A Split Duty Period Pilot Program proposed by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) would allow truck drivers to pause their daily 14-hour clock for between 30 minutes and three hours each duty cycle.
That move would give truck drivers the option to extend their 14-hour on-duty period by taking one off-duty, sleeper berth, or on-duty/not driving period (taken at the location of a pick-up or delivery of cargo), including what is sometimes called “detention time,” of no less than 30 minutes and no more than three hours.
FMCSA said it “believes that the exemption covered by the proposed pilot program provides the flexibility to take extra rest, avoid driving during traffic congestion, and mitigate the impacts of unreasonable ‘detention times,’ thereby improving the working conditions of America’s truck drivers.”
Under the proposed program, any on-duty/not driving time (taken at the location of a cargo delivery or pickup) used to extend the driver’s 14-hour clock would continue to count against the 60-/70-hour on-duty time limits in a 7- or 8-day period. However, any off-duty or sleeper berth time used to extend the driver’s 14-hour window would not count against the 60/70-hour limit.
Contents of this video
00:00 10-44 intro; FMCSA announced two hours-of-service-related pilot programs
01:10 Options to extend 14-hour on-duty period
02:35 On-duty/not driving time
04:35 Improving quality of life for truck drivers
Speaker 1:
Could more flexibility when pausing a truck driver's 14 hour duty clock lead to a better quality of life. Hey everybody. Welcome back. I'm Jason Cannon, and my co-host is Matt Cole. F-M-C-S-A recently announced two hours of service related pilot programs that would give drivers more flexibility and how and when they take breaks. Each pilot program as proposed would be limited to approximately 256 participating drivers.
Speaker 2:
The flexible sleeper birth pilot program would allow participants to utilize more split sleeper birth options, including a five and five hour split in addition to the currently allowed up to seven and three hour splits. We'll talk more about that one next week. This week we'll focus on a split duty period pilot program that would allow truck drivers to pause their daily 14 hour clock between 30 minutes and three hours. Each duty cycle.
Speaker 1:
Truck drivers would have the option to extend their 14 hour on-duty period by taking one off-duty sleeper birth or on-duty, not driving period taken at the location of a pickup or delivery of cargo or what we would call detention time of no less than 30 minutes and no more than three hours.
Speaker 3:
I like it because in my opinion, it uncomplicates the pause right now because the drivers could do a pause technically, but they have to take a minimum of two hour break, and this obviously gives the window from 30 minutes to three hours, which is helpful in my opinion, for multiple reasons. You know what I mean? Number one, it gives 'em more flexibility, it gives 'em more comfort, but how's this things happen in the trucking industry? When I used to drive, I get migraines, I struggle for migraines. I get this from my mother's side. When you get a migraine and you're running your 14 hour, you just can't. It's nice. So if you want to pull over, take a break for 30 minutes, an hour, let's say there'd be some times I'd be running and it's raining and how this, I've been driving for like three hours, but I'm still tired, right?
And I want to take a nap. This gives 'em the flexibility to pull over and take a nap. And I think when you're tired in that kind of scenario, even you've slept eight hours. If you need a little bit more, you need a little bit more to gather yourself, and I think that goes a long way, this flexibility. Another thing, like you said, the detention delay, ed shipper, Lord, how's this? There is not one truck driver in the world that has not been delayed at the shipper. We have to run to the shipper, make it on time. God forbid, we're 15 minutes late detention, they want to charge a late fee or rescheduling fee. It is ridiculous. That really helps in that situation when you're stuck at the chipper because it extends your driving hours.
Speaker 2:
Under the proposed program, any on-duty, not driving time taken at the location of a delivery or pickup that is used to extend the driver's 14 hour clock would continue to count against the 60 and 70 hour time limits in a seven or eight day period. However, any off duty or sleep or birth time used to extend the driver's 14 hour window would not count against the 60 and 70 hour limit
Speaker 3:
When you're sitting there for three hours being unloaded. How's this? I used to relax, drink coffee, take a nap, take a call. You know what I mean? Call my family. You're technically punched out and just waiting to get unloaded. You pray it'll be an hour and a half. Sometimes it's four hours, sometimes it's 12 hours. But the new reg, let's say you start at six and you gives it three extra hours. You could stop six in the morning. You could stop at 11 o'clock if you take that three hour break, which is kind of nice because the problem with trucking is there's so many variables out there, man there. Traffic accidents, shippers are the worst. You name it. Natural disasters. I mean, truckers need flexibility. And what we haul is all food product, frozen, refrigerated produce, and in my opinion, because we're hauling perishables, strawberries, berries, these things are just literally rotting in the trailer by the minute.
We're keeping 'em cool to slow down that rot. Everybody's gone to the store, bought some beautiful strawberries, bring 'em home, and two days later they're moldy in your refrigerator. I always thought that people that haul produce food perishables like we do should get a little bit more hours for running it because it's a para thing. They put us all in one bucket. I mean, how's this? Somebody hauling paper towels as the same hours we do, which is kind of unfair because look, paper towels or let's say PlayStations, both are important, but when you got fresh produce, that's more important. I mean, I like it that they give it to the cattle haulers, but they never really thought about the people hauling the food.
Speaker 1:
F-M-C-S-A also believes the ability to pause the 14 hour clock could allow drivers to avoid congestion, thereby giving them an increased opportunity to travel at posted speed limits rather than below them during times of heavy traffic. The agency also said the flexibility could reduce the pressure to drive at speeds higher than posted limits. And finally, F-M-C-S-A said, drivers would have the ability to pause the clock to take a break to reduce the likelihood of driving while fatigued.
Speaker 3:
You always want to make the driver more comfortable because right now they're just running hours and you punch in and you got to keep on rocking, and this gives 'em a little bit more flexibility. And when you give this comfort to the driver to use this, what I would do is it depends on what kind of truck driver you deal with because each truck driver is a kind of different walk of life, but you could use this to increase your productivity. You could drive, take an hour break to do some exercises or something like that, drive. You could break this breakup any way you want. And when you break it up like that, the driver gets some exercise, goes for a walk. I think that improves his mental health and his physical awareness. That doesn't make it any worse. So out of all the rules, I really like this, but I do support it because I think it's going to have a positive impact, a better work-life balance, and anything for a better work-life balance for truckers I think is a plus because truck driving is a lifestyle. You're dealing with all these problems, weather, traffic, motoring, public cutting trucks off, you know what I mean? Anything to make a trucker's life better I think is always a plus, and that's a plus for safety too.
Speaker 2:
Drivers participating in the pilot would still be required to have 10 consecutive hours off duty or in the sleeper berth at the end of the shift and continue to be limited under the 60 and 70 hour rule. And don't forget to join us next week where we'll discuss the sleeper birth proposal.
Speaker 1:
That's it for this week's 10 44. You can read more on ccj digital.com. While you're there, sign up for our newsletter and stay up to date on the latest in trucking industry news and trends. If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know in the comments below. Don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell for notifications so you can catch us again next week.
