'Weekend' Rest Would Hurt Productivity, Analyst Says

May 31, 2000 10:00 AM, EDT

The mandatory “weekends” that drivers would be required to take under the Department of Transportation’s hour-of-service proposal would cut into trucking productivity more than any other provision of the regulations — possibly by as much as 28%, according to a consultant’s study.

W. Kelly Anderson of Impact Transportation Solutions, Joplin, Mo., compared two hypothetical routes — a long-haul irregular route and a shorter dedicated run — to see how far a driver could get under the current rules and under DOT’s proposal.

nderson found the proposed rules left a driver way behind the point he would be under current regulations. The biggest hunk of time was not chopped from the amount of hours a trucker could work — drivers operating under the proposed rules never ran out of hours. The two-night break DOT wants to require every seven days is the real distance-cutter, he found.

“These rules make over-the-road trucking just not realistic,” said Anderson, who performed the analysis for the Arkansas Trucking Association along with fellow consultant Jim Randels.

For the full story, see the May 29 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.