A Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration committee Feb.7 wrestled with how future regulations pertaining to electronic onboard recorders for hours of service compliance might ensure the devices aren’t used to harass drivers.

The Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee is tasked with making recommendations to the agency following the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision last August that vacated the 2010 limited mandate for EOBRs for certain noncompliant carriers.

The harassment issue may be the key consideration for the agency, which is intent on devising a rule that mandates some version of electronic logging devices for virtually all trucks in interstate commerce, given the court’s vacation of the rule.

Following the January 2011 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking “for a broader mandate,” said FMCSA Associate Administrator for Policy Larry Minor, the agency is gathering input on harassment stemming from electronic logs from several other sources. It plans “listening sessions,” including one at a Louisville trucking show next month.

While the committee, meeting in Arlington, Va., spent considerable time debating how EOBRs could be designed to prevent their use for driver harassment, a majority of members favored adopting recommendations specifically for “electronic logging devices,” separate from more broadly functional fleet-management systems.

“It is the incorporation of the fleet management system [with mobile communication technology] into the electronic logging device that creates the gateway” for harassment issues, said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. “FMCSA should not allow carriers to integrate fleet management systems into electronic logging devices,” he added.

The broad majority of committee members did not go so far as to recommend totally disallowing such integration. If a rulemaking simply doesn’t consider the option of fleet management tools to add on top of the electronic log, said Con-way Freight Safety Vice President Bob Petrancosta, “I would argue it doesn’t endorse it. [Manufacturers] make fine fleet management systems that have a benefit to them.”

The vacated limited mandate rule, said Spencer, “went well beyond a simple electronic logging device. It required these broader systems, and that’s what the legislation that’s being kicked around right now would require.” He also noted that requiring real-time tracking capabilities and global positioning system location data triggers constitutional issues about privacy.

Said Danny Schnautz of Clark Truck Lines, “We need to limit that definition of electronic logging systems. The only reason the harassment issue came up is because of the two-way communication systems.”

A draft report to the agency by the committee called out several areas where harassment issues can arise. Among them are repeated carrier contacts during off-duty time, law enforcement demands to show a paper log, general intrusion into driver privacy by management, pressure on drivers from dispatch, a driver’s decision to stop when tired being used against a driver and multiple contacts by carriers or shippers questioning why drivers are not moving.

Not mandating real-time communication from the devices may mitigate most of these situations, committee members suggested.

Considerable debate surrounded the need to mandate GPS functionality within electronic logging device standards. “Whether you’re going from here to here,” Spencer noted, “the only thing relative to hours of service is hours. There no realistic economic benefit” to including a location-tracking element, adding costs and potentially opening right-of-control disputes in the independent contractor owner-operator/carrier relationship, putting both businesses in jeopardy in a legal challenge.

“Any electronic logging device would not be as accurate without a GPS,” said Scott Hernandez of the Colorado State Patrol.

Regarding costs, however, Tom Cuthbertson, director of industry solutions for Xata, a maker of the devices, said “the GPS component itself is in the $15 to $20 range.”

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Feb. 6 took a significant step toward potential regulation of the screening and treatment of drivers at risk for obstructive sleep apnea.

A joint committee of the agency’s Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee and Medical Review Board adopted 11 recommendations that would, among other things, require all drivers with a body mass index (BMI) measurement of 35 or higher to be tested for sleep apnea.

The final recommendations marked the first time the two groups had worked together drafting potential regulatory guidance, said Dave Parker, MCSAC chairman and senior vice president of Great West Casualty, but it wouldn’t be the last. “We’ve got discussions ongoing with Larry [Minor, FMCSA associate administrator for policy]. This will not be the last time this group gets together to work on something directly.”

Consensus on the recommendations was broad among members, with the notable exception of Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. While acknowledging some regulation of driver health conditions was needed, “I think the focus on the singular medical condition of apnea is misplaced,” Spencer said. “Realistically, I don’t think this will survive the cost-benefit analysis” required of any rulemaking. “While we may pat ourselves on the back for what we’ve done here, none of us has a clue how this will work realistically in the world of drivers.”

Any rulemaking or guidance based on the recommendations would be put up for public comment, and a rulemaking would take years to develop, noted Minor. He said drivers could expect the interim recommended guidance issued by the joint committee last December to come up for a 30-day comment period this spring.

The 11 new recommendations stem from a January meeting of the group’s obstructive sleep apnea subcommittee, where seven key questions about the condition, its treatment and monitoring compliance with treatment, and its relationship to highway safety were considered.

The central question in FMCSA’s possible regulation of the condition will be whether individuals with obstructive sleep apnea are at an increased risk for a motor vehicle crash compared with those who do not suffer from it. When it comes time to impose regulations, cautioned Rob Abbott of the American Trucking Associations, questions of data quality are likely to loom large.

The OSA subcommittee linked crash risk with sleep apnea largely by extrapolating data from studies on noncommercial drivers (and one that involved commercial drivers) that showed a range of increased risk. “How many crashes actually occur because of this?” he asked. “The causal relationship has not been studied.”

Spencer said, “I’m stunned with the absence of knowledge of the particular group that we’re trying to regulate. There’s a world of difference between people who drive a truck professionally than those who don’t.”

Danny Schnautz of Clark Freight Lines said, “The pressures a driver is under would be better managed for a much lower risk than that of a college student trying to get home for Thanksgiving. I think drivers manage their risk very well.”

But experts from the Medical Review Board found the extrapolation to be a valid one since, as noted by Dr. Indira Gurubhagavatula of the Veteran’s Administration’s medical center, apnea is “an extremely treatable disorder and extremely prevalent among commercial drivers.” She cited obesity statistics that suggested well more than half of male adult commercial drivers were obese, a well-known apnea risk factor. She added that a study found that “people with severe apnea were impaired similar to the effect of an alcohol level of 0.05.”

The recommendations issued Feb. 6 would allow a 60-day conditional certification to be issued for drivers screened for testing due only to BMI. If determined to have apnea, those drivers would need to return to their examiner with proof of one week’s worth of successful treatment before being issued a 90-day certification pending further evaluation of treatment compliance. (As long as they are being treated, those drivers would get no longer than a one-year medical certification.)

A second group of drivers – those with an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) measurement greater than 20, who have reported experiencing excessive sleepiness during their major work period, day or night, or who have experienced a crash “associated with” falling asleep – would be denied the conditional certification.

A large amount of discretion would be given to individual health professionals in requiring drivers with BMI measurements lower than 35 to be tested and in issuing conditional certifications. “We focus on BMI as a mandatory factor,” said MRB member Brian Morris, associate corporate medical director for AllOne Health Resources. “If you set the bar high enough – 35 rather than 30 or 33 – you’re not burdening the system with getting a lot of people without sleep apnea caught up…”

The testing methods recommended as allowable by the committee were at-home polysomnography tests with verifiable chain of custody (to keep testers from faking the test) and an in-lab overnight polysomnographytest, designated as the most comprehensive and accurate. Costs for at-home tests, said Dr. Gurubhagavatula, are estimated at a third of in-lab tests.

The final recommendations from the subcommittee on acceptable areas of treatment put the most confidence for most sleep apnea sufferers in continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines, due to the ease of monitoring that is in place in current devices.

Raising truck weight limits on U.S. highways has been put off for the time being.

A bipartisan amendment to require a study of the impact of heavier truck weight limits was approved today, Feb. 2, as debate opened on the $260 billion American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7). The amendment by Reps. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.) and Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) passed on a 33-20 vote.

The defeated provision would have permitted trucks pulling single trailers to weigh up to 97,000 pounds on six months, an increase from the current limit of 80,000 pounds on five axles.

The American Trucking Associations and the Coalition for Transportation Productivity on Jan. 31 both backed the surface transportation legislation, a reauthorization bill the groups say also will streamline the Department of Transportation and modify federal transportation programs.

ATA said the surface transportation bill not only will make needed improvements to the nation’s highway system, but also will make that system safer for trucks and cars. “This bill is a major step forward, not just for trucking but for all users of our transportation system,” said Bill Graves, ATA president and chief executive officer.

ATA also backed the legislation for addressing truck productivity and hours-of-service.

“We’re pleased that for the first time in 30 years, despite unfounded yet curiously well-funded attacks on the safety of our industry, the House appears set to make much-needed reforms to federal truck size and weight limits,” said Dan England, ATA chairman and chairman of Salt Lake City-based C.R. England Inc.

England said the bill directs the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to initiate a field study of its proposed hours-of-service changes, specifically the impacts of the proposed modifications to the 34-hour restart provision. “The researchers whose work was used to justify these changes said a field study was needed to understand the safety, cost and operational implications of such a change, and we agree wholeheartedly,” he said.

CTP, a group of 200 shippers and allied associations seeking increased federal vehicle weight limit on interstate highways, praised the truck weight reform proposal’s inclusion in the bill. The legislation would reform the federal vehicle weight limit by giving states the authority to permit larger single-trailer trucks weighing up to 126,000 pounds to travel on up to 25 miles of interstate highways within their borders.

The proposal would have allowed states to opt into a higher federal interstate vehicle weight limit for single-trailer trucks equipped with six axles rather than the typical five. The required sixth axle would maintain all braking and handling characteristics at the new limit of 97,000 pounds, enabling shippers to utilize truck space that remains empty at the current 80,000-pound federal weight limit.

CTP said this proposal will reduce the truckloads, fuel and vehicle miles necessary to meet demand, and that participating states will have full authority to exclude these trucks from operating on any route or bridge.

“Truck capacity has dropped by 16 percent since the recession started, and the 30-year-old federal vehicle weight limit compounds the problem by forcing many trucks to travel when they are only partially full,” said John Runyan, CTP executive director.

Runyan said more than 90 percent of states already employ higher weight limits on state roads and bridges. Truck weight reform also would make American companies more competitive in the global marketplace, according to CTP; a recent study by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development compared truck productivity among developed nations and found that U.S. tractor semi trailers are the least productive due to highly restrictive vehicle weight limits.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association opposes increasing truck weight limits, as well as making longer combination vehicles, including double and triple trailers, the industry standard.

The Senate will tackle its own version of a highways bill that doesn’t contain a provision for heavier trucks and covers two years instead of five.

Surface transportation trade between the United States and Canada and Mexico in November increased 12.7 percent over November 2010 to $76.7 billion, said U.S. Department of Transportation.

In November U.S.-Canada trade rose 12.2 percent to $44.3 billion, and U.S.-Mexico trade gained 13.3 percent to $32.4 billion.

Surface transportation includes freight movements by truck, rail, pipeline, mail and Foreign Trade Zones. In November, 84.8 percent of U.S. trade by value with Canada and Mexico moved via land. 

The House Transportation Committee plans a full-committee mark-up Thursday, Feb. 2, of what Republicans are touting as the largest transportation reform bill since the interstate highway system’s creation in 1956.

The American Energy and Infrastructure Jobs Act will be introduced before that meeting, according to Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.). The earmark-free legislation contrasts with the previous surface transportation law, which contained more than 6,300 earmarks.

“[This] week Republicans will introduce a long-stalled major transportation measure – killed two years ago by the President – that will be financed in part by increased American energy production, creating jobs and lowering energy costs.” Mica said.

The bill would “permanently remove government barriers to American energy production and use the revenues to repair and improve America’s roads and bridges,” Speaker John Boehner said Nov. 17.  It also would eliminate and consolidate nearly 70 surface transportation programs that are “either duplicative or not in the federal interest.”

Additionally, the legislation would:

• Lift the drilling ban on new offshore areas by requiring the administration to lease offshore areas considered to have the most oil and natural gas resources.
• Set rules for developing oil shale resources and promote shale technology research and development.
• Open up Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil and natural gas development.
• Remove federal requirements that require states to spend highway money on non-highway activities.

Used Class 8 truck sales rebounded 13 percent in December from the previous month, ACT Research said, while trailer orders for last year were 38 percent higher than in 2010.

Used truck sales at auction, retail and wholesale all increased in December, but were 9 percent lower than the previous year. The sales figure is based on a sampling of used truck dealers.

Steve Tam, vice president-commercial vehicle sector with ACT, said that the biggest factor is continued lack of sufficient inventory, “which is the limiting factor in sales growth. On pricing, we believe year-over-year pricing growth will continue to slow. Prices will not necessarily fall, but just grow at a slower rate.”

Net orders for trailers grew 38 percent year-over-year, while build increased 69 percent.

“Following some mid-year sponginess, the trailer industry ended 2011 on a particularly strong note: Orders in December were a virtual duplication of November’s five-year high, backlogs rose to their highest level this cycle, and cancellations were virtually non-existent,” said Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst at ACT.

American Trucking Associations’ seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index surged 6.8 percent in December from November and was 10.5 percent higher than December 2010.

Last year, tonnage increased 5.9 percent over the previous year, which was the biggest annual rise since 1998, according to ATA.

The December year-over-year gain was the largest since July 1998, ATA said.

The not seasonally adjusted index measuring tonnage actually hauled by fleets rose 0.8 percent in December from the previous month.

“While I’m not surprised that tonnage increased in December, I am surprised at the magnitude of the gain,” ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said. He said it was the largest month-to-month increase since January 2005.

“Not only did truck tonnage increase due to solid manufacturing output in December, but also from some likely inventory restocking,” Costello said. 

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said its Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee meeting Feb. 6-9 will include a joint meeting with the Medical Review Board Feb. 6 to finalize recommendations of the joint MCSAC-MRB subcommittee on obstructive sleep apnea.

The MCSAC will meet separately Feb. 7-8 when it will consider prevention of harassment of truck and bus drivers through electronic onboard recorders. All four days of the meeting will be open to the public.

The meetings Feb. 6-8 will be from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET and on Feb. 9, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET. The meetings will be at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town, 1767 King St., in Alexandria, Va. The Hilton Alexandria Old Town is located across the street from the King Street Metro station.

Copies of all MCSAC Task Statements and an agenda for the entire four-day meeting will be at http://mcsac.fmcsa.dot.gov.

A trucking company and others suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over new greenhouse emissions standards for heavy-and-medium-duty vehicles is fighting a joint request to intervene from state governments and environmental organizations.

California-based Dalton Trucking, a 100-truck specialized services operation, and additional petitioners have said the new rule will increase fuel efficiency and decrease emissions, but also will increase transportation costs substantially.

On Jan. 17, they filed a response to the joint motion to intervene.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia has not scheduled oral arguments in their Nov. 4 petition to review the EPA’s final rule published last September. The other petitioners are Delta Construction Co., Southern California Contractors Association and the California Dump Truck Owners Association.

They have told the court the agency’s Science Advisory Board should have been given an opportunity to comment on the rule before it became final. They also have asserted EPA officials did not meet special federal rulemaking provisions the petitioners say they were required to comply with, which would have made the proposal subject to stricter scrutiny.

Earlier this month, those seeking to intervene responded to the petitioners’ Dec. 29 motion against that request.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund and Sierra Club provided a reply, soon followed by the joined response of California, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington and the City of New York.

Shorepower Truck Electrification Project location at Baker Truck Corral, Baker City, Ore.

Locations along Interstate 5 through California, Oregon and Washington will be outfitted with anti-idling technology this year.

Electrical power pedestals will be added to six truck stops and travel centers along the I-5 corridor, five in California, and one in Oregon.

Those locations will join four existing truck stops and travel centers along I-5 in the three states equipped with parking spaces with electrical connections, allowing drivers to shut off their engines during rest periods, and plug in communications and entertainment systems.

The Shorepower Truck Electrification Project, a federally funded project administered by Shorepower Technologies and Cascade Sierra Solutions, is placing connections for AC power at 50 truck stops on the nation’s major freight corridors. I-5 is the first of 10 interstate corridors targeted for increased availability of this anti-idling technology.

“When this phase is complete in 2012, we’ll have power pedestals located between 40 and 200 miles from each other,” said Jeff Kim, president and chief executive officer of Shorepower Technologies.

The new locations to be added under the STEP program are:

• Flying J Travel Plaza in Bakersfield.
• Pilot Travel Center, Dunnigan.
• Flying J Travel Plaza, Lebec.
• Flying J Travel Plaza, Lodi.
• Pilot Travel Center, Weed.
• 7 Feathers Truck and Travel Center, Canyonville, Ore.