Thursday the 21st was the first day of the House’s Small Business Subcommittee hearing on the issue of the Hours of Service regulation changes. The hearing will continue on Friday the 22nd as well. The two-day event will hear testimony from FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro, OOIDA, the Transportation Intermediaries Association, and L & L Freight Services.
The purpose of the hearing is to learn the economic and operational impact of the July 1st Hours of Service changes implemented by the FMCSA. Since the hearing is being conducted by the House’s Small Business Subcommittee, the official focus will be on how the changes impact small business (Owner Operators, small fleets, and the businesses that serve them), but on the first day of the hearing, data and analysis that was collected by the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) from both small and large carriers was referenced.
The hearing is being headed by Representative Richard Hanna who has already taken a clear stance on the issues. He is a sponsor of a bill that is currently in the House that would force a temporary repeal of the HOS changes. A similar bill was recently proposed in the Senate.
In a phone interview with Overdrive, Rep. Hanna said that he expects to hear testimony that would show that the new rules don’t work. He confidently stated “We don’t think they can [prove they’re right].”
Indeed, during the hearing itself, Hanna pulled no punches when questioning Administrator Anne Ferro. Referring to her recent two-day stint riding along with an OOIDA member, Hanna asked “What do you say to somebody actually in the business, who didn’t spend two days in a truck but spent a lifetime in a truck, when she (a constituent) says the 1 to 5 a.m. has taken away quality of life, reduced productivity as well as disruption of the drivers’ normal sleep schedules?”
He went on to say that the FMCSA has acted “arrogantly and insensitively” by going ahead with the HOS changes despite the fact that none of the required studies had been completed.
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Source: overdrive, fleetowner, overdrive
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Ann Ferro needs MORE TIME IN A TRUCK TO SEE THE TRUE UMPACT IF THE HOS SHE HAS NO GRASP OF!!!! Until you’ve actually SAT IN THAT SEAT, you got NO BUSINESS CHANGING SOMETHING THAT WAS ALREADY WORKING!!!! It’s like someone telling you “how to do that job when they’ve NEVER SAT IN THAT SEAT”!! Let someone already knowledgeable about the business run the FMCSA instead of some woman who HASN’T A CLUE!!!!
It’s nice they got her sorry self to ride with an owner operator for two days. Now they need to get her to ride with a company driver who’s truck is governed fairly slow for about two weeks. So she can see the impact of these stupid rules when the affect her from being able to go anywhere for a day and a half or longer.
Let her ride in a normal truck not the hotel on wheels that she was in for 2 days. She didn’t learn anything riding in that one.
With a government like we have hopefully those who put these people in office will finally see what damage can and WILL BE DONE
We could make FMCSA see, things our way if we all stuck together we could change things.
command and control is the name of the game…… congress goes with mandatory EOBR’s, have they driven either? NHTSA has put study in place with Virginia university, that is known for transportation studies, placing ‘ALL POSITION’ cameras in 500 trucks, reported on Landline and truckers report. So……without further ado, what’s behind the curtain other than the great and powerful OZ?
Who bribed the congress force the EOBR’s. The lobbyists selling the EOBR industries agenda and products… you know, the game of congressional champions….pocket pool.
The NTSB, DOT, etc. are slowly destroying the trucking industry in this country. As far as looking at this from the small business perspective, this administration seems to no like any business, especially small business. I have been encouraging my former fellow drivers to get ready to get another income stream started. That way when they get regulated out of the industry, like I did, they can land on their feet. Follow me on twitter @bdh137 #Truckdrivers
It’s called micromanaging folks.