The Fall of Trucking
On December 18, 2017, trucking will fundamentally change. A new law, the ELD rule, will go into effect and create a shift in the trucking industry.
Food and clothes are two essential needs for our daily life. With the help of trucks, we have access to these essentials, along with other raw and manufactured goods. Some people may have a negative experience with trucks on the road for driving slow or taking up space. However, our connection to trucks is much more intimate. Truck drivers deliver goods from ports and warehouses to stores, making our consumer experience easier. If trucks did not exist to deliver materials across the country, in the best case, we would have limited access to necessary goods and at worst case, we would be hungry and homeless.
Often referred to as ‘the bloodline of America,’ the trucking industry might soon see a thinning in its blood cell count — the trucks — because of new regulations. I will describe the current trucking climate and implications of forthcoming regulations.
Currently, drivers face many regulations. Rightfully so, these regulations were created to protect the safety of truck drivers and those they share the road with. Perhaps most notable are the Hours of Service (HOS) regulations. These regulations, which can be found on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) website, exist for property and passenger-carrying drivers. A driver must log their hours and submit them at the Department of Transportation’s discretion. These measures are to ensure the safety of everyone on the road but they are not perfect.
For property-carrying drivers (semi-truck drivers), the “11-Hour Driving Limit” rule states that a driver “may drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty.” This makes sense. Driving more than eleven hours in a day may be hazardous.
The second rule, the “14-Hour Limit” says that a driver “may not drive beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty, following 10 consecutive hours off duty. Off-duty time does not extend the 14-hour period.” Essentially, a driver is only allowed to drive within a fourteen-hour consecutive window. This inability to portion their working time as they see fit is hurting drivers.
A driver’s sleep is regulated by the “Sleeper Berth Provision.” It states, “Drivers using the sleeper berth provision must take at least 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth, plus a separate 2 consecutive hours either in the sleeper berth, off duty, or any combination of the two.” Drivers are effectively forced to sleep for ten consecutive hours. They do not have the ability to split up their sleep time. The average person may sleep for seven or eight hours at night and take a nap during the day to boost productivity. A truck driver does not have that option.
To put the rules in perspective, I will provide an example that illustrates why the HOS are flawed.
Imagine that a driver is coming off a twelve-hour break and is fully rested. The driver gets in his truck at 8:00 a.m. and drives four hours to arrive at a warehouse so he can be early for his 1:00 p.m. appointment. When he checks in at 12:00 p.m., the warehouse employees tell the driver to wait in the lot until they instruct him to dock his trailer to the loading/unloading gate. The driver parks his truck in the lot. How should the driver log his hours?
The driver anticipates only waiting for an hour so he continues to remain on-duty. Even if he goes off-duty, his on-duty time is still running. Therefore, his choice does not matter. At 1:00 p.m. the driver checks to see if he can dock and the employees tell him to keep waiting. At 3:00 p.m., they call his truck and dock him at one of the gates. The employees need to unload the freight before the driver can undock and go pick up his next load. In a best-case scenario, the warehouse team unloads the driver’s truck in an hour and he is ready to go by 4:00 p.m. This is usually never the case.
Typically, the driver docks his truck and waits for hours to be unloaded. He has no control over the process and the warehouse takes their time unloading his truck because there are ten other trucks also waiting to be unloaded. By 6:00 p.m., the driver’s truck is unloaded and he is free to pick up another load. Let’s check his driving log. The driver has been on-duty for ten hours, leaving him four more hours of on-duty time. However, he has only driven for four hours, leaving him with seven more hours of driving time. Even though the driver should be able to drive for seven more hours, he cannot due to the restraints of his on-duty time.
The driver decides to schedule a load to pick up the following afternoon so he can rest for the night but he wants to drive as much as he can until his time runs out. At 6:30 p.m., the driver hits the highway to drive towards his next load. One hour into his drive, the driver reaches a traffic jam with nearly standstill traffic. Unable to safely exit anywhere, the driver must stay in the terrible evening traffic until he reaches the nearest truck stop twenty miles away. Travelling twenty miles ends up taking three hours because there was an accident on the road. It is now 10:30 p.m. and the driver commits a violation because he arrives at the truck stop thirty minutes past his on-duty time limit. If there is a parking spot available, then the driver can rest for the night. If not, the driver must go back onto the road, already in violation of the HOS, and find a truck stop with an empty spot. Doing so, he risks being pulled over by a police officer, being cited, and being red-tagged (forced to stay in place until his hours reset).
This is not a unique or worst-case example. Days like the one described are the status quo for truck drivers. Currently, drivers have difficulty upholding the expectations set by the Hours of Service rules. Many drivers do not want their wait time at warehouses to count against their on-duty time and have been advocating for a change. However, the FMCSA has not taken action to correct the HOS. Instead, they are implementing a rule to further enforce the HOS.
For decades, drivers have kept track of their HOS on paper logs that they fill out themselves. Drivers are required to keep their logs with them in case of inspection by an officer. This will change. On December 16, 2015, a new rule was published for the voluntary use of Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs). Starting December 18, 2017, ELDs will be mandated. Instead of drivers filling out their own logs, the ELD will track their hours and location for them.
Most owner-operators (independent, small business truck drivers) are against the ELD mandate. Recently, drivers came together in solidarity by demonstrating against ELDs. From October 3rd-8th, drivers protested across the country to vocalize concerns over truckers’ rights and to bring awareness to H.R.3282, a bill to delay the ELD implementation by two years. Drivers protested from Washington D.C. to California. Many drivers made a commitment to not drive their trucks that week. Instead, they either parked their trucks or drove them empty in a show of protest.
Drivers who are against the ELD mandate have different reasons for their position, including privacy of their data and monthly expenses for the device. However, a big reason why drivers are against the mandate is that it creates hurdles in their fight against the HOS rules. ELD implementation sends the message to drivers that the Hours of Service rules will not change and they must continue complying. To drivers, it seems like once the ELD mandate goes into full effect, they will be unable to get the HOS revised by the FMCSA.
To meet the impending mandate, drivers are scrambling to buy ELDs. Most companies that manufacture ELDs were unprepared for the late-minute push buy drivers to buy. Thus, most devices are out of stock and drivers are waiting for their ELD to arrive. Starting next week, drivers who drive without an ELD will be given a citation. If they do not have an ELD installed by April, then they will have their driving privileges revoked.
For now, drivers are complying. This may not continue to be the case. If independent truck drivers feel their voice is not being heard, they can mobilize to stop picking up and delivering freight. According to the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, there are 350,000 owner-operators in the United States. If all 350,000 of these men and women come together and stop driving, every American will feel the effects. Initially, grocery store supplies will dwindle because significantly fewer trucks are transporting food and produce. Eventually, a massive shortage of goods at stores will increase the price of most essentials we buy. Is that what it will take for us to listen to truck drivers?
