WASHINGTON — If drivers have to be federally regulated by hours-of-service rules, brokers should be required to pay drivers for time lost waiting to pick up freight because it ends up making roads less safe.
That is the argument of a group of owner-operators and small trucking companies as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration plans a new study on the effects of driver detention time on road safety and trucking operations.
While carriers of all sizes have long been concerned about the effects driver detention has on safety and operations, “it affects us differently [than] established trucking companies as they are able to negotiate a maximum wait time and they are given priority when it comes to service,” stated one owner-operator commenting on the information collection request (ICR) for the study, which FMCSA must submit to the Office of Management and Budget for approval.
“Brokers would rather sacrifice the independent owner operators rather than hurt their relationship with the shipper or receivers [because] they would automatically lose their contracts.”
Another commenter to the ICR asserted that although brokers know where and when a truck is heading for a pickup or delivery, “we get there and still have to sit for hours and hours while our clock’s ticking. As soon as we arrive, we should all start being paid on the clock. It will also make these shippers and receivers move faster to send us on a safe journey from pickup to delivery.”
Arctic King Logistics LLC, a trucking dispatch service, said wait time-related pressure to get back on the road to make a delivery or to pick up the next load may lead drivers “to make compromised decisions, potentially endangering themselves and others on the road.”
However, “it’s important to note that not only brokers are responsible,” the company stated. “Certain facilities contribute to the issue, often being ‘short-staffed’ or simply not caring and creating conditions where detention time is almost guaranteed. Regulating and improving these facilities is essential for enhancing overall safety and the welfare of drivers and all participants on the road.”
Several commenters said FMCSA should allow for an industry-accepted two free hours of wait time, after which it should require a $100-per-hour detention time fee be paid the broker, shipper or receiver.
“Hit them where it hurts: their bottom line,” said one, recommending a $100-per-hour fee go to the driver and $300 per hour to the carrier, “paid immediately by the offending party prior to [the driver’s] departure via an industry accepted payment method. Carriers must pass on full driver share to driver, no exceptions, and carriers cannot, as a condition of employment, compel drivers to sign any portion of their share away.”
The Transportation Intermediaries Association, which represents truck brokers, was not immediately available to comment.
The American Trucking Associations, which represents major trucking companies, has insisted that FMCSA steer clear of attempting to regulate detention time, contending that it is an economic issue and therefore best addressed by carriers and their customers.
“Whether detention time is also a safety issue — and therefore an issue within FMCSA’s statutory authority to address — is another question altogether,” ATA stated in its comments to the ICR.
“While there has been no end of speculation that excessive waiting times provide incentives for unsafe behaviors, numerous studies have failed to substantiate even a statistically rigorous correlation between detention time and crash risk, much less a causal link.”
But the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and truck safety advocates disagree, pointing to a 2018 U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General report’s conclusion that detention increases the likelihood of truck crashes involving death and serious injury.
“Most of [Truck Safety Coalition] victim volunteers have been forever and irreparably impacted by a fatigued and/or speeding truck driver,” commented the group, which advocates on behalf of crash victims’ families. “It is from a place of tragically somber experience that TSC unapologetically asserts that the proposed [study] is imperative for FMCSA to perform its functions.”
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