WASHINGTON — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is currently seeking 18 drivers to help the agency test and fine-tune two upcoming hours-of-service pilot programs.
“Over the course of six weeks, these drivers will help us make sure the study plans, training materials and data collection tools are clear, practical and ready for broader rollout,” FMCSA said.
Program Details
This short, pre-testing phase is an important step in developing the Flexible Sleeper Berth and Split Duty Period pilot programs. Both efforts are part of the U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy’s Pro-Trucker Package and support President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14286, Enforcing Commonsense Rules of the Road for America’s Truck Drivers.
The goal of these programs is to test alternatives to the current hours-of-service requirements which have the potential to improve the lives and working conditions of American truck drivers through greater flexibility, while simultaneously maintaining equal or greater levels of safety.
FMCSA is working with researchers at Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) to develop and carry out these hours-of-service pilot programs. To vet the research designs and identify any issues with data collection tools, FMCSA needs drivers to sign up for the six-week pre-tests with VTTI.
Driver Qualifications
The Agency is seeking nine drivers who currently use “split sleeper berth” options (either “8/2” or “7/3”) and, most importantly, who want to test regularly using one or both of these new split options (“6/4” and “5/5”) for six weeks.
FMCSA also needs nine drivers whose schedules currently and regularly require them to drive up to the end of their 14-hour “driving window” and would also like to test the option to “pause” the window for 30 minutes minimum and up to 3 hours maximum by taking an extra break either:
(a) off-duty or in the sleeper berth in any location, or,
(b) on-duty (not driving) at the location of a pickup or delivery of cargo.
If you are a driver and would like to apply to participate in the limited pre-testing, visit FMCSA’s Hours-of-Service webpage or follow the links below:
Flexible Sleeper Berth Online Screening Questionnaire
Split Duty Period Online Screening Questionnaire
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
Dear Ms. Guthrie: I have 50+ years of commercial driving– drove a tour bus, 53 ‘ trailers, short doubles, long doubles by special permit on the Ohio Turnpike and started the Employee Safety Committee at a company where I worked for 30 years. As you can imagine I have seen many, many changes. There have been many upgrades in the equipment, the roads and other safety features. Yet the deterioration of the general public’s driving (that includes commercial drivers) is tough to watch for us true professional— Knights of the Road we were called. Many of the problems started after trucking deregulation. A strong push for productivity and next day service and more hours began. One carrier slogan became, ” The World Next Day.” Then after the cell phone and the smart phone things really changed. I don’t think skills diminished but the mental focus part did. One professor of psychology working w/the insurance industry said distracted driving is a sign of over confidence, false confidence that I can drive distracted even if you can’t. Head sets should only be used for short conversations while driving. I can get lost in my head because I get emotionally involved and forget where I am or my surroundings. The other part today is aggressive, erratic lane changes, following too close at high speeds (#1biggest violation by trucks), inability to stay in your lane, drifting, going too slow w/o 4 ways on and poor on ramp merging or merging into high speed traffic from a dead stop. These skills must be covered in any CDL training or ongoing safety meetings. A turn signal indicates I am going to turn or change lanes. If I am in the high speed lane I have to blink at least 3 times or more; not one blink as I am coming over already. I look at the center lane for clearance but also watching for vehicles in far right lane that may come over to the spot I want in the middle lane. On ramp merging I go full throttle to speed up close to the speed of traffic and merge in at the first opening not wait til my lane ends. Dead stop side of the road—W/4ways on I start up, full throttle stay on the berm til my speed hits 40 then left turn signal and merge at an opening. Well just some thoughts. The main thing is be a lifetime learner. I would not truck today knowing what I know today. We never had 30 car/truck pile ups.That alone would keep me away— waiting for hours— or I would drive strictly local, hourly pay. Best wishes, Stephen J. Bauer Akron,Ohio