The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has proposed a pilot program to test more flexible sleeper berth options for truck drivers. While some drivers argue that shorter, split rest periods better match their natural sleep cycles and allow them to drive when most alert, safety groups and medical experts express concern that these options do not provide enough recuperative rest, potentially leading to long-term fatigue and burnout. The program will function as a sleep study, utilizing smartphones and smartwatches to collect data on driver fatigue to evaluate the impact of the new rules.
Contents of this video
00:00 10-44 intro; Flexible Sleeper Berth Pilot Program
00:56 5/5-hour split sleeper berth time
02:28 Monitoring driver fatigue
03:19 Driving on 5 hours of sleep
Speaker 1:
Trump administration is once again looking into making some adjustments to truck drivers, sleeper birth times. Hey everybody. Welcome back. I'm Jason Cannon, and my co-host is Matt Cole. F-M-C-S-A last month announced two hours of service related pilot programs that would give drivers more flexibility in how and when they take breaks. Last week we discussed a split duty period program that would allow truck drivers to pause their daily 14 hour clock for between 30 minutes and three hours each duty cycle.
Speaker 2:
This week we're looking at the flexible sleeper birth pilot program, which would allow participants to utilize more split sleeper birth options, including a six four and a five five hour split. In addition to the currently allowed up to seven and three hour splits.
Speaker 3:
Safety groups, I would say number one are gonna say, Hey man, uh, we don't like this, this idea because we don't like the driver driving five hours sleeping and going back and forth. They're gonna say, look, a driver doesn't get enough rest after five hours. But you know, there are truck drivers and I have a handful that say, look, I can't sleep no more than four or five hours. You know, I just sit there doing one of these, you know, counting, counting the, the time to go go by. So I, I do like the seven hour break or the eight hour break, the current one because it gives the drivers rest and I like it for that reason. I think that would be a little more safe.
Speaker 1:
This four month proposed pilot sounds a lot like a sleep study for truck drivers. As proposed participating drivers would receive a study provided smartphone installed with data collection applications necessary for research, such as fatigue measurement apps, survey apps, and such. Drivers also will receive a smartwatch. But before we hear more about that, let's hear from our sponsor Chevron Lubricants.
Speaker 3:
I would like to see this data because what we have now, there's, there's, we already have, I, I believe, a good amount of data because we've been running this thing for almost the fifth year. And so we know what the current one does. I'd like to see this one. Maybe, maybe they figure out something in between. I mean, one of my frustrations when trucking was, you know how this, there'd be some nights you'd be running and you're not tired, man, you know, is it full moon? You got a lot of energy. You're like, man, I wish I could make another 200 miles. You know, I could easily make another 200 miles. But you can't because your hands un tired. And I always tell my drivers like this, look, if you're tired, I want you to go to sleep. And I tell 'em, at nighttime, go to sleep between midnight if, if possible. If you're not making a, a nighttime delivery midnight and five o'clock, I want you in bed sleeping. 'cause that's one of most accidents happen. I mean, it's like the danger zone. I mean, even if, if have breakdown, it's hard to get somebody out there.
Speaker 2:
The Mayo Clinic recommends that adults get at least seven hours of sleep, and the five and five split would pull up just short of that. Now, there's plenty of people who can get by just fine on five hours of sleep. The problem will be the people who just think they can
Speaker 3:
This five hour drive and five hour sleep, sleeping, you know, could be done temporarily. You can't run week after week, month after month doing this because you mean, I, I, you know, truck driver is just a hard job. As, as it is. It's mentally exhausting. You know what I mean? People think that, oh, just sit behind the wheel. I mean, good luck. I would love to put those people in the motoring. Public doesn't understand. They just don't understand. They just see truck drivers as a, as a nuisance on the road. But in the long run, that could burn a driver out. And that is where these study groups are coming in and saying, you know, when the driver's young 23, that's a different story. But also, you know, all my older truck drivers are like in their sixties to say, listen, I haven't slept seven hours for 10 years.
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.
