trucking laws

Hours-of-Service Changes Highlighted in October Trucking Conference

November 18, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

SAN DIEGO — At the American Trucking Associations’ 86th annual Management Conference and Exhibition early last month, industry leaders contemplated how federal regulation and international trade policy changes will affect truck drivers, carriers and manufacturers.

The most prevalent issue discussed at the event–which ended up brining 2,764 attendees to the San Diego Convention Center–appeared to be the changes coming to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours-of-service rules.

These new regulations would bring increased flexibility to the previously mandatory 30-minute rest breaks and time splits between off-duty and on-duty hours for truck drivers. It would also allow for extended duty time during inclement weather by two hours and would lengthen the maximum on-duty period from 12 to 14 hours.

The ATA strongly supports these regulations.

“What we submit will be laced with a lot of justification, as we always do,” said ATA President Chris Spear during the event’s closing press conference.

The proposal for these regulation changes sparked from the Trump Administration and trucking lobbyists’ beliefs regarding rules becoming excessively strict around truck drivers working in heavy traffic and poor weather, as well as concerns for drivers’ abilities to complete deliveries on time.

Once these rules do soften, truckers will have to stay on the road for hours longer, and proper safety measures will fall onto drivers’ shoulders to self-regulate.

Without a way to make sure truck drivers will get the necessary amount of rest to drive alertly, lenient regulation doesn’t make much sense–especially after a July PBS report which found that 60 truckers involved in fatal crashes back in 2017 were asleep at the wheel or extremely fatigued.

At the closing press conference, both Spear and ATA’s chairman, Randy Guillot, explained the association’s intent to mark tort reform as a major industry priority.

“I’m excited that we’ve moved tort reform up to the highest level of priorities here at ATA,” said Guillot, who is also the president of Triple G Express Inc. “I think we’ll see a lot of activity with that topic this year.”

In Spear’s October 7th keynote address, he explained his plan to fight against trial lawyers who target trucking companies and often secure large jury awards. Spear believes most of these cases are not settled fairly, and claims the ATA always quickly compensates those involved in cases in which the association is at fault.

However, Spear and the ATA have been known to handpick specific cases in order to spotlight situations that they hope will bring public attention and pushback against lawsuits opposing the trucking industry.

For reference, in a recent Transport Topics interview, Spear referenced a case from 2014 that involved a pickup truck and a tractor-trailer. The pickup crossed a median on a Texas interstate and collided with the trailer. One passenger of the pickup was killed in the crash and another was left paralyzed. Their family argued in court that the trucker was driving recklessly in inclement weather and should have pulled over. The jury awarded the family nearly $90 million.

Although Spear believes the truck driver was not at fault (even though court documents from the case show Werner Enterprises, the trucking company, staying quiet about its blatant disregard for safety policies), it clearly makes little sense to relax regulations regarding truck drivers working in dangerous weather, like the driver in this case, or to allow for drivers to potentially work while even more fatigued than they already are.

If safety regulations call for even less rigidity around truckers driving in storms or under the influence of extreme exhaustion, wouldn’t the number of nuclear verdicts against truck drivers increase? Isn’t that in direct contradiction of what Spear and the ATA want?

Additionally, placing tort reform as a high-priority issue would mean recoveries awarded to those harmed by lack of trucking industry safety would potentially decrease even further. Of course, the American Trucking Associations wants to spend as little in payouts as possible, but why is profit a bigger priority than the safety of everyone on the road? Decreasing truck driver safety with hours-of-service regulation flexibility will clearly make for many more cases against the industry, which is obviously counter-productive for the ATA.

It appears the ATA needs to spend much less time fighting for regulations that work against itself.

Amazon Threatening the Trucking Industry Once Again

November 14, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Over the years, Amazon has slowly but surely built an entire fleet of delivery and transportation vehicles to maintain its foothold on the behemoth of a business it has created. According to Business Insider, Amazon reportedly has an incredible number of vans used for the “last mile” of delivery, bringing product from the company’s warehouses to our doorsteps, with over 100,000 vans nationwide. As one could clearly understand, one company maintaining as much volume and control over the delivery of its own product certainly effects the ability for drivers to gain valuable work from a multitude of manufacturers and retailers. However, up until this point, there has been one key aspect of Amazon’s business that has allowed for drivers and the trucking industry to breath easy; the company has long welcomed third parties for shipping its product that goes beyond that “last mile.” Unfortunately, the trucking industry now may be facing a harsh reality, one that sees Amazon bringing all of its delivery resources in-house and creating a fleet that handles the entire delivery process for its business.

As we recently wrote, the trucking industry is already facing a steep drop-off of its own workforce due to retirement and an overall lack of incentives to take on the grueling job. Additionally, the industry has found it much more difficult to keep large fleets of trucks on the roads for trucking companies as retailers and manufacturers continue to consolidate and tighten their grip on shipping costs. That’s why the most recent sightings and word of Amazon’s branded Class 8 tractors are certainly cause for concern. Just last year Business Insider wrote an article on how Amazon was playing a significant role in the driver shortage. At the time of that piece being written, the online publication noted that “Amazon only operates 300 semi-trucks – FedEx, by contrast, operates more than 20,000 semi-trucks.” Additionally, in 2017 it had then been reported that the company was also reportedly attempting to bring 30,000 drivers into its company for solely its “last mile” services. Fast forward two years and we are not only seeing the driver shortage as be far more of an issue, but the trucking industry as a whole has been negatively affected. Most importantly, this is all prior to Amazon actually using the thousands of semi-trucks it has now purchased in 2019.

Amazon’s past decision to lure trucking industry drivers to its company has clearly had an impact on the industry as a whole. Unfortunately, the driver shortage is likely the least of trucking companies’ concerns at the moment. For example, in its article from 2018, Business Insider noted that the move by Amazon led some trucking companies to “primarily target the ‘spot market,’ which is for shipping agreements made only a few days before goods are shipped.” The reason for the trucking fleets to move to the spot market was primarily because this area in the market was far more lucrative than signing a third-party contract that could result in the manufacturer spending far more than is necessary over a longer period of time. At this time, the industry is suffering due to “spot market” rates crashing, not necessarily due to a driver shortage. Overall, while there have only been a few sightings of Amazon’s new tractors, the reality is that one of the world’s largest retailers is about to take the next step to maintain complete control over all of its business.

It cannot go without being said that the ramifications of Amazon bringing its delivery in-house will hinder much more than just the trucking industry. Large decisions such as these have ripple effects that will ultimately affect us all. Earlier in 2019 we wrote about how the trucking industry is losing many drivers, thus forcing older drivers to continue past retirement and potentially hiring drivers who may not actually be all that qualified or properly trained for the job. Such instances then potentially lead to older, overworked, and improperly trained drivers that are asked to drive thousands of miles across the country. Clearly there are circumstances that lead to traffic collisions and fatalities on the road, but decisions such as this, although rightfully made, certainly don’t make them any less likely to occur.

ATRI List Ranks Biggest Trucking Concerns for 2019

November 9, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

A new list released by the American Transportation Research Institute–the trucking industry’s non-profit research institute–shows the biggest issues currently facing the trucking industry in North America.

The “Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry” list for 2019 has been compiled by the ATRI after analyzing over 2000 survey responses from motor carriers and commercial truck drivers. In its 15th year, the ATRI Top Industry Issues report also incorporates strategies that can address and potentially help to solve each issue.

In the list, driver pay and detention times at customer facilities made up 2 of the top 10 biggest concerns–for the first time ever.

However, Hours of Service has held the number two spot for two years in a row, and Driver Shortage concerns have stayed at the very top of the list for the last three years.

“While 2018 was an incredible year for trucking, we’ve seen some challenges in 2019, and certainly finding and retaining qualified drivers remains at the top of the list for our industry,” said ATA chairman and president, Barry Pottle. “ATRI’s analysis reveals the interconnectedness of these top issues and provides a roadmap for how motor carriers and professional drivers believe we should move forward as an industry.”

Here are the 2019 rankings for the most critical worries in the North American trucking industry:

10. Economy — Many factors have truckers concerned lately about how the American economy is affecting trucking, including a trade war with China, drone strikes on Saudi Arabian oil companies, and a softer freight market.

9. Transportation Infrastructure/Congestion/Funding — “Poorly maintained roads and traffic congestion create wear and tear on vehicles, waste fuel and increase emissions, create additional stress for drivers, and negatively impact industry productivity,” the ATRI says.

8. Compliance, Safety, and Accountability (CSA) — Although still a major concern, CSA worries have fallen from the number 6 spot in 2018. This may be in part to the integration of new driver technology, such as collision mitigation, avoidance systems, and driver-facing cameras.

7. The Electronic Logging Device Mandate — December 16th is the deadline for fleets to transition from AOBRD devices to FMCSA-approved ELDs. The logging technology was the number one critical concern only three years ago, and has been steadily sliding down in the rankings.

6. Driver Retention — This problem has dropped from number three on last year’s list as a softer freight market in 2019 has lead to less truck driver turnover.

5. Truck Parking — A long-term problem in the industry, this issue “creates a dangerous and costly dilemma for truck drivers who are often forced to drive beyond allowable Hours of Service rules or park in undesignated, and, in many cases, unsafe locations,” the ATRI says.

4. Detention/Delay at Customer Facilities — A brand-new addition to the ATRI’s top ten critical issues list, the ATRI references a study showing that driver detention of six or more hours has increased by over 27 percent between 2014 and 2018.

3. Driver Compensation — Another first-time-in-history addition, as driver pay has never been considered a top critical concern. This problem represents two sides to the complex issue–the carriers who must raise their driver pay, and drivers who are not satisfied with what they earn. Fleets have been increasing their drivers’ pay significantly, but many drivers still say their income is no longer keeping up with inflation, according to the ATRI.

2. Hours of Service — HOS regulations have remained in the second spot of these rankings for the last two years. In 2019, the FMCSA has put into place an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which aims to provide greater flexibility in its rest break and split sleeper berth provision requirements. This regulation also extends duty time by two hours for drivers working in inclement weather, and lengthens the maximum on-duty driving period from 12 to 14 hours.

1. Driver Shortage — This issue has stayed at the top of ATRI’s rankings for three years in a row. Although many groups (like OOIDA) believe driver shortage is actually a driver retention and compensation issue, the ATRI explains that “despite a somewhat softer freight market in 2019 over 2018, demand for qualified drivers is still high and fleets are undertaking a number of approaches to mitigate the recruiting challenges.”

New Federal Rules Will Help Trucking Companies Hire Safe Drivers

November 6, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

The Federal government has adopted new policies aimed at taking unqualified truck drivers off the road. Registration is now open for the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, a new substance abuse screening system for truckers that is scheduled to be operational early in 2020 . The Clearinghouse is a database that will keep track of drivers who have violated drug and alcohol policies in order to stop them from operating commercial vehicles. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration anticipates that the implementation of this database will substantially reduce motor vehicle crashes involving heavy trucks.

The federal rules regarding professional truck drivers already prohibit drivers from getting behind the wheel when they test positive for illegal drugs. Of course, everyone knows that drunk driving is illegal. The Clearinghouse database will allow trucking companies to screen drivers applying for jobs to see if they have previously tested positive for drugs and are looking to get hired at a new place. Drivers can also lookup their own information once they have registered with the Clearinghouse themselves. Once registered, drivers can search for their own information for free. The database will include information about whether a professional driver has any drug or alcohol program violations and, if applicable, the status of their petitions to return to duty.

The new system is meant to act as a check on drivers who violate substance abuse rules follow the proper protocol to get back in to good standing, if possible, before they are allowed to keep driving. Drivers with commercial driver’s licenses, employers, law enforcement, medical review officers, and substance abuse processionals will be among the groups who will be authorized to access the Clearinghouse.

As for what should be reported to the database – Federal Statutes cover that:

Employers will report a driver’s drug and alcohol program violations. Medical review officers will do this as well. A driver does not need to register him or herself into the system for a medical review officer to enter a violation in the system. In fact, it is not mandatory for a driver to register. But, if an employer needs to conduct a full check on a driver, that driver will have to register. This means, drivers who don’t want to take part may not be able to get hired for certain jobs because perspective or current employers will not be able to conduct a full search on the database for their information. After January 6, 2019 a driver will have to be registered with the Clearinghouse in order for an employer to be able to conduct a full search on their record for new hires. Drivers who are registered will be able to give their consent to release drug and alcohol program information to employers. Also, when new information is added to their profile, drivers will receive notifications from the Clearinghouse in the mail or electronically.

Drug abuse is a problem that needs to be addressed with treatment and counseling. Allowing drivers to keep working when they have a substance abuse problem by slipping through bureaucratic cracks doesn’t help drivers who may need help to get sober. It obviously makes roads less safe.

In the computer age with so much information going digital, this just makes sense. Professional truck drivers have a difficult job. They have to work long hours, often by themselves, away from their families. They have to keep alert on the road and get enough rest to do so. Drug use is a problem that poses a great risk to the health and safety of, not only professional drivers, but also everyone else who shares the road with them. Safety is on the roads is imperative. This database is likely the least intrusive way to keep records of drug and alcohol program violations so that employers know if they are sending a driver out on the road with the proper credentials.

American Trucking Association Targets “Nuclear” Verdicts

October 21, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

American Trucking Associations President Chris Spear is planning to lead the organization in fighting large court verdicts against the trucking industry. He claims the association is always quick to compensate those involved in cases in which the ATA is at fault, but that most cases are not being settled fairly.

“We’re growing very tired as an industry of being picked on by the plaintiff’s bar,” Spear said. “I think we’re growing very tired of padding the pockets of trial lawyers at the expense of trucking jobs, and we’re just not going to stand for it anymore.” Spear claims these verdicts are an “all-out assault” against the trucking industry, and therefore, ATA should be positioning itself to fight back.

Spear told Transport Topics Radio that he believes the number of lawsuits against the trucking industry is increasing as attorneys who specialize in these kinds of lawsuits are amping up their advertising. These are what he calls “nuclear” lawsuits.

He claims these “massive” suits come against the trucking industry regarding incidents that “are clearly not [its] fault,” and that trial lawyers in these particular suits are working a false narrative that the industry is “devastating the fabric of families involved in these accidents,” which he claims are usually not at the hands of truckers.

However, as any individual who has learned of any trucking-involved accident knows, this is clearly not the case.

We recently wrote about a historic “underride accident” case that comes after a slew of these accident reports over the past few years. Underride accidents take place when a car slides underneath a tractor trailer, and is one of the deadliest types of accidents on U.S. roadways.

The particular case referenced occurred when a family was awarded $42 million in a lawsuit against trucking company Barkandhi Express and Utility, when 16-year-old Riley Hein’s car became trapped under the side of a trailer made by Utility Manufacturing Company, causing the truck to drag Riley’s car for a half mile until it caught on fire, killing Riley immediately.

Trailers are not currently required to have side guards, even though the trucking industry has admitted in trial that over 200 people a year die in underride accidents.

The Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association says adding the weight of new guards to trailers would require companies to add more tractor trailers onto the roads, which it says would be more of an inconvenience than a safety benefit.

What is worse–documents revealed in Riley’s case show the TTMA asking major trailer manufacturers to provide detailed information regarding side guard costs so that the association could be able to potentially develop defense strategies against future underride lawsuits.

Still, Chris Spear and the American Trucking Associations have been handpicking cases to highlight only what they hope will gain public traction in opposition of lawsuits against the trucking industry.

Spear brought up a particular case in his Transport Topics interview, which occurred in 2014 and involved a pickup truck crossing a median and colliding with a tractor-trailer on a Texas interstate. The family of the pickup driver argued in court that the trucker should have pulled over due to inclement weather conditions, and the jury awarded them close to $90 million. The carrier, Werner Enterprises, is still working to appeal this decision.

“We’re paying substantial money to make [verdicts like these] right, and this [legal] profession needs to be called out,” says Spear.

However, Spear isn’t giving all of the facts of the case. According to court documents, evidence shows Werner had been staying quiet in regards to its disregard for safety policies around new student drivers. Each year, Werner hires 4,000 new drivers without previous truck driving experience. The driver in this case was a student driver, who exceeded 60 mph in icy conditions. The National Weather Service had been reporting freezing rain and icy roads 12 hours before the collision, yet Werner never communicated this warning to its driver.

“Werner’s lack of basic safety systems and its inadequate training processes for students drivers–combined with the business model of assigning student drivers on expedited deliveries–is creating a highly dangerous and unsustainable dynamic on U.S. Highways,” said the family’s co-lead counsel, Eric Penn of the Penn Law Firm.

What Spear also fails to mention is that the jury had heard the extent of the evidence and made what they believed to be a fair verdict. Of course, juries can make an incorrect judgment, but even when they do make a verdict against the trucking industry, tort reform comes into play.

Tort reform limits the recoveries awarded to those harmed by trucking industry dangers. This turns out to be nonsensical, as no two cases are the same and should always be judged on their own merits, not by limits on recovery.

The American Trucking Associations feels differently. Spear says verdicts like the one in the pickup truck case have made him decide to pledge to actively work with government leaders on tort reform efforts, even though he knows the overall view on the topic may not be in his favor.

“On the federal level, the votes may not be there for federal tort reform. In fact, I know that.”

If these limits weren’t enough, we have the trucking industry going to extreme lengths to avoid admitting fault in accidents. Not only is Utility Trailer Manufacturing Company working to appeal the $19 million it had to pay for its part in the verdict of Riley’s case, but it offered the Hein family a $14 million settlement if they kept all internal documents quiet.

In another case against Werner, court documents showed the trucking company staying quiet about its disregard for safety policies in regards to new student drivers–Werner hires 4,000 new drivers a year without any previous truck driving experience.

What Spear also doesn’t mention is the fact that trucking companies and their insurers hire as expensive and prestigious law firms for their cases as possible–so, not only are jurors always making decisions based on information from both sides, but these law firms are powerful and know how to swing a case in their favor–whether or not their techniques are ethical.

If verdicts like the ones Spear mentions are so unfair, what does that say about the trucking industry’s position and their lawyers’ abilities to make a compelling argument?

Self-Driving Trucks to be Tested on Virginia Roads

September 23, 2019 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

VIRGINIA – In a partnership with Torc Robotics, Daimler Trucks will now be testing highly automated, heavy-duty trucks across highways in Virginia.

According to a September 9th press release, the two companies said they are currently actively developing and testing these trucks with SAE Level 4 intent technology on public routes in southwest Virginia, where Torc Robotics headquarters are located.

After months of testing and safety validation on closed-loop tracks, these public test runs of self-driving trucks will require an overseeing engineer and a highly-trained safety driver–who must hold commercial driver’s licenses and be specially trained in both vehicle dynamics and automated systems.

“We understand the needs of the industry,” Martin Daum, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG, said in the release. “Bringing Level 4 trucks to the public roads is a major step toward our goal to deliver reliable and safe trucks for the benefits of our customers, our economy and society.”

This announcement comes just months after Daimler agreed to acquire a majority stake in Torc–deeming Torc Robotics an official part of the new Autonomous Technology Group of Daimler Trucks, and allowing for these innovations.

Now, the truck manufacturer is consolidating its activities regarding automated driving globally–including within Torc’s locations in Blacksburg, Virginia as well as in Portland, Oregon and Stuttgart, Germany.

The Level 4 automated driving capabilities will allow trucks to drive themselves without needing a driver to monitor or engage–in certain conditions.

Torc’s system for automated driving, called ‘Asimov,’ has been tested throughout urban and long-distance routes in all weather conditions–including, rain, snow and fog.

“Our whole team is thrilled to be working alongside our Daimler colleagues as we pursue the commercialization of Level 4 trucks to bring this technology to the market,” said Torc Robotics CEO Michael Fleming. “We strongly believe it can save lives.”

The goal for these automated trucks is to eventually be able to haul freight on open highways between hubs.

The Level 4 test trucks are Freightliner Cascadia models complete with Torc’s self-driving capabilities, lidar sensors, cameras, and radar. During the tests, they will also pull weighted trailers to simulate carrying a load.

Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA) plans to evolve automated driving technology and vehicle integration for heavy-duty trucks. It is currently working on a truck chassis for automated driving, “particularly the redundancy of systems needed to provide reliability and safety,” the release stated.

DTNA will also be building an infrastructure to support Level 4 testing–which will include a control center and logistic hubs, located along high-density freight corridors where customers can operate near interstates and highways.

While Daimler continues with Level 4 automated driving, it will continue the process of integrating Level 2 technology, which aims to automate both lateral and longitudinal control while still requiring driver engagement.

DTNA will also continue offering active steering capabilities through its Detroit Assurance safety tech and Active Lane Assist by including automatic lane-centering and lane-departure protection features. This safety tech is projected to become more widely available early next year.

“As we pair Daimler’s expertise in building safe and reliable trucks with Torc’s genius in engineering Level 4 vehicles, we have no doubt we will do great things in the future,” said Daimler president and CEO Roger Nielsen. “We look forward to writing history together. The U.S. highways are the perfect place to develop automated technology.”

With the number of trucks on the road consistently growing but fewer people entering the profession, truck-driving continues to be stressful and often monotonous. “There is a long-term need to rethink,” Daimler says on its website. “Firstly, in order to increase the safety of all road users through the use of intelligent technologies. Secondly, in order to take pressure off the drivers and make their job more attractive by assigning them other tasks. Last but not least, the total cost of ownership (TCO) plays an important role in the transport industry.” Daimler claims the high degree of automation further lowers the TCO.

These public road tests are a significant step in Daimler Trucks’ 570 million dollar investment to bring highly automated trucks to global roads within a decade. Daimler says in this effort, it will be following its three most important beliefs: that “safety has absolute priority; everything must be 100% reliable,” that it must continue to develop “products together with its customers,” and that “a clear and legal regulatory framework for operation and liability is needed.”