trucking legislation

FMCSA Requests Survey Permission for Exemplary Trucking Safety Methods

October 15, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

This month, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has announced its intent to study technologies and policies across the trucking industry in an effort to reward carriers exceeding safety guidelines. Regulators are currently seeking approval from the White House to begin this survey, in which they will choose a number of carrier operational managers overseeing companies that are going above and beyond safety requirements and that are boosting regulations regarding driver fitness.

2015’s FAST Act implemented a “Beyond Compliance program,” which works to recognize motor carriers surpassing safety regulations by giving them boosted scores within the Safety Measurement System, and is the inspiration for these surveys.

FMCSA originally released a notification in 2016 meant to meet the 18-month post-FAST Act congressional deadline, which consisted of program restructuring ideas. The agency published an additional request earlier this year, saying the primary notice was an effort to create public knowledge around the program itself.

The original notification urged for a widespread recognition mechanism for choosing to install innovative safety technology, including boosted driver fitness programs and improved safety-management tools for fleets, through the Compliance, Safety, and Accountability program.

“After a review of the comments received and conducting a small-scale study, it was determined additional information was needed to ascertain the best approach moving forward,” said an FMCSA official. “For that step, the agency is required to conduct an information collection request resulting in the additional Federal Register notices.”

In 2016, FMCSA stated that its Beyond Compliance program would let motor carriers sign up for the program once measures were initiated, even before enrollment was mandated. Now, the recent announcement requests survey-conducting permission from the Office of Management and Budget.

“The study does not attempt to conduct a full survey of the motor carrier population,” said FMCSA. “Instead, it relies on expert opinion from carriers that are objectively determined to exhibit safe operations that exceed industry averages as indicated by driver out-of-service rates, vehicle out-of-service rates, and crash rates. To identify these carriers, the study will utilize existing data from the Motor Carrier Management Information System database.”

FMCSA’s plan will require online surveys to be done by around 112 participating carrier operational managers and 113 non-participating managers. Through these answers, the agency believes it will be able to better understand just how influential modern safety technologies and programs have been for the highest-performing carriers.

“Only those carriers that perform near the top quartile across all three categories are potential participants,” said the agency. The categories being examined are those mentioned above: DOT-reportable crash rates, driver out-of-service rates at roadside inspections, and vehicle out-of-service rates at roadside inspections.

Those chosen will give their answers through an electronic survey platform, and results will later be studied to see which safety program and policy aspects are most prevalent among all participants.

“The resulting information would reveal the elements of safety programs that these motor carriers are using and their achieved results, and what these motor carriers believe to be the most effective for achieving safety and [what] should be included in a Beyond Compliance program,” said FMCSA.

American Trucking Associations has also shown its support regarding new manners of recognizing those in the trucking industry that often choose to implement safety-improving technology and programs. Additionally, the National Association of Small Trucking Companies and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association are invited to take part in the survey by surveying their own manners for collection of secondary data.

“This would enable greater participation by smaller carriers and owner-operators, and would also enable a wider perspective of responses,” FMCSA explained.

All responses collected and analyzed will be part of the overall pilot study findings report, and the agency said analytical and descriptive analyzation methods will be part of the study. All results will be implemented into a formal report overseen by FMCSA itself.

The full report will also become available to the public via FMCSA’s website. The contents of the findings will be used in the final report the agency will need to send to Congress.

Health Considerations are a Priority for the Transportation Industry, Experts Say

October 11, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Planning experts are saying the transportation industry, along with all public agencies, needs to begin implementing more health considerations into any policy changes or decisions.

A new “Health in All Policies” framework is currently recommended by Conduent Transportation’s strategy and innovation leader, Renee Autumn Ray, to be adopted into public agencies at each level of government.

“This really makes sense to a lot of agencies because, pretty much every public agency has a foundational principle to administer for the health, safety, and welfare of all of the people in their jurisdictions,” said Ray. “Health is kind of embedded, at least at some level, in a lot of the work of transportation and other public agencies.”

Ray recently published a paper called, “Increasing Access to Essential Health Functions: The Role of Transportation in Improving America’s Health,” in which she discusses how obstacles to transportation access have a negative effect on health care access. The paper also explains how those without a personal vehicle typically have to rely on less efficient or less convenient methods of transit.

Additionally, Ray explained that integrating a health-in-all-policies method could decrease the difficulties that come with social and systemic factors that affect both personal economic growth and care. These factors also include education, job access, and socioeconomic status; all of these conditions can cause differences in quality of life and overall health.

“Transportation access is one of the fundamental objectives of the public sector,” said Eno Center vice president of policy and finance, Paul Lewis. “It’s also one of the most important ways the government can enable residents to live healthy and productive lives.”

Ray also said that impoverished people tend to move far outside the city and into its outskirts where lower costs of living and fewer options for public transportation are available. The distance from city centers, she said, also has a large impact on a person’s ability to work just one job and the amount of time they have for leisure.

Longer life expectancy can also cause transportation difficulties, said Ray in her paper. On average, she noted, people outlive their driving ability by up to a decade.

“When we think about where older adults are living, most of them are living in suburbs that it’s going to be very difficult to run transit through,” Ray said.

Ray believes the most effective way to make any positive changes is to communicate thoroughly with members of the community–the ones who are directly affected by these issues.

“The best way to understand how to do planning is by having local relationships,” she said. “You need to go into different communities that you’re planning for and talk to those people, and then do the things that they tell you. Doing a better job listening to folks in the community is important.”

She is glad, though, that more and more people have been dedicating themselves to the studies of planning and public health, and says that the upward trend of those entering multiple sectors can only be a good thing.

Ray also pointed out that although the majority of public transportation experts and public health workers typically want the same kinds of improvements for their communities, their verbiage may differ, and it’s important for the public to understand that.

“I think one thing that’s important to note is that we use different jargon, but we’re frequently trying to do the same thing,” she explained. “Getting a framework for some of that jargon, to me, is helpful to understand that there are some foundational principles that lie across all of the work we’re doing in our various public agencies.”

Whatever words are used to describe issues and solutions, Ray insists that creative problem-solving through a collaborative effort is key. For example, throughout the pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has worked on a program allowing curbside pickup and grocery delivery services to be used for specific subsidized food benefits.

Ray says actions like these during COVID-19, and other efforts to improve overall community health, give her hope that public sector officials will help the nation come out better than it was before the pandemic.

“[Positive change] is hugely important now, with COVID,” said Lewis. “But this has always been an issue.”

FMCSA Pushes for More Driver-Assist Tech, AAA Says it is Still Unsafe

October 10, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Earlier this month, the most-discussed topic at the day-long Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration safety summit was the implementation of driver-assist technology throughout the trucking industry. Experts have been considering these innovations as being prevalent ways to decrease the number of truck-involved crashes.

“Nothing contributes greater to highway safety than the person behind the wheel,” said J.B. Hunt Transport senior vice president of safety, security, and driver personnel, Greer Woodruff. “But, I have seen drivers that have years of safe driving have a momentary lapse for a circumstance that unfolds, and this [technology] has saved them. They have been very thankful to have had these systems on their vehicles.”

Woodruff also noted that driver-assist systems are able to help carriers navigate the “increasing headwinds” of modern challenges, including everything from distracted driving to traffic congestion to the growing number of vehicle miles typically traveled.

Currently, FMCSA is suggesting voluntary use of these systems by fleets and independent owner-operators. This technology includes adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, blind spot warning systems, forward collision warning systems, and forward-facing camera systems.

Integration of these technologies has now reached around 45-50% of the market, according to Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems vice president of engineering and R&D, Richard Beyer.

“These systems help the driver to reduce the stress and improve the safety,” he explained. “But it’s still based on good, solid driving practices [and] drivers staying alert and being part of the solution.”

However, two tests by AAA over the last two years have shown that partially-automated driving systems do not always work as expected, and the company has recommended that vehicle manufacturers limit the use of this technology.

AAA researchers tested the systems of five different manufacturers over a distance of 4,000 miles, and cited an issue every eight miles, on average.

“AAA has repeatedly found that active driving assistance systems do not perform consistently, especially in real-world scenarios,” said AAA’s director of automotive engineering, Greg Brannon. “Automakers need to work toward more dependable technology, including improving lane-keeping assistance.”

The majority of problems encountered by researchers involved systems meant to keep vehicles in their respective lanes; however, testing showed that many vehicles failed to detect simulated broken-down cars in their path of travel. According to the study, the test vehicles hit the out-of-commission vehicles around two-thirds of the time, traveling at an average speed of 25 miles per hour.

This recent second round of testing showed little difference from similar testing by AAA of four other vehicles in 2018. Additionally, the systems that combine braking, steering, and acceleration control continued to stop working altogether without much notice to the driver.

“When we’re talking about advanced driver-assistance systems, it really is going back to the capabilities of the driver,” said Daimler Trucks North America executive manager of advanced safety systems and autonomous driving, Ritchie Huang. “What we’re building is just supplementary to them.”

Chris Spear, President of American Trucking Associations, said the main priority for ATA is highway safety, and suggested that regulators should work toward creating an environment in which these kinds of technological innovations can explore their potential.

“I think you’ve got to stick with innovation, because it’s, quite frankly, moving 10 times faster than the government,” said Spear. “Just get out of the way. Let innovation take care of it.”

Still, AAA’s Brannon said the most recent testing on automated driving systems within personal vehicles show that systems have not been improving drastically, even though they are being implemented into mainstream models more often.

He also explained that those who first purchased the systems were typically early technology adopters, but now, more and more less tech-savvy people are operating these kinds of vehicles.

“People are really less familiar and less likely to really engage in understanding how the systems work,” Brannon said. “They just assume they do work. That could be a really dangerous assumption.”

Additionally, people easily begin to rely too heavily on the technology when frequently operating vehicles that have it in place, and Brannon said this is extremely dangerous when the systems fail in any way. AAA also explained that during real-road tests, all systems had difficulties ensuring that the vehicles remained in their lanes, and often caused the car to move too close to guardrails and other vehicles.

The issues with this current technology could, in fact, delay the adoption of entirely-autonomous vehicles, Brannon noted, because now, drivers who have operated a vehicle with the technology in place may have trouble trusting them.

As Chinese Tech Ban Deadline Arrives, Carriers Must Be Ready

October 5, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Motor carriers working with the federal government had to send a request to find and purge telecommunications equipment made by five different Chinese companies involved in their operations before the deadline of August 13th.

Earlier this month, American Trucking Associations’ Government Freight Conference hosted a webinar aiming to help carriers become clear on what they needed to do in terms of this provision, which is included in the fiscal year 2019 Defense Authorization bill. This mandate was implemented in an effort to decrease any national security threats within Chinese-made technology–including everything from cell phones to GPS systems to cameras.

“There is likely going to be significant impacts that will be felt across the federal sector,” said a government official who wished to remain anonymous in order to speak candidly. “It’s very clear that the Defense Department and other agencies fully support the intent of the rule. We all know there is a lot of information about how China transmitted data and stole intellectual property, so the intent of the rule to protect our national security is good. But, there will be unintended consequences because of how the specific language was written.”

The Chinese companies believed to include hackers who broke into systems within the U.S. intelligence and defense agencies’ information systems are Dahua Technology, Hikvision, Huawei, Hytera, and ZTE Corp. All affiliates of these companies are included in the provision.

Truckers will need to search for and get rid of any prohibited products within their technology systems, although the tech targeted may be extremely difficult to find within current corporate tech. The industry is still navigating how the government will enforce this requirement and what exactly is covered by the provision.

“I think we’re all catching on to what an incredibly potent statute Sec. 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act is,” said ATA’s Government Freight Conference executive director, Bill Wanamaker. “As a carrier or broker, how do you know whether any of this covered technology is in your electronic inventory?”

The law incorporates “essential” and “substantial” parts of covered equipment, according to Harold “Buzz” Bailey of Bailey FedK Consulting, and these parts include microelectronic data-routing components. “[When] most telecommunication equipment OEMs can’t ‘fix’ their components to make them Sec. 889 compliant, you have to buy new ‘NDAA-compliant’ equipment,” he explained.

These are the key points Bailey insisted carriers understand:

-Government contractors do not need to perform an audit of a supplier, and only need “reasonable inquiry” regarding its equipment purchase documents.

-Contractors should review their equipment purchase records and determine whether or not records show that the equipment is made by an OEM, installer, or distributor. Carriers should keep in mind that essential OEM components are not the ones in question.

-A trucking company can respond “no” to Part 2 of Sec. 889 if it has not received complete supplier survey answers but has finished a reasonable inquiry of its purchase record.

-Carriers need to expand their inquiries to both distributors and installers, and should contact OEMs about essential components.

Additionally, Bailey suggested carriers request a delay to the mid-August deadline and contact their congressional delegation despite any congressional reluctance.

“If your existing equipment is not on the list, then it’s probably not compliant,” said Bailey. “This could lead to an expensive ‘rip and replace.’ The government may not mount aggressive enforcement early on, but they may look to make an example of a company blatantly misrepresenting use of covered equipment. There is a waiver process available, but that process will take time and money. It’s best to discuss waivers with government customers sooner rather than later.”

A broad waiver was indeed requested by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence due to the Defense Department’s lack of clarity. Agencies have been able to request waivers either from ODNI or through a tedious internal process.

The Department of Defense has also set up a task force that includes all Defense agencies and services with cybersecurity experts in order to bring about more efficient waiver-issuing coordination.

The task force is meant to ensure consistency so that one service isn’t issued a waiver while another is denied, according to the government official.

“The real insidious part of this is that it’s a marketing opportunity for a lot of companies,” said Bailey. “That’s what really worries me, because these companies would normally say, ‘You’re going too far, government, you shouldn’t cover this and you shouldn’t cover that.’ But the equipment providers are just as happy.”

Sleep Apnea Found to Have Contributed to Fatal Crash, Continues to be Major Trucking Safety Concern

September 16, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Illinois — After a fatal multi-vehicle crash took place on Interstate 290 in Elmhurst, Illinois in 2018, it was found that some of the circumstances were three of the 10 issues on the National Transportation Safety Board’s Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements for 2020–one being untreated obstructive sleep apnea.

On March 1st, 2018, a commercial truck-tractor and a semitrailer traveling along I-290 in Elmhurst hit a vehicle that had slowed due to traffic congestion. A chain of crashes occurred after the initial rear-end collision, which included two additional large trucks and three more automobiles. Five people were injured as a result of the seven-vehicle accident, and one was killed.

Three primary safety issues were identified by investigators: fatigue, the lack of a collision avoidance system, and medical fitness for duty. All three of these concerns are on the NTSB’s Most Wanted List.

“This crash tragically highlights the urgent need to implement the safety recommendations association with our Most Wanted List,” said Robert L. Sumwalt, NTSB chairman. “Had our safety recommendations in these areas been implemented, this crash may well have been prevented.”

The NTSB concluded that the lack of a “robust medical certification evaluation process” at a federal level to identify and treat commercial drivers for obstructive sleep apnea was one of the largest issues contributing to the fatal crash.

Investigators found that the trucker who failed to slow down in time for the traffic congestion was “likely fatigued due to an untreated sleep disorder related to obstructive sleep apnea.”

This commercial truck driver had been diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2012 after undergoing a sleep lab test following a previous hospitalization. After speaking with NTSB investigators, the trucker admitted to failing to use his continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device for obstructive sleep apnea treatment since his hospitalization. CPAP devices can send reports to a physician via Bluetooth when used.

The NTSB’s Most Wanted List details 10 areas of concern that act as the agency’s guidelines for immediate, necessary recommendations for action, that if put in place, would have the potential to prevent crashes and fatal accidents.

In 2009, the NTSB recommended to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration that a program should be implemented that would identify and help treat commercial drivers with OSA. This concern remains on the Most Wanted List, along with other sleep apnea-related issues.

The NTSB also recommended that forward collision avoidance systems be standardized and installed in all new commercial and passenger vehicles in its 2015 special investigation report. These recommendations are still listed as some of NTSB’s Most Wanted.

“With our Most Wanted List, the NTSB has pointed the way to safer roads, rails, seas, and skies,” said Sumwalt. “But, to make that vision a reality, the recipients of our safety recommendations need to implement them.”

An FMCSA spokesman said that the agency believes “all commercial driver’s license driver medical screening examinations should be robustly performed by medical examiners.”

But, without regulated standards for these tests, the identification and treatment responsibility for obstructive sleep apnea in a driver falls on the shoulders of the medical examiner, said FMCSA medical review board member Brian Morris.

“There are some medical examiners that are quite diligent in performing the exams, and they would do the appropriate screening for sleep apnea,” said Morris. “Other medical examiners don’t focus as much on the issue.”

Still, even if sleep apnea is identified, many physicians won’t ask for a follow-up or require treatment like the CPAP, Morris explained. If untreated, the risk for sleep apnea-related issues is much higher than that of drivers at a low-risk stage.

“Right now, American Trucking Associations definitely recognizes that sleep apnea is a safety concern,” said ATA manager of safety and occupational health policy, Abigail Potter. “There is a lot of data and evidence to that effect.”

While ATA acknowledges the issue as well as FMCSA’s long-term work studying the risks at hand, ATA still says it wants FMCSA to prioritize the consideration of all cost-benefit issues before implementing a new rule, according to Potter.

“The bar for commercial drivers to get medically evaluated and certified has been raised by FMCSA over the last few years,” said Scopelitis Transportation Consulting president, David Osiecki. “Ultimately, the trucking industry and highway safety will be better served by clear guidelines that allow drivers and safety management personnel to anticipate and better plan for the medical evaluation-certification process.”

House Votes to Raise Minimum Insurance Requirements for Carriers

September 4, 2020 by Levinson and Stefani Leave a Comment

Last month, House of Representatives lawmakers approved an amendment made to at least double minimum insurance requirements for commercial motor vehicles.

The highway funding bill would increase minimum liability insurance from $750,000 to $2 million, and was introduced by Illinois Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia to amend the INVEST Act transportation bill. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed the amendment by a 37 to 27 vote.

Although the bill has been widely criticized by trucking industry professionals saying owner-operators and smaller carriers could face major challenges due to costs, Garcia defended his beliefs on Twitter.

“Minimum insurance requirements for motor carriers were established in 1980 and have never been adjusted for inflation,” he said. “It’s inadequate and saddles families with crippling medical care costs resulting from catastrophic crashes. My amendment with Rep. (Adriano) Espaillat, Rep. (Steve) Cohen, and Rep. Hank Johnson modestly increases the minimum insurance requirements and requires that it keep up with inflation. This isn’t about trial lawyers or an attack on truckers. It’s about supporting families who have lost loved ones.”

The bill is also currently opposed by the American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.

“ATA does not support an arbitrary increase to minimum insurance limits,” said ATA vice president of communications, Sean McNally. “To be an effective tool for improving safety, there must be an open, fair, and data-driven process to inform and guide what insurance limits should be, not just inserting a number that trial lawyers pull from thin air.”

The industry has seen insurance premiums steadily rising for motor carriers over the last few years, which has also aligned with increasing amounts of “nuclear verdicts” against trucking firms. But although fleets have been paying higher costs for insurance, premiums have stayed rooted in safety standards.

Still, amendment opposers are convinced higher prices will prove detrimental to smaller businesses throughout the industry.

“Raising the insurance minimum will do nothing to improve highway safety and would be nothing short of disastrous for many small motor carriers that are struggling to stay in business,” said OOIDA director of public relations, Norita Taylor.

On the other hand, the bill’s supporters, including some trucking safety groups, have praised the passing of the amendment, deeming it a victory for the families of crash victims.

“#SaferTrucking Update: Rep. Chuy Garcia’s Amendment 062 says the #InfrastructureBill passed by a vote of 37 (Ayes) – 27 Nays!” tweeted the Institute for Safer Trucking. “This amendment will help families who have survived truck crashes and help make the trucking industry safer.”

In the American Transportation Research Institute’s recent study of nuclear verdicts, results from analysis of 600 jury verdicts from between the years of 2006 and 2019 and from surveys by defense attorneys, plaintiff attorneys, insurance carriers, and industry experts showed concerning trends.

“One respondent specified that ‘low-risk’ motor carriers are experiencing 8% to 10% increases in insurance costs, while new ventures and average-to-marginal carriers are experiencing a 35% to 40% annual increase–a trend that has occurred for three consecutive years,” said that institute in its study. “Based on ATRI’s operational cost data, small fleets and owner-operators pay out-of-pocket considerably more on a per-unit basis than large fleets.”

FMCSA said that although it had received a large number of comments in response to the ANPRM, the commentary “did not provide responsive information necessary to allow the agency to proceed to a notice of proposed rule-making.”

The agency continued: “In particular, commenters did not provide sufficient costs or benefit data, and the agency was unable to otherwise obtain sufficient data on industry practice with respect to the level of liability limits in excess of the agency’s minimum financial responsibility requirements, the costs of such premiums and the frequency of [them], and the amount by which bodily injury and property damage claims exceed policy liability limits.”

FMCSA said based on this information, it could not determine “potential increases in insurance premiums associated with increased financial responsibility limits, or the impact of an increase in minimum financial responsibility requirements on insurance company capital requirements.”

Before the amendment goes into effect, the INVEST Act will still need to pass in both the House and the Senate.