TruckingIndustry.news

HOS Restart Study Complete and onto the Analysis Phase

by Jana Ritter - Published: 10/02/2015

Remember that government mandated study that would finally settle the hours of service restart issue?  Well, after thousands of days of monitoring 220 truck drivers, the data collection is complete and now researchers are somehow going to comb through it all to determine how certain hours-of-service rules affect fatigue, health and safety.

                                                     HOS restart study

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January 02, 2018 - Police Identify 2 Oregon Truck Drivers Killed In Fiery Head-On Crash
December 27, 2017 - Iowa First Of Eight States To Debut New Truck Parking Information System

The study had been mandated last December after all the upheaval and debate surrounding the new restart provisions implemented in 2013. Trucking industry representatives had made numerous complaints that the regulators had failed to do any such studies before implementing the new rules. Rules such as requiring truck drivers to include two consecutive 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods in any restart before beginning a new workweek. While regulators had said the “34-hour restart would reduce the excessively long work hours that contributed to truck driver fatigue and accidents, many truck drivers argued that the new rules only increased their risk of accidents by forcing them onto the road during peak traffic hours.

                                                     truck drivers forced to drive peak traffic hours

The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute is conducting the study with 220 participating truck drivers from a wide variety of fleet sizes and operations representing more than 3,000 driver duty cycles captured by electronic logging devices. They have been collecting the data over a five-month period and will compare the experiences of drivers working under both the current rules and the suspended 2013 rules. The idea is to make comparative assessments of safety critical events such as crashes, near-crashes, crash-relevant conflicts, operator fatigue/alertness, and short-term health outcomes. The FMCSA must submit the completed study for Congress to assess whether they can reinstate the suspended rules and they plan to do this by the end of the year. Until then, the current rules allow a truck driver to restart his or her weekly duty clock after 34 hours off-duty time.

                                                   truck driver HOS rules

With the data analysis phase just getting underway, the FMCSA had little to say about what the study is actually going to reveal. “The agency does not have preliminary study findings. However, FMCSA is pleased with the high volume of data collected from participating drivers and expects this data will help inform future activities by the agency as well as the current study,” the FMCSA said in a written statement.


Ranj Singh
Ranj Singh
Judging by the comments in here I conclude that all drivers agree that FMCSA is a bunch of clueless money hungry idiots.
Dustin Mangum
Dustin Mangum
As long as there is e logs we are all screwed anyway forced to drive the most dangerous times of day, doesn't allow for naps so we are forced to drive fatigued.
Jim Rigney
Jim Rigney
How true gives you know time to realy take a nap or keeps ticking if roads are shut down from weather accidents and delays. Also if that truck isn't moving your day should stop and when you move it should count. Never be held against you for a nap. Saftey first.
Chris Roseme
Chris Roseme
Jim,it's about money,not safety.unfortunately
Edgar Reid
Edgar Reid
If I'm having trouble with staying awake, I always pull over for a cat nap for 15-20 minutes no matter what anybody says. That's just the way I roll. Don't fall asleep at the wheel because you're afraid you might get in trouble. I've fallen asleep twice in 43 yrs at the wheel and I'm lucky to be here, never again.
Brandon Tune
Brandon Tune
Just stop doing n wasting money trying to justify ways of screwing the trucker over n let us roll but stop giving a CDL to those who should have one
Brett Ruge
Brett Ruge
Instead of the " experts " reading data maybe they should of actually drove a truck for 5 months
Randy Cunningham
Randy Cunningham
I say trash it all let me do my job I know me you dont and all this shit does is make it so I am away from home longer then I need be. I dont have a bed strapped to my ass cause it makes my truck look cooler I have it to use when im tired
Gary Brooks
Gary Brooks
Everyone is right. And I still say you can't put common sense behind the wheel.
Tim Dendy
Tim Dendy
Problem has always been and more so than ever is shippers and receivers need to change as well as brokers and dispatchers to the rules applied to truckers. .states need to be on board as well for more adequate available parking
Lorin Wiese
Lorin Wiese
Bullhaulers sleep while we are driving so we can get more done.
Mike Suhr
Mike Suhr
Get rid of 14 hour clock that would b nice and mandate a law on detention after a certain amount of time
Edgar Reid
Edgar Reid
I know this about falling asleep while driving is very fast. When a person is nodding at the wheel, the transaction to falling asleep is very fast. Trust me.
Tim Dendy
Tim Dendy
25 yrs I,'ve been driving. .seen alot of changes I like the new hrs of service. .better than old 8 and 8 after 11to14 hrs working I,am ready to sleep. .old way after 8 still awake 4 to 5 then sleep 3 or 4.. then up in 3 to do another 8. Then fall dead asleep way unhealthy and dangerous at end of shift
George Sabaluski
George Sabaluski
How the hell do them a$$hole pencil pushers know what works for me??? Are they driving this truck??? A$$holes probably can't even spell truck!!!
Josh Cronch
Josh Cronch
Two 1am-5am periods is just stupid.. If I roll into the house at 2am Saturday morning my restart is up at noon Sunday but under the crap regulations I can't leave till 5am Monday?? So now my 600 mile delivery can't unload till Tuesday? That's AT LEAST one load lost that week... Roughly $300.. Do that every week and you lose $1200 a month, $12,400 a year.. Not to mention the every 7 day crap.. So last week I get in on Saturday at 2am and this week I get in at 5pm Friday.. Now it's 9 hours before I can even start counting my 34 but oh wait.. It's still 5am Monday before I get a restart because of LAST week... So Now I've had 51 hours last week to get a 34 and 60 this week! 110 total hours just to get 68 hours for 2 restarts.. Makes alot of sense to me