Goal
To determine whether changes to the hours-of-service (HOS) rules have had any impact on commercial motor vehicle (CMV) safety, carrier productivity and cost, and the U.S. highway system.
Background
The Agency is primarily interested in examining data before and after the HOS rules changes and the impact of the rule changes on safety, driver schedules and productivity, cost of trucking, and measures of highway system performance.
Summary
This is a two-phased effort. The first phase will be to investigate data sources, secure data agreements, and specify the methods of evaluation that can answer the study questions.
- Safety. An evaluation of the full 12 months of crash and injury data before and after the rule change (with an attempt to control for upward trends based on increased freight activity). The full 12 months of safety data became available mid-December 2014.
- Driver Schedules and Productivity. Study team will collect electronic logs where available from the year before the final HOS rule went into effect and the year after. This data will allow the Agency to compare how drivers were operating before and after the HOS rule change. Are drivers now using the new break requirement, and are they using the 34-hour restart any differently than before the rule change?
- Cost of Trucking. ATRI recently published a study that showed that the marginal cost of trucking between 2012 and 2013 increased only a modest 3 percent from $1.63 to $1.68 per mile. Most of this increase was attributed to driver wages and benefits; however, it is important to note that the marginal costs of driver wages and benefits were still lower in 2014 than they were in 2008.
- Measures of Highway System Performance. FMCSA is asking the contractor to work with the FHWA Office of Freight Policy to determine how changes to the HOS rule have affected vital highway metrics.
Outcomes
A report that identifies the impacts of changes in the HOS provisions on the trucking industry and the U.S. economy.
Milestones
May 2015: Contract awarded
July 2015: Kick-off meeting
March 2016: Peer review meeting
Funding
FY 2015: $279,000
Current Status
Data acquisition in progress.
Contractor
MaineWay Services
Updated: Thursday, March 3, 2016