On Wednesday, the nominee for Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao, appeared before a Senate panel to answer questions about her views on transportation and her plans for the future of our nation’s roads, bridges, railroads, skies, and even outer space. While not the focus of the discussion, both Chao and the panel touched on several subjects that could have a huge impact on the future of trucking.
If Chao’s confirmation hearing seemed more like old friends catching up than a job interview as many sources have claimed, it’s for good reason: this isn’t her first rodeo. Chao served as the head of the Department of Labor under George W. Bush, and as the Deputy Secretary of Transportation under his father, George H.W. Bush. She also happens to be the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Chao and the senate panel spent a great deal of time talking about three things that could have an impact on trucking: safety, infrastructure repair, and technology.
Chao started the hearing with a familiar refrain: “First and foremost, safety will continue to be the primary objective,” she said. But she also claimed that she would attempt to balance regulation and economic growth. She went on to say that federal rules should weigh both the costs and potential benefits using “analysis derived from sound science and data,” but didn’t offer much more detail than that.
On the country’s failing infrastructure, Chao acknowledged that the Highway Trust Fund is running out money and said that the government will not be able to solve the problem alone. Instead, they will need to “unleash the potential for private investment” through “innovative financing tools.”
Since Chao didn’t go into detail on what exactly she meant, it isn’t clear how she might get the private sector involved.
In the past however, public-private partnerships in infrastructure have led to problems like the infamous Indiana Toll road and its dramatic price increases (over 228% increase in tolls in just 5 years), non-compete clauses which could cause even worse congestion down the line, and short-sighted state governments selling off income-generating roads to private companies for pennies on the dollar.
On technology, Chao made it clear that she believes the country’s economic growth is jeopardized by “a failure to keep pace with emerging technologies.” Specifically, she talked about drones and autonomous vehicles.
Chao told the panel that she was in favor of autonomous technologies progressing without – as Colorado Senator Cory Gardener put it – “onerous” regulations being put in place. It seems that her stance will be pretty much the same as outgoing Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, which means a green light for autonomous truck development.
Chao and the panel also discussed how to prevent DOT regulations from being burdensome on the trucking industry, how to keep the regulatory process open to input from stakeholders, and how to find solutions to problems like the truck driver shortage.
Source: truckinginfo, fleetowner, fleetowner, overdrive, npr, nytimes, truckersreport
Image Source: elainelchao
Jeffrey Allen says
Its not a truck driver shortage is these companies wanting driver to say out two to three weeks.Killing your home and family lifestyle. In addition to this if you luck up with something local you must hump freight and that’s not so good.
Jeffrey Allen says
Across the board remove the recap. After 140 hours of service you must show a 48 hour reset, 34 hour if you just run the 70/8. This will level the playing field and make our highways so much safer not to mention driver fatigue. So far it been too much brain work not even dealing with the main course which is family and safety.
timothy dunn says
Same old crap different person , I love to drive , but not retirement be it gets worse
IR says
…how to prevent DOT regulations from being burdensome on the trucking industry – out of own experience the common rule now at medical card renewing, to combine weight with neck diameter starting at 17inches, is a very questionable and for truckdriver very costly time-intensive rule, which bases on so called medical prove, that sleep apnea is certain amd has to be addressed by sending the driver to tests and wearing a mask overnight, How can you get sleep with having a mask on your face? How can you be fit for the daily challenge on the roads? HealthClinics make huge profits on these at least 7 out of 10 Truckdriver – but TruckCompanies don’t pay you for the loss of time – your being InTime is the most important, and you will have these tests for the rest of your trucking work-life! IR
MrbigR504 says
Yeah while besides the Subway shops at the truckstop, everything else isn’t very healthy! I mean, whats so hard offering a turkey sausage on whole wheat muffin with egg whites? Just offer more whole wheats and multigrains would be a start! But noooo you can get 2 foot long Snickers for $3.00 and 3 roller hotdogs with chips and a drink for $5.00. Double pepperoni pizza at 3am? And please dont say it will cost too much to put more healthy foods in the truckstop deli! Pretty much everything at a truckstop is high as Geraff p—y anyway!
Jon says
She should do a ride along on a Train, OTR Bus, and a OTR Truck.
Sort of a “Dirty Jobs” kind of day.
Aircraft are already controlled enough.
Dan says
Did she say anything about ELD?
Red says
I think they should eleminate the 14 hour clock rule altogether. All this does is force a driver to complete his 11 hours of driving without any real rest breaks. They should leave the 11 hour total drive time but instead have a 14 hour total “on duty” time limit. Whenever you reach any combination of driving and on duty (not driving) time equaling 14 hours, then you must take a 10 hour break. This way, a driver can take naps or whatever during his 11 hours of driving and not actually lose any of those driving hours. Also I personally think the 34 hour restart or the 70 hour rule should also be eliminated. Who needs to spend 34 hours in the back of a truck? All this does is make me more tired by throwing my sleep schedule off and if we could take daily naps with the 14 hour total on duty rule, wouldn’t really need it anyways. Nobody would be rushed and would virtually eliminate the need to falsify logs. You could also make more money. Win win. Just my 2 cents
Joshua Weiser says
The hours of service was established due to the mega companies trying to monopolize the trucking industry as well as elds. All of the these new rules and regulations have been thrown at us drivers because mega carriers want to drive all the small companies out of the industry as well as single truck owner operators
Crazy Cat says
Amen. One of the largest lobbying organizations the ATA are writing these rules. The folks in Congress have no way of knowing what needs to be done. They listen to the lobbyists.
Scott says
Exactly what I’ve been saying for years. It’s not limiting duty time that hurts, it’s giving us a ticking clock to race against that makes drivers need to rush and reduces their safe operation.. When I can pull over in the middle of the day to take a 4-5 hour nap if I feel the need and not have it hurt my 14 hour clock, then I am way more rested, relaxed and alert. But once the clock starts the race is on to cover as much ground as I can before the time is up.. It is the most dangerous regulation you can put on an industry that relies on alert and safe operators..
Big mack says
You all need a reality check. The trucking industry is as safe as it has ever been. The HOS regs don’t need to be touched. It has always been difficult to do the trucking jobs. What needs to change is the training aspects of it. We have to many new drivers that do not have enough experience to be out here alone. This industry needs to be reclassified as a skilled labor industry and must have proper education and knowledge in order to operate this equipment. If it is reclassified as such, pay will go up, respect will go up and accidents will go down.
Red says
Are you insane? You need a reality check! The HOS is complete BS. I see the reasons for them that they were going for, but just missed it because there are no truck-driving law makers. They need to have an 11 hour driving limit and then 10 consecutive hours off to reset those 11 and a clock that counts all on duty hours UP from 0 to let’s say 14 before having to take 10 off instead of a 14 hour clock that just counts down to zero after you start it. That’s just silly because in the trucking industry we have the ability to stop and sleep/rest whenever we choose to, unlike other jobs like construction where you are physically working from the time you clock in until you leave without the ability to just lay down and rest at your leisure. In regards to the training… you can train a person until the cows come home but if they just don’t get it, then there’s no training it into them. Some people can drive a big truck, some people can’t. I’m not saying they’re worthless people or anything… just have a different calling. They need to start giving some sort of motor skills pre-test before you can apply for CDLs.
Keith Petrella says
They need to make dispatchers just schedule properly. How many of you get stuck taking a load using half your 10 hours off delivering and other half parked just to make your next pick up on time
Falsifying logs the entire time
10 hours off is 10 hours off not 5 hours sitting in dock and 5 hours sitting along side it
Also our 30 minute mandatory brake should be added to the end for 14.5 hour day. 8 hour jobs actually are there 8.5 why not us too. That guarantees that we aren’t left 30 miles from safe place
Pretty much government needs common sense and nothing more. Book smart is not always intelligent
Steve Easton says
So this lady has spent how long driving a truck?? Her resume couldn’t be any more incestuous. She is the usual jobsworth washington insider. It’s a living that is all. AND if I hear that word ‘safety’ one more time being used as an excuse to regulate (translation – attempt to put me out of business) me even further and strangle the industry I shall go postal.
Mr. Hollywood says
There is no truck driver shortage. It’s these mega carriers and mega shippers using their influence to persuade the government that their is one. The main reason I disagree with the notion of a driver shortage is the fact that there are so many drivers who can’t get over 2,000 miles in a week. The government should be asking these mega carriers,” if there is such a driver shortage, why do you have so many drivers who drive less than 2,000 miles a week and can barely support their families when you add the meager rates you pay them?” It does not add up.
Brownm says
There are too many miles out there you just have to change companies. The reason you get only 2000 miles per week is because your company too expensive to haul freight so the shippers are going to the cheaper companies witch means more miles but pretty much same pay. Let’s say you make .58 cents per mile and you get only 2000 miles per week now that’s same I’m making .37 cents per mile driving 3000 miles per week except im driving 1000 miles extra for no reason.
Anthony says
These people on crapital hill still are pushing for Autonomous trucks…Have they not stopped to think what the hell is gonna happen once those computers are hacked????!!!!
Shogun says
What people don’t realize is that Chao is a former Caterpillar mechanic turned owner operator. She started her career in transportation as a journeyman mechanic from brake adjustments, tire replacements all the way to full out of frame overhauls. She pushes technology because of her firm grasp on the industry. Just this week, the major auto manufacturer we haul for essentially shut down for a week due to a software issue, with millions lost in revenue. Yay technology! Let’s right this ship Chao.
Brownm says
They need to eliminate the 8 and 11 hour clock. Just make it 14 hours of whatever and bump 70 hour clock to 90. The shippers or receivers don’t care crap about hours so they holding drivers hostage plus it’s fight everyday to park,fuel and drive. Eliminate the 10 hour rest break and make it “customer woke me up only after 6 hours of sleep because they don’t know what’s restbreak is so here I’m tiered but I got hours to run” Sarcasm
Chaplain A. L. Haynes says
I’ve been at this long enough that if ELDs pass I’ll retire and spend my time driving 30 mph in front of those autonomous trucks since the program doesn’t allow them to pass anyone. I personally think the regulations in the transportation industry needs to be established by personnel that are career transportation specialist (10+yrs), FMCSA only has about 5 people that even has a cdl. I also think dispatchers should have at least three years seat time before being offered the job because most of them are clueless about how long it takes to get from here to there or what we deal with everyday. As a minister I have concerns about the new administration because Mr. Trump is unpredictable but I also hope & pray that he is able to keep most of his promises to America. As a driver contractor, I would like to see some deregulation of the transportation industry on the driver and o/o end but maybe a little more on the corporate end of it. As drivers we should know when we need to stop for a little while & not be forced to push ourselves because of some log book system or government regulation, making us a safety hazard on the road.
May God protect us all on the road & America Praise God that He may bless America.
Brian Bennett says
15 years driving, I drove before and after the new regulations. I drive tired way more often today trying to “beat the clock” than I ever did back then running illegally with two log books.