Everyone knows that truck drivers are no strangers to transporting freight at night. Current discussions at the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) would likely change this practice along with end up adding more than Two Billion Dollars annually towards the industry’s Operating Costs.

The rules, which a Transportation Department agency proposed Dec. 23 may cut an hour of driving time per day for the nation’s 1.6 million long-haul truck drivers.
Truck Drivers could also be required to take breaks after driving seven hours strait and would likely also see the consecutive days they work cut dramatically as well.

Many groups have come forth to challenge this proposed law. The American Trucking Association (ATA) has announced it may challenge the legislation as currently being considered.

The proposed legislation could add close to Two Billion to the operating expenses of major carriers, owner operators, and truck drivers. Among the companies that would be hardest hit are so-called truckload carriers which move goods from a single shipper in each truck from one point to another.

The FMCSA, the agency responsible for the proposed legislation is estimating the increase in operating costs to be more than $2.2 billion per year. Final Ruling on the proposed legislation will have to be published before the end of July.

Truck driver work time, or productivity, may fall as much as 5 percent if the brand new rules take effect, according towards the Government analysis.

Experts have given an estimate of $1 billion for the annual cost to the industry, which it said was one-half of 1 percent of its annual revenue. That estimate was lower than the 2007 one because analysts used “better data” about driver work patterns, the number of drivers affected and economic assumptions including inflation a spokesman for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration commented.

The United States Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood had said while he announced the proposed legislation that a fatigued driver has no place behind the wheel of a freight semi truck. Lahood went on to say that the FMCSA is committed to an hours-of-service guideline that should help create an environment where commercial truck drivers are rested, alert along with focused on safety while driving.

The increased costs may end up being passed on to consumers of goods that are shipped by truck, ranging from toilet paper to produce to car parts, the trucking regulator said in its new proposed rule.

The impact of the legislation on the industry may vary in level of impact. Of the more than 500,000 freight carriers in the industry, more than 70 percent have less than five trucks. These small carries and truck companies will certainly be impacted more than the nationwide freight carriers with many hundreds of trucks and drivers available.

Most truck drivers rely on their dispatch teams to set everyone’s driving schedule. Everyone else’s schedules come first. Truck drivers are going to be put in very difficult situations. For example, if a trucker is at a manufacturer or shipper’s dock and also he is only half loaded when his thirteen hour driving limit expires, the driver cannot just declare that now he is doing to take his break.

This newest regulation is just one the latest pushes by the FMCSA to enact laws aimed at safety but which have complete disregard for the tremendous impact these kind of brand-new restrictions will have on the marketplace.

See full article at Freight Access, Inc | http://blog.freightaccess.com/?p=312

Author Bio: Brad Hollister is an Experienced Transportation Executive and Director of Business Development for Freight Access, Inc. Hollister has a passion for Business Development through innovation, process improvement, and also technology. (Freight Access

Category: Business
Keywords: FMCSA, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, transportation, OOIDA, ATA, American Freight Ass