percentage of drivers with violations who are getting evaluated, and completing the treatment process, has risen slowly over the past several months. This is a good sign, but it’s also clear that many drivers are not entering treatment, which suggests they’ve left the industry.”

The report, which showed data from violations beginning on January 6th, 2020 (when the Clearinghouse went into effect), reported 29,500 drug test failures for marijuana, specifically, 7,940 for cocaine, and 4,953 for amphetamines. An additional 1,120 tests were marked as having reasonable suspicion regarding efforts to cheat on a drug test.

The Clearinghouse saw around 1.6 million drivers registered in 2020, along with 197,000 industry employers, 67,000 of which are self-identified as owner-operators.

“According to our interpretation of Motor Carrier Management Information System data, there are 5,174,170 truck drivers under the authority of FMCSA,” explained Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association spokeswoman, Nortia Taylor. “Fifty-six thousand drivers represents 1.1% of the available driver pool.”

Employers must check the database annually to see if any employees or potential employees have had any drug violations. In 2020, Clearinghouse saw 2.7 million limited queries, 1.4 million pre-employment queries, and 136,806 full queries.

“It’s important to note that having a drug or alcohol testing violation is not an automatic end to a driver’s career,” Horvath said. “While there is a significant number of drivers who have not yet completed the return-to-duty testing process, that number continues to grow.”

Horvath hopes that boosted transparency in regards to this program will help more drivers be able to return to work more easily, or, better yet, avoid any reason for violation.

“With continued education about the drug and alcohol testing program, and consequences for noncompliance, we hope to see violations decrease and the number of drivers who have completed the return-to-duty process increase.”

FMCSA’s COVID-19 Regulatory Relief Extended Once Again

April 29, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

The emergency declaration announced by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which aims to provide regulatory relief to all trucking industry workers operating within assistance efforts related to the coronavirus pandemic, has once again been extended.

“FMCSA is continuing the exemption and associated regulatory relief…because the presidentially-declared emergency remains in place and because a continued exemption is needed to support direct emergency assistance for some supply chains,” said the agency in its notice.

All commercial motor vehicle drivers working in direct assistance to COVID-19 emergency efforts will be covered under this renewed declaration, which has now been extended through the month of May, and may end up being extended even further.

“Extension of the Expanded Modified Emergency Declaration Number 2020-002, in accordance with 49 CFR § 390.25, effective February 17th, 2021, and shall remain in effect until May 31st, 2021, or until the revocation of the declaration of national emergency,” FMCSA announced in a tweet, along with a link leading to its “FMCSA Coronavirus Response Action Update.”

The declaration will, as was previously iterated, be applicable to all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Hours of service exemptions, longer combination vehicles regulation exemptions, and exemptions regarding the parts and accessories needed for safe operation within Parts 390-399 of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations are continued in this extension.

“This extension of the expanded modified emergency declaration addresses national emergency conditions that create a need for immediate transportation of essential supplies and provides necessary relief from the [Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations] for motor carriers and drivers,” explained FMCSA in its announcement.

Commercial drivers will be granted regulatory relief and exemptions in regards to the transportation of essential items needed for the health, wellbeing, and economy of the country and its citizens, including COVID-19 testing, treatment, and diagnosing-related medical supplies; vaccines, vaccine administration kits, and vaccine-related equipment and medical supplies; masks, gloves, soap, disinfectants, and hand sanitizer, as well as other supplies and resources needed for overall sanitation, safety, and prevention of COVID-19 transmission among community members; livestock and livestock feed; and food, groceries, and paper products needed for the restocking of stores and distribution centers.

This emergency declaration and regulatory relief extension will not make any drivers exempt from safety regulations and laws such as speed limits, FMCSA assured. Additionally, truckers will not receive any regulatory relief in relation to size and weight requirements, hazardous materials regulations, drugs and alcohol regulations, and commercial driver license requirements.

Fatigued drivers will also not be able to be forced to operate a truck by any motor carrier, and if a particular driver tells his or her carrier or employer that he or she is in need of immediate rest, that driver must, under regulation requirements, still be given at least 10 consecutive hours of rest time before driving again.

Direct assistance related to exemption qualifications does not include any routine commercial deliveries and will not include any drivers transporting mixed loads “with a nominal quantity of qualifying emergency relief added to obtain the benefits of the emergency declaration,” FMCSA stated in its notice.

A series of notices regarding these emergency relief declarations have been released intermittently since March 13th, 2020, and this is the latest notice–but likely not the last–since FMCSA released its initial emergency declaration. Still, the agency does indeed intend to finally “wind down” regulatory exemptions, according to FMCSA acting Administrator Meera Joshi, who explained such intention within the notice.

This will hopefully become possible, and fewer exemptions will hopefully be needed, as more vaccines become available to the general public and coronavirus numbers decline exponentially.

Joshi’s appointment to this role was announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation immediately following the inauguration of President Joe Biden. Previously, Joshi worked as the commissioner of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, the agency responsible for regulating and licensing New York City’s paratransit vehicles, medallion taxicabs, for-hire vehicles, and commuter vans.

“In the interest of ensuring continued commercial motor vehicle safety, it is FMCSA’s intention to wind down the exemptions granted under this emergency declaration and related COVID-19 regulatory relief measures to the extent possible,” said the agency in its latest announcement.

Medical Examiner Qualifications Not Up To Par, DOT Audit Says

April 15, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

We recently reported on the dangers of sleep apnea in truck drivers and the lack of federal oversight regarding the testing and treatment of truckers who may have have obstructive sleep apnea–subsequently impacting their job performances.

Now, a new audit from the Department of Transportation Inspector General has discovered particular weaknesses regarding the federal monitoring of medical examiner qualifications–the examiners that determine whether or not a truck driver can properly and safely operate a commercial motor vehicle based on the driver’s physical qualifications.

“The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s ability to oversee whether drivers meet physical qualification standards to safely operate a commercial vehicle is limited because of a lengthy outage of the [Medical Examiners] National Registry and a resulting backlog of driver examination reports that were not entered into the Registry,” said the audit released by the Inspector General. “Furthermore, FMCSA has not fully implemented requirements for random periodic monitoring of medical examiners’ eligibility and performance.”

Additionally, “data-quality issues, including missing records,” along with other data accuracy holes and mistakes “limit the effectiveness of FMCSA’s oversight,” the audit continued, explaining that this weakness was a result of driver examination reports not being documented properly, leading to a seven-month registry outage beginning at the tail end of 2017.

“Because of the outage and technical issues in relaunching the National Registry, we estimate that approximately 780,000 driver examinations could be missing from the database,” said the document. “FMCSA is building a new National Registry, but it is unclear when it will be complete.”

To become certified in conducting examinations of truck drivers, physicians and other medical professionals have to begin the certification process by registering, and also must be already licensed in the state in which they will be performing examinations. Additionally, they must meet testing and training requirements.

“Our analysis of National Registry data indicated that 46% of its 70,208 records of certified medical examiners as of May 2019 had outdated medical license information,” said the audit. “Additionally, our analysis of two separate samples totaling 452 driver examinations from three state driver’s licensing agencies we visited found that 21% were not recorded in the National Registry.”

Currently, a Department of Transportation physical examination for a trucker is valid for up to two years, and a trucker may also be given a medical examiner’s certificate for less than the two-year period if the examiner aims to monitor a particular condition.

“Of critical importance, certified medical examiners must submit to the National Registry reports of the results of driver examinations they perform and the medical certificates they issue to qualified drivers,” continued the audit, which also indicated that FMCSA has yet to implement yearly eligibility audits following certification, although it has conducted these initial certification reviews in regards to the eligibility and certification qualifications of medical examiners.

“Without these oversight reviews, FMCSA may be missing fraud indicators or other risks that may require mitigation and has less assurance that drivers are physically qualified to safely operate a commercial vehicle,” said the document.

Over the last six and half years, 14 fraudulent medical certificate convictions have come from Office of Inspector general investigations, and the IG claims that finding and preventing medical certificate fraud is still a top priority.

For example, a Georgia medical examiner’s record falsifications caused more than 600 drivers to have to renew their medical certificates in August 2017. In January 2019, a scheme to enter fake driver examinations to the Registry resulted in an Alabama medical examiner being sentenced to more than three years in prison and fined $10,000, with two workers sentenced to a total of five years of probation for their participation in the scam. From that fraud, FMCSA required more than 2,100 drivers to renew their medical certificates, as well.

Some technical updates are set to be completed by the end of March, the agency assured, and all IG audit recommendations are estimated to be implemented by June 30th, 2023.

“A fully-functional National Registry is a priority under the FMCSA IT Modernization Plan,” said the agency, noting that its interim Registry system can only currently offer partial functionality. “FMCSA plans to award a contract to rebuild the National Registry in the second quarter of fiscal-year 2021.”

Yard Move Guidance Changes Proposed by FMCSA

March 30, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

The methods with which truck drivers record yard moves within their hours of service may be changing due to proposed revised regulatory guidance released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Recently, in a Federal Register notice, FMCSA proposed that it would clarify when a trucker can record his or her time completing yard moves only as “on-duty, not driving.” In the notice, FMCSA gave specific examples of properties that qualify as yards, and noted that commercial motor vehicle movements that take place on these kinds of properties should be considered yard moves and only recorded by the driver as being part of his or her ‘on-duty, not driving’ time as opposed to his or her ‘driving’ time.

In 2015, the Agency released its final rule within its “Electronic Logging Devices and Hours of Service Supporting Documents,” in which it outlined its standards for the minimum performance and design of ELDs. It required manufacturers to have two specific driving categories, authorized personal use/”personal conveyance” and “yard moves.” FMCSA stated that these two categories could be used by drivers however the motor carrier sees fit and explained in its Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that the ‘yard move’ category was meant to record the time “where the CMV may be in motion by a driver is not necessarily in a ‘driving’ duty status.”

Still, a lot of clarification was needed regarding what exactly a ‘yard move’ entailed.

“Commenters generally viewed ‘yard moves’ as an on-duty, not driving activity occurring on private property,” said the agency in its notice. “The Agency declined to define the term ‘yard move’ in its final rule, noting that ‘yard moves’ related broadly to the HOS rules, not just to CMV operations using ELDs.”

All truck drivers who must record their hours of service are included in the new guidance by the agency.

“This guidance, if finalized, lacks the force and effect of law and is not meant to bind the public in any way,” the Federal Register notice continued. “This guidance document is intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding the agency’s interpretation of its existing regulations.”

There are four duty statuses for drivers to choose from when documenting their hours of service in cooperation with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations–sleeper berth, driving, off-duty, and on-duty, not driving. A trucker has to log their duty status times whether they use electronic logging devices or manual paper logs.

Properties that can qualify as yards under the new proposed guidance are: an intermodal yard or port facility; a shipper’s parking lot (that is privately-owned); the place of business for a motor carrier; and a public road if and while public access to the road is limited through specific traffic control tools. These include flaggers, lights, gates, and other control measures. If a trucker must access a public road to get to part of a private property, that travel can be considered a yard move only if public access is in fact limited during that movement.

According to the notice, properties that will not qualify as yards are public rest areas and public roads free of any traffic control measures.

The Federal Motor Carrier and Safety Administration requested comments from the public regarding this proposal, and said it will take into consideration the contents of these comments to device whether or not this new guidance needs any more clarification or explanation.

Additionally, FMCSA has specific questions for which it is requesting responses, including:

“Would defining ‘yard moves’ in the agency’s regulations provide necessary clarification and therefore benefit carriers and drivers?”
“Are there other properties or situations where drivers may be in a yard move status that should be included as examples in this guidance?”
“Would adding examples of yard moves be beneficial for this guidance? If so, please provide examples for consideration.”
“How should ‘yard’ be defined for the purposes of this guidance?”

Trucking Experts Answer Common HOS Questions in Midst of Regulation Changes

March 17, 2021 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration representatives are working to get all public questions answered regarding the newest hours-of-service regulations, which have now offically been in effect for a few months.

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic and the toll it took on the nation’s truck drivers, the Trump Administration worked to relax trucking regulations. During this time, an hours-of-service regulation flexibility proposal was implemented, allowing drivers to: extend their potential driving time by two hours during challenging driving conditions, divide their 10-hour mandatory rest times into 5-5 or 6-4 hour splits (giving them more control over their rest breaks and whether or not they are actually resting during that time), and lengthen their maximum on-duty time from a 12-hour period to a 14-hour period.

Because this final rule change has only been active for a short amount of time, FMCSA reps addressed public concerns during a virtual question-and-answer session in December. The final rule took effect at the end of September.

Among some of the topics given the most attention was that of efficient record-keeping, with emphasis on a motor carrier’s need to properly record a driver’s time in, time out, and exact number of hours worked each day. Joe DeLorenzo, FMCSA’s Director of Enforcement and Compliance, noted that these records need to be kept on file for at least six months.

In regards to short haul exceptions, the final regulation change made the exception available to particular drivers by not only lengthening their maximum on-duty periods, but also the distance limit a driver can operate from 100 total air miles to 150.

Drivers do not need to fill out a graph grid log or electronic logging device record–they are permitted to instead use a time record while operating under the new short haul exception.

“You do have to have some sort of account of your time,” DeLorenzo reiterated. “Managing that and thinking through that up front is pretty important.”

DeLorenzo made clear that if a driver travels farther than the allowed 150 air miles or cannot report back in time, or otherwise does not meet the exception, they must fill out a manual log for that day. If a driver has to complete eight or fewer log days within a month, that driver may use a paper log with a graph grid. On the other hand, a driver must use an electronic logging device if he or she has to complete a log more than eight days within the span of a month.

Additionally, DeLorenzo notes that drivers should record driving conditions for the day if they are challenging or adverse, and this record should be taken at the time of the obstacle–not at the end of the day, when the driver may have exceeded the hour limit.

“That will help you to establish, when anybody asks,” he said. “That’s always helpful when somebody questions your log down the road.”

Adverse driving conditions considered in this modification include snow, ice, fog, sleet, or other conditions in traffic or weather that are unexpected by a driver immediately before embarking on his or her operations for the day.

Trucker-involved road incidents will not qualify as an adverse driving condition for that particular trucker, and rush-hour traffic is also not included, explained FMCSA Driver and Carrier Operations Division transportation specialist, Rich Clemente.

“[Applicable circumstances] are unforeseen events, such as a highway that may get closed because of an accident,” he said.

The representatives also spoke about the new regulations in regards to sleeper berth rules–with exceptions now in place for the mandatory 30-minute rest break. Now, these breaks have boosted flexibility by requiring break only after every eight consecutive hours of driving. The break can be satisfied now by a driver using an “on-duty, not driving” status in lieu of an “off-duty” status. The break requirement can also be met by a driver using a “sleeper berth” status.

Clemente explained that the necessary 30 minutes must be consecutive and can consist of a combination of qualifying statuses during that period. Yard moves are not permitted on public roadways, but can count toward a 30-minute break requirement, as can roadside inspections. This time period can also consist of the time a driver fuels his or her truck or gets a snack or meal.

To continue helping carriers and drivers better understand the updated hours-of-service rules, FMCSA recently released an online tool: the Educational Tool for Hours of Service. This resource allows users to log their duty status and can show them what potential violations may have occurred.