Page 20 - ATR 3 2012 web 2

room who can attest to that.”
Indeed, the opportunities are “phe-
nomenal” to improve fleet manage- “what’s the correlatioN betweeN whether a
ment. driVer is paid by the mile or by the hour to
“It’s the fear of the unknown, more safety outcomes?”
than the actual application of EOBRs.
Many, many drivers are afraid of them. —aNNe colliNs
Then once they start using them, they associate admiNistrator for field operatioNs
never want to drive without them,” federal motor carrier safety admiNistratioN
Collins said.
The agency will be taking a survey
in conjunction with the current EOBR than it is about the rules,” she said. “No all the power units that are on the road.
rulemaking, aimed specifically at the single rule can govern the fatigue of “Even more importantly, they rep-
driver harassment question — the issue everyone in this room. But those cues resent 84 percent of all the crashes,”
which derailed the recent remedial have to be something each individual Collins said. “The data is doing exactly
EOBR rule when a court decided the understands and makes responsible what it was intended to do: it’s get-
agency had not sufficiently addressed choices for whether or not he or she can ting to the heart of those folks who are
the matter. operate heavy equipment on our high- having an issue in safety management
And that’s “a common theme” to ways.” that’s leading to crashes. And it’s help-
the way everyone approaches change. The 34-hour restart provision, ing our investigators to work with those
“So be aware of that fear, and let’s which will include two overnight peri- carriers to address those issues.”
get down to talking about what’s really ods, is not “an arbitrary choice” to mess CSA warning letters have been
involved, and how we can make it work up schedules, she added. The change is particularly effective, she added, often
the best possible way,” Collins said. based on studies on human fatigue and informing carriers of problems that
“The bottom line is we don’t want to “what’s best for the driver,” she empha- didn’t realize they had, and the program
make decisions in isolation. It needs to sized. emphasis on driver awareness has pro-
be a dynamic process where you’re at She also noted the new rule “puts duced a 9 percent reduction in driver
the table.” some sting” into egregious, or willful, violations.
Accordingly, she credited FMCSA’s violations. “Drivers are taking the conse-
Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Council “And yes, we’re aware there’s a quences more seriously. You all are tak-
— a panel featuring carrier executives, lawsuit pending — two, actually. When ing the consequences more seriously,”
drivers, safety advocates and repre- you’re a regulator you get used to being Collins said. “Folks have put manage-
sentatives of equipment makers — for sued, and you know you’re in the right ment systems in place who didn’t have
its assistance on the range of trucking vicinity when you get sued by both them, and put better ones in place
issues. sides,” Collins said. “[The new restart] where they did have them to really
Collins also encourages trucking to may be a different way of thinking focus on those issues to help prevent
keep an eye on the Federal Register. about the business, but it’s not a worse crashes and save lives.”
“We really are asking — it’s not way of planning your work. It’s not FMCSA also is reminding carriers
about us laying down the law and say- worse for your business and it’s much to log-in and preview the revised scores
ing the rule is immutable,” she said. “It better for your safety.” under the new HazMat BASIC, and
is really a very dynamic, open, honest, Compliance, Safety, Accountability: with Cargo Securement violations now
respectful means of collecting informa- Collins said the agency considers “every included in the Vehicle Maintenance
tion.” piece of data,” and the FMCSA mantra BASIC.
is “every trip, every time.” “What we’re seeing is those who
rEgUlaTory UpdaTES “The good news, a little over a year run different types of loads, and don’t
Hours-of-service: The new rule is in in, is we’re seeing the success of this do hazmat very often, are the ones who
place, with most of the changes set to model,” she said. are scoring very high,” she said. “They
take effect in July 2013. Again, Collins The CSA website has had more may not have the systems in place to be
referred members to the FMCSA website than 27 million visits to look at scores, ready to handle that hazardous mate-
for detailed information on the changes and the agency has data on more than rial. It’s important to know where you
and the agency’s reasoning behind 200,000 active carriers. While just 12 stand by looking at that data preview
them. percent of those carriers have BASICs before it goes live.”
“The hours-of-service rule is much scores, it’s the right 12 percent, she
more about the choices people make explained: they represent 70 percent of 

20 aRkansas TRucking RePoRT | issue 3 2012