Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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leading news, trucking market conditions and industry analysis Break mandate tops hours rule confusion I police commercial vehicle enforcement division. Troopers were issuing out-of-service orders but were not summoning people to court except for repeat violations, he said. While more specific information was not available, Currie reported a drop in violations for truckers in the first week of new HOS compared to the previous seven days. During a recent meeting at a local-haul company, managers expressed dismay over having to comply with the 30-minute break requirement, Currie said. Their drivers' workday consists of consecutive trips of 45 minutes or less and an additional 20-30 minStipulating the restart include the same segment utes each trip for loading of hours may result in a and unloading, he said. surplus of long-haul truckers The final rule did not scavenging for parking, an industry official said. address how local drivers are to work with the 30-minute break, said Dave Osiecki, senior vice president of policy and regulatory affairs for the American Trucking Associations. The time Some truckers are unsure if both the restart specified does not account for the additional changes and the required break apply to their time it takes truckers to find parking and get out of the truck, Osiecki said. situation, said Lt. Thomas Fitzgerald, head The mandate that the 34-hour restart of commercial vehicle enforcement for the include two periods from 1 to 5 a.m. could Massachusetts State Police. Traffic stops curcreate problems, said Jeffrey Davis, vice rently are taking longer than usual because president of safety for Motor Transport drivers are seeking assurance they are applyUnderwriters. Many of the company's cusing the new rule correctly. tomers are flatbed carriers that tend to start Maine is conducting soft enforcement work at 4 a.m., said Davis. during the first month of implementation, Stipulating the restart include the same said Lt. Shawn Currie, who heads the state's segment of hours may result in a surplus of regional truckScan the QR code with your smartphone or ers attempting to get home visit ccjdigital.com/news/subscribe-to-newsand long-haul truckers letters to sign up for the CCJ Daily Report, a scavenging for parking, he daily e-mail newsletter filled with news, analysis, blogs and market condition articles. said. – Jill Dunn n the brief time the new hours-of-service rule has been in effect, the 30-minute break requirement has drawn the most queries so far, representatives from the enforcement community said. Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance Executive Director Steve Keppler and other sources say they have fielded nearly as many questions over that change as they have the 34-hour restart. Keppler also said CVSA anticipates having enough data on the new rule to discuss by its annual conference in September. Pilot settles with trucking companies P ilot Flying J has agreed to a settlement for the class-action lawsuits since allegations surfaced in April that the company had been defrauding carriers out of millions of dollars in fuel rebates. Pilot agreed to pay all of the amounts owed to the lawsuits' plaintiffs plus 6 percent interest. Moreover, Pilot is responsible for paying administrative and accounting fees, attorney's fees and court costs. Pilot also has agreed to be permanently enjoined from withholding rebates deceptively from customers. Jimmy Haslam, Pilot Flying J owner and chief executive officer, said the truck stop chain already had performed internal audits and sent checks to customers who were owed money, repaying them in full and with interest. Haslam also said the company had ended manual rebate calculations that were the source of the alleged fraudulent activity. According to the settlement, any Pilot customer can join the class of plaintiffs and have Pilot perform an audit on their account. Per the settlement, Pilot must perform internal audits for the affected accounts to determine how much is owed, which then will be confirmed by independent accountants selected by the court. commercial carrier journal CCJ0813_Journal 2.indd 9 – James Jaillet | august 2013 9 7/24/13 2:35 PM