SafeDriverHours.com Engage Your Employees! How Motor Carriers Can Engage Their Employees To Help Support Retention of the Current Hours of Service Rules Here are some simple steps you can follow to engage your employees in the campaign to retain the current Hours of Service Regulations. We ve also provided some tools to help make it easy. Simple Steps 1. Draft a letter to your employees urging them to support the industry s campaign to retain the current hours of service regulations (a sample letter is provided). 2. Provide employees with the Background and Talking Points document. 3. Provide employees with the template which they can use to write to DOT. 4. Collect completed letters from employees and mail them to DOT. Mailing label text for your use: To: Ms. Anne Ferro Administrator Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Attn: Hours of Service of Drivers Docket # FMCSA-2004-19608 1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20590
MANAGEMENT S LETTER TO EMPLOYEES Dear Associate: HELP US STOP DOT FROM CHANGING THE HOURS OF SERVICE REGULATIONS! Recently, the Department of Transportation s (DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) proposed revisions to the hours of service regulations. In short, this proposal calls for: A reduction in driving time to 10 hours per shift. Extending the current 34 hour restart period to include two periods from midnight to 6 a.m. Limiting use of restarts to once every 7 calendar days. Mandatory rest breaks once every 7 hours. Limiting drivers to 13 hours of on-duty time in each 14 hour shift. Like me, you probably recognize that these changes if implemented will result in a number of adverse consequences: 1. A reduction in pay due to less wage-earning time each day; 2. The need for additional, inexperienced, potentially unsafe drivers; 3. Increased freight costs causing a devastating impact on a fragile US economy. The trucking industry has organized a campaign calling on FMCSA to abandon their plans to change the hours of service rules. But we need your help. Using the attached template, please tell DOT what you think about their proposed changes and why the current regulations should be retained. Our goal is to get tens of thousands of truck drivers to write in urging DOT to abandon their proposal. By law, DOT must read and consider each and every unique letter. Your voice WILL be heard. So take a moment to offer your thoughts on why you think changing the hours of service rules is a very bad idea. Then, turn your letter into your supervisor. To make it easy, we ll even mail it for you. Thanks for supporting this important campaign. Sincerely,
MESSAGE TO FMCSA ADMINISTRATOR FERRO RETAIN THE CURRENT HOURS OF SERVICE REGULATIONS! From: Date: Re: Hours of Service of Drivers Docket # FMCSA-2004-19608 Dear Administrator Ferro: I am writing to express my concerns over the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration s proposed rule on hours of service for truck drivers. My particular concerns are as follows: I urge you to retract this proposal and retain the current hours of service rules which have been effective in striking the crucial balance between safety and productivity. Thanks for the opportunity to offer my personal views on this matter. Sincerely, (Signed)
EMPLOYEE HANDOUT HELP US STOP DOT FROM CHANGING THE HOURS OF SERVICE REGULATIONS! Suggestions for what you might want to say in your letter to DOT (in your own words, of course): Changing the hours of service regulations would be a very bad idea, for many reasons. A reduction in driving time and working hours will trigger a need for more inexperienced drivers. As a result, highway safety will surely suffer. The proposed changes will strike a blow to a struggling economy. Since the industry will have less capacity to haul freight, rates will rise substantially. Critical components of the nation s distribution network will be disrupted. Existing routes and distribution centers have been designed around the current Hours of Service rules. Fewer driving and working hours amounts to a pay cut for truck drivers, at a time when drivers and their families are already struggling to make ends meet. Why DOT is proposing to change the hours of service regulations: Since the regulations were first revised in 2003, public interest groups have sued DOT on several occasions claiming that the rules are unsafe. The most recent suit, brought by two advocacy groups and the Teamsters union, was settled when the Obama Administration agreed to consider possible revisions to the rules. Naturally, these changes will have very profound negative impacts on safety and the economy. To justify these impacts, DOT claims that shorter hours would equal better health and longevity - the monetized valued of which would offset the substantial negative impacts to productivity and the economy.
What has been the impact of the current hours of service regulations? Since the current hours of service regulations were first made effective in 2004, truck safety has improved dramatically. For instance, from 2004 to 2008 The number of truck-involved crash fatalities has declined 16% The number of truck-involved crash injuries has declined 26% The reduction in truck-involved crash injuries over this period has been far greater than the reduction in car crash injuries. Also, compliance with the regulations has improved. According to FMCSA s website, between 2006 and 2008: 1 The number of driving time violations decreased 22% and Out-of-Service (OOS) violations decreased 16%. The number of on-duty limit violations decreased 19% and OOS violations decreased 8%. The number of workweek limit violations decreased 8% and OOS violations decreased 9%. The number of 34-hour restart violations decreased 6% and OOS violations decreased 26%. What would be the impact of changes to the current hours of service regulations? Safety will suffer - Any reduction in driving time will necessitate more inexperienced drivers, who are more crash prone. The roads will become more congested since each driver s capacity will be reduced, trucking companies will have to put more trucks on the road to deliver the freight. The economy will suffer the trucking industry s reduced capacity will translate into higher shipping costs, further straining a fragile economy. 1 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Roadside Inspection Out-Of-Service Rates, Analysis and Information On-line, http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/ (2010).