EROAD announced that it has provided valuable and relevant data to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) as the agency seeks public comments regarding changes to the hours-of-service (HOS) regulations.
“We receive ongoing feedback about HOS rules and their impacts on the road and on the bottom line from our customers,” says Norm Ellis, president of EROAD North America. “HOS flexibility is important, and EROAD is in an excellent position to combine what we see in our data along with fleet operators’ experiences to help FMCSA make the best decisions on improving HOS.”
FMCSA announced in August that it was considering making changes to the HOS regulations and was seeking public input regarding four provisions of the rules. EROAD took several steps to provide relevant information to FMSCA and represent the viewpoints of its customer bases, such as:
- Performed analyses on millions of anonymized, aggregated data points from trips taken by US-based vehicles and drivers from January 1, 2018 through July 31, 2018, examining ELD data for patterns of FMCSA violations in relation to type, frequency per driver, and time in violation.
- Based on questions provided by the FMCSA for public comment on HOS flexibility, surveyed EROAD customers and other fleet operators to seek context regarding the HOS provisions under review.
- Hosted an open roundtable webinar in which the data from the statistical analysis and the survey were discussed and additional commentary was captured.
- Encouraged carriers to submit comments directly to FMCSA through the webpage provided.
EROAD found that the 30-minute rest break is the most common violation followed by the 14-hour duty limit, 11-hour driving limit and on-duty limit. Meanwhile, the proportion of violations by type has remained fairly consistent since the mandate was first introduced and the average time spent in violation is reducing over time. However, the number of violations per driver is increasing for 11-hour driving limit and 14-hour duty limit violations.
"We appreciate suppliers like EROAD that get involved with our industry by providing actionable information for the FMCSA," said Dave Heller, vice president of government affairs for the Truckload Carriers Association. “Going beyond offering a solution to provide data and expertise is what makes having highly engaged industry suppliers so valuable."
The full report submitted to the FMCSA, please click here.
