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Final rules from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) detailing changes to hours-of-service regulations have frustrated many carriers, leading to an exodus of qualified drivers from the industry and making it the number one concern in the trucking industry.
More than a quarter of trucking industry executives surveyed for the American Transportation Institute’s annual Top Industry Issues report responded that HOS is their primary concern, arguing that the regulations are an added burden to an industry already suffering from a lack of qualified drivers. The main points of contention include reduced driver wages and productivity; greater difficulty attracting and keeping drivers; and the potential for more safety issues.
The new hours-of-service regulations include new mandated breaks from driving unless a certain number of consecutive off-duty hours have been completed, some of which are required to be “home terminal time” rather than parked or in the sleeper berth.
An immediate effect of these regulations is that long hauls will take even longer to complete in order for drivers to remain in compliance. Any drive time longer than three hours past the driving-time limit is considered to be an “egregious violation” of the regulations and can cost the trucking company – and the driver – thousands in civil penalties.
Drivers who are paid by the mile will receive the same amount of money for a job that used to take three days and will take more than four days with the added breaks. Steve Gordon of Gordon Trucking Inc. believes that the breaks will contribute to greater driver frustration and lead to more drivers exiting the industry.
In regards to safety, ATA executives believe that more breaks will increase the potential for accidents that occur while entering and exiting onramps and merging into traffic, currently among the top five safety concerns in the industry.
The FMCSA has issued a final rule exempting short-haul drivers from the additional 30-minute breaks, though those drivers will still be subject to the rest of the new regulations.
Owner-operators will be challenged to attract new drivers and complete their hauls while abiding by the new HOS regulations. Truck factoring can give single operators and large fleets the immediate cash they need to meet these challenges without sacrificing the quality of their business. Count on us to find you the best factoring companies for trucking, and contact us for a same-day proposal.
