Rule Changes Likely to Place More Trucks on the Road

The government’s hours-of-service proposal is designed to prevent 2,600 truck-related crashes and 115 fatalities a year, but it does not weigh the safety effects of hiring more truck drivers and putting more trucks on the road to compensate for the longer rest periods, according to critics.

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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration estimates that the industry will have to hire 49,000 new truckers to make up the 586,000 miles lost by enforcing the proposed 12-hour limit. That number is in addition to the 80,000 drivers needed to fill vacancies created by attrition and the booming economy.

It all adds up to more trucks tooling down the nation’s roads. How many more has not yet been established by the Department of Transportation, but American Trucking Associations puts the figure at more than 100,000 drivers and their trucks.

A spokesman for FMCSA said May 17 that the question of more trucks adding to safety concerns was “logical,” but it merited consideration at one of seven public hearings on the reforms that the agency has scheduled.

For the full story, see the May 22 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.