Road Scholar Transportation

(The following information is based on Burg’s speech, which can be read at http://www.truckline.com/Newsroom/Testimony1/Jim%20Burg%20ATA%27s%20Small%20Business%20HOS%20Testimony%20Oral%20Final.pdf)

Jim Burg, trucking company owner and member of the American Trucking Associations (ATA), spoke on behalf of the organization in a hearing entitled “Do Not Enter: How Proposed Hours of Service Trucking Rules are a Dead End for Small Businesses.”

Burg argued that accepting the proposed hours of service (HOS) would drastically affect small trucking companies, and since these companies compose of 99% of over 700,000 across the nation, it poses a large concern.

As the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) noted, it would cost $2 billion a year for the new changes to occur.  A large part of the cost is shown to land on the shoulders of small trucking companies.

A decrease in the amount of hours a driver is allowed to service leads to less productivity, for drivers will be restrained to how far they can travel/how many loads they can deliver without breaking their hours of service.

In order to secure more loads, companies need invest more money on drivers and trucks, dipping into an already slim driver pool.  With a decrease in availability, companies are offering higher wages in order to recruit qualified drivers to their companies instead of their competitor’s.

An increase in the amount of drivers produces greater congestion on the road which, in return, produces more emissions.  It’s a good thing Road Scholar has taken several steps to go green, including the purchase of new tractors containing APUs (auxiliary power units) that provide air conditioning/heating without having to idle the engine, thus reducing carbon emissions and saving on fuel.  In fact, the exhaust system of one of Road Scholar’s new trucks is 42 times cleaner than a 2007 tractor.  How’s that for reducing emissions?

In order to account for increased costs, prices rise for manufacturers, shippers, and consumers as well.

This itself can backfire on the FMCSA’s plan to increase safety because, as Burg explains, with higher costs many companies cannot afford to purchase safety technologies for their trucks.  Road Scholar Transport, on the other hand, has the most advanced technology features on its fleet including both power unit and reefer tracking, electronic door monitoring, panic messaging, navalock, and many others.  Visit www.roadscholar.com to learn more.

Burg also pointed out the irony in the proposed 11 hours of driving time potentially being reduced to10, which would lead to more drivers being rushed to meet time constraints, in fact decreasing safety on the road.

What the ATA has been suggesting for several months now is to keep the current HOS rules, which has already proven to increase safety since its testing in 2003, including a “33 percent reduction in fatal truck crashes and a 40 percent decline in truck crashes resulting in injuries.”

Are you in favor of the FMCSA keeping the current HOS rules or replacing them with the revisions?