BEFORE THE
FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY ADMINISTRATION
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
COMMENTS OF THE
OWNER OPERATOR INDEPENDENT DRIVERS ASSOCIATION, INC.
IN RESPONSE TO
NOTICE OF PROPOSAL
TO INITIATE A PILOT PROGRAM
REQUEST FOR COMMENTS
FMCSA Docket No. FMCSA-2000-8410
Younger Commercial Driver Pilot Training Program
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
PAUL
D. CULLEN, JR.
The
Cullen Law Firm, PLLC
1101
30th Street, N.W.
Suite
300
Washington,
DC 20007
pxc@cullenlaw.com
JAMES J. JOHNSTON
President,
Owner Operator Independent
Drivers Association, Inc.
May 21, 2001
BEFORE THE
FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY ADMINISTRATION
___________________________
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Procedural Statement
These comments are submitted by the Owner Operator Independent
Drivers Association, Inc. ("OOIDA" or "Association")
in response to the Notice of Proposed Rule making, Request for Comments
published by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ("FMCSA"
or "Agency"), Docket No. FMCSA-2000-8410, 66 Fed. Reg. 34
(February 20, 2001). The Truckload Carriers Association ("TCA")
proposes to initiate a pilot program to allow persons younger than 21
year old to obtain a commercial drivers license ("CDL").
B. Interest of the Owner Operator Independent Drivers Assn., Inc.
The Owner Operator Independent Drivers Assn., Inc. is a not-for-profit
corporation incorporated in 1973 under the laws of the state of Missouri,
with its principal place of business in Grain Valley, Missouri. The
more than 63,000 members of OOIDA are small business men and women in
all 50 states and Canada who collectively own and operate more than
102,000 individual heavy-duty trucks and small truck fleets. Owner-operators
represent nearly half of the total number of Class 7 and 8 trucks operated
in the United States. The mailing address of the Association is:
Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association, Inc.
311 R.D. Mize Rd.
Grain Valley, Missouri 64029
www.ooida.com
OOIDA is the international trade association representing
the interests of independent owner-operators and professional drivers
on all issues that affect small business truckers. The Association advocates
the views of small business truckers through its interaction with state
and federal government agencies, legislatures, courts, other trade associations,
and private businesses to promote an equitable environment for commercial
drivers. OOIDA is active in all aspects of highway safety and transportation
policy, and represents the positions of small business truckers on numerous
committees and in various forums on the local, state, national, and
international levels. The requirements for obtaining a commercial drivers
license, and the abilities of commercial motor vehicle drivers on our
highways directly affect owner-operators, professional drivers and motor
carriers, including OOIDA members.
C. Summary
OOIDA is strongly opposed to lowering the CDL age requirement below
the age of 21. The association does not believe that teenage drivers
have the experience and maturity necessary to take on the responsibilities
and challenges of driving a truck. Although the proposed training program
has merit, it is no substitute for the maturity and experience that
teenagers lack. Putting younger drivers behind the wheel of trucks will
make the driving environment less safe for the driver and the public
at-large.
II. GENERAL COMMENTS OF THE ASSOCIATION
OOIDA compliments the TCA for its efforts to create a
training program to guarantee a minimal level of preparedness for a
person entering the truck driving profession. OOIDA has believed and
stated for years that the requirements for obtaining a commercial drivers
license are woefully deficient in ensuring that those behind the wheel
of a truck are prepared for the job.
The Association believes, however, that persons under 21 years old do
not have the maturity and life experience necessary to safely operate
a commercial motor vehicle under the conditions that drivers now face
in the industry and on the nation's highways. This conclusion is supported
by studies of teenage drivers. These studies also support the conclusion
that no amount of training can replace the judgement and experience
that younger persons lack.
OOIDA recommends that the FMCSA not grant an exemption to the 21 year
age requirement. The FMCSA should consider, however, adopting this training
and finishing program as a mandatory requirement for all persons 21
years old and older who wish to obtain a CDL.
III. SPECIFIC COMMENTS OF THE ASSOCIATION
In response to the Agency's request, the Association
submits its comments.
A. Response to the NPRM's Specific Questions.
"1. Does the TCA's proposed pilot program meet
the standards for pilot programs outlined in the TEA-21 and FMCSA regulations
(49 CFR part 381 subparts D, E and F)?"
The TCA appears to have met all of the formal requirements
in its proposal for this pilot program. OOIDA questions, however, the
sufficiency of TCA's proposal pursuant to 49 CFR § 381.410 (c)(8)
requiring "recommendations on how the safety measures in the pilot
project would be designed to achieve a level [of] safety that is equivalent
to, or greater than, the level of safety that would be obtained by complying
with the regulation." OOIDA believes that when FMCSA reviews this
requirement pursuant to 49 CFR § 381.505, considering all of the
available information, it will not be able to ensure that the program
will achieve a level of safety equal to or greater than that achieved
by compliance with the current regulations. OOIDA explains its reasoning
in the following comments.
"2) What factors should the FMCSA consider when
evaluating TCA's proposed pilot program?"
a. Justification for the Pilot Program
The first factor that FMCSA should consider is TCA's stated justification
for this pilot program. OOIDA believes that claims by the TCA of a driver
shortage are exaggerated. Motor carriers may have a heightened need
for new truck drivers, but this is primarily due to losing drivers to
other motor carriers. There is no serious lack of commercial drivers
or of persons over 21 years old wanting to become truck drivers.
OOIDA suspects that this proposal is an attempt by carriers to survive
in a highly competitive industry by recruiting cheaper labor. Among
motor carriers today, hiring new cheap labor is generally preferred
to trying to retain current experienced drivers by improving their compensation
and working conditions.
In 1997, the American Trucking Association Foundation, joined by the
President of the Truckload Carriers Association, published a study conducted
by the Gallup Organization entitled "Empty Seats and Musical Chairs:
Critical Success factors in Truck Driver Retention." This report
stated that "driver churning or turnover continues to represent
80 percent of the trucking industry's need for new drivers." This
statement echoed the conclusion of a 1993 study quoted in the same report
that stated "there is no shortage of drivers, but a lack of human
resource strategies to take advantage of the available pool." (Upper
Great Plains Transportation Institute of North Dakota State University,
1993).
The experience of OOIDA members supports these conclusions. With few
exceptions, trucking rates and, therefore driver compensation, have
remained stagnant over the last twenty years. Drivers have to work harder
and longer to make ends meet.
At the same time, the amount of detention time that drivers are required
to donate to the job, uncompensated, has reached unconscionable levels.
In two studies sponsored by the TCA in the last several years, dry van
haulers were found to be required to wait over 33 hours a week and refrigerated
van drivers were required to spend over 44 hours a week waiting to load
and unload their trucks.
Truck drivers in interstate commerce are exempt from federal law requiring
an hourly minimum wage and overtime. Given that drivers are typically
paid by the mile, this enormous amount of uncompensated detention time
adds incredible economic pressure and stress to a driver's life.
Unfulfilled promises of decent compensation combined with difficult
working conditions force drivers continually to seek better opportunities
with a different motor carrier. These are the basic reasons for so much
driver turnover. The poor retention rate of the individual motor carriers
is seldom the loss of drivers to other industries but is mostly the
movement of individual drivers from one motor carrier to another.
OOIDA disputes the need for this pilot program and instead encourages
the industry to strengthen its resolve to address these underlying problems.
These problems already have a negative impact on safety, and we should
not further compromise safety with pilot programs such as this. If the
working conditions and compensation of drivers were to improve, not
only would the churning of current drivers slow down, but the industry
would be able to attract and retain more than enough new drivers 21
years of age and older.
b. The Safety Record of Younger Drivers
The primary factor that the FMCSA should review in its consideration
of the proposed pilot program is the safety experience of persons who
are 18 to 21 years old. This would include any information related to
the accident experience of automobile drivers and intrastate commercial
motor vehicle drivers younger than 21 years old. Such statistics demonstrate
a higher accident rate among this group as compared to other age groups.
According to the 1999 Motor Vehicle Crash Data from Fatal Accident Reporting
System and GES, driver involvement in crashes for persons ages 16-20
was 1.7 times that of persons ages 21-24. According to the Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety, Highway Loss Institute, the rate of automobile
driver deaths per 100,000 drivers of age 17-19 was nearly twice that
of drivers ages 20 and older. More specifically for trucks, a 1991 study
showed that there was a 4.3 to 6.2-fold increase in the fatal crash
risk among truck drivers younger than 21. 1
These statistics cast serious doubt on the ability of younger persons
to safely drive a truck. The agency should review these studies to better
understand the causes of teen accident rates. Then the agency should
review the proposed training program to determine whether or not it
would effectively address the predominant causes of younger drivers'
accidents. Only through this analysis will the FMCSA know whether the
pilot program serves its intended purpose.
"3) What methodology should the FMCSA use in determining
the appropriateness of curriculum, criteria for selection of carriers,
schools, and drivers?"
a. Appropriateness of Curriculum
The proposed curriculum appears to form the basis for a good driver
training program for persons 21 years and older. By proposing such an
extensive training program, however, the TCA admits that younger drivers
lack the readiness of older persons to take on the responsibility of
driving a truck. FMCSA should independently determine what qualities
these younger drivers lack, and whether the proposed training program
makes up this deficiency.
OOIDA believes that the qualities younger persons lack, and that every
truck driver needs, are experience, judgement and maturity. The association
believes that these qualities help a driver take on the safety responsibilities
demanded of a truck driver and survive the stress and pressure inherent
in this job. A person who can deal with stress and difficult working
conditions is better able to make decisions that affect his or her own
personal safety as well as that of the motoring public. Neither the
proposed program nor any other training program, however, can teach
a younger person those qualities that come only with age and experience.
b. Criteria For Selection of Carriers
The proposal recommends that the primary requirement
for motor carriers to participate in the program is a satisfactory DOT
safety rating. OOIDA believes that FMCSA should evaluate the accuracy
of its safety ratings before determining whether or not to use that
factor as the basis for carrier participation. FMCSA should also perform
an enhanced compliance review on each participating carrier before their
participation in the program if approved. The agency should only allow
carriers to participate who have excellent safety records and a history
of cooperation and truthfulness with enforcement personnel. As a part
of the compliance review, the agency should conduct confidential interviews
with drivers, picked randomly, to ensure that the motor carrier imposes
no working conditions that conflict with the requirements of the program.
As the party proposed to oversee and collect data on the pilot program,
the FMCSA has a tremendous responsibility. To ensure that the carriers
are abiding by the program, the agency should prepare to monitor constantly
all steps of the program. It should have the discretion to revoke participation
by motor carriers who stray from program requirements. The FMCSA should
also require that the program make clear what happens to carriers and
the trainees if a carrier gets an unsatisfactory safety rating in the
middle of the program.
Finally, the FMCSA should carefully review the compensation package
each carrier will offer to the driver during and after the training.
By what calculation will the driver be compensated? The agency should
calculate whether a driver can make a reasonable living operating within
the hours-of-service rules. In reviewing these questions, the agency
should keep in mind the average weekly detention time required of drivers
as reported by the TCA's studies on the issue. The provisions of the
trainees' contracts should clearly help avoid the economic pressure
to drive more miles and longer hours just to make a reasonable living.
c. Criteria for the Selection of Schools
Driver training schools should be selected on the basis of their
experience and success using enhanced training procedures similar to
those in the proposed program. The driving record of that school's graduates
may also be a useful tool in evaluating the school's suitability to
participate in the pilot program.
d. Criteria for the Selection of Drivers
The current minimal qualifications for new drivers should be maintained.
In fact, if the agency is serious about improving safety in the trucking
industry, it should consider raising the minimum age for truck drivers.
Before trucking faced the intense level of competition seen in the business
today, the more established companies self-imposed a ban on drivers
younger than 25 years old. The Teamsters and some motor carriers also
used to require prospective drivers to undergo a period of apprenticeship
at the loading docks. From there they could work themselves up the ranks
to moving trailers in the dock yard and then local deliveries. It could
take years before an employee had enough seniority to rate a position
driving on the road. Responsible companies would not gamble on turning
an unsafe driver onto the highway.
These were prudent policies that recognized the value of older drivers,
and was a time when drivers valued those jobs. The marketplace conditions
that created those safe practices no longer exist. The agency, however,
should not let changing marketplace conditions be the rationale for
making unsafe exceptions to an important rule.
"4) Could TCA's proposal achieve a level of safety
that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety that would
be achieved by complying with the FMCSRs?"
OOIDA believes that TCA's proposal would achieve a lower
standard of safety than that achieved by requiring drivers operating
in interstate commerce to be at least 21 years old. In order for the
TCA's proposal to achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to, or
greater than, the level of safety achieved by complying with the FMCSRs,
TCA must show that it's proposed training program would result in younger
drivers operating at a level of safety equal to or greater than drivers
who are twenty-one years old or older.
As noted, the primary character traits that persons at least 21 years
old have that younger drivers lack are maturity, judgement, and life
experience. These are crucial qualities to ensure the safe operation
of a commercial motor vehicle. School and training is no substitute
for the lack of maturity and experience found in teenagers. By allowing
persons younger than 21 years old to drive a truck, there would be a
lower standard of safety than that set by the current rules.
There is plenty of support for this conclusion. According to the publication
"Saving Teenage Lives"2
published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, some
of the factors that make the teen years so deadly for young drivers
are inexperience, risk-taking behavior and immaturity. NHTSA explains
that the qualities needed for safe driving include technical ability,
good judgement, and experience.
A candidate for a CDL should have several years of automobile driving
experience before learning to drive a truck. In states that have adopted
graduated license programs, some teenage drivers will have obtained
an unrestricted driver license only a year or less before becoming eligible
to participate in the proposed pilot program. There are at least six
states who do not permit unrestricted drivers licenses until age 18.
Candidates for the pilot program from these states may have NO solo
driving experience before they begin their training. 3
Risk-taking behavior and immaturity, NHTSA points out, "is natural
behavior, but it results in poor driving judgment and participation
in high-risk behaviors such speeding, inattention, drinking and driving,
and not using a seat belt."
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety ("IIHS"), Highway
Loss Data Institute, reports that "[c]ompared to older drivers,
teenagers as a group are more willing to take risks and less likely
to use safety belts. They are also more likely than older drivers to
underestimate the dangers associated with hazardous situations and less
able to cope with such dangers."4
OOIDA would add, that these factors, and the attendant risk to public
safety, would be magnified by putting a younger driver behind the wheel
of a truck.
From a truckers perspective, the combination of persons who posses a
feeling of personal invincibility, as teenagers do, with an industry
that demands extremely long hours under rigorous working conditions
is especially troublesome. Driving challenges such as severe traffic
congestion and bad weather conditions are situations where a lack of
maturity can have perilous consequences. Industry pressures from shippers,
receivers, and dispatchers can be especially grueling to a driver who
wants to please his or her company and customers. Will a younger driver
have the maturity and fortitude to resist pressure from these parties
to keep working when he or she believes the operation of the truck would
be unsafe? OOIDA doubts that many younger drivers will even be able
to recognize an unsafe driving condition when they encounter one.
No amount of school and training can teach maturity and experience,
or overcome the absence of these qualities. In fact, the IIHS literature
describes the failure of formal driver education programs to address
these factors in teenagers: "Formal evaluations of U.S. high school
driver education programs indicate little or no effect in reducing crashes
per licensed driver." IIHS explains that while educations programs
can impart knowledge of good driving skills and behavior, that "attitudes
seem to be largely unaffected by such programs... Thrill seeking tendencies
associated with immaturity often overwhelm the effects of increased
skills and knowledge." In fact "[a] general problem in attempting
to influence driving behavior is that the teenagers who contribute most
to the problems are among the least susceptible to behavior change through
education."
These statements by NHTSA and IIHS focused on the experience of states
with teenage drivers of automobiles, but the same issues easily apply
to teenage truck drivers. The consequences of these problems would be
exacerbated by putting teen drivers behind the wheel of an 80,000 pound
truck on our nation's highways.
The IIHS, sent a letter to Julie Cirillo directly on this point on September
15, 1999. The letter stated that "[e]xisting research indicates
substantially increased risk of crash involvement among younger truck
drivers... Taken together, these and other studies suggest that permitting
drivers younger than 21 to operate large trucks in interstate commerce
will have detrimental effects on the safety of not only these young
drivers but also people sharing the road with them." 5
These factors come down to one important truth, that no training program
can teach the maturity and experience lacking in teenage drivers. As
thorough and carefully planned as is the TCA's proposed training program,
exempting young drivers from the 21 year old age requirement would result
in a lesser level of safety than that achieved under the current rules.
"5) Will subjecting younger drivers to more rigorous
training and a finishing program achieve a level of safety equivalent
to drivers 21 years old or older who do not have to undergo such a program?"
On the whole, subjecting younger drivers to more rigorous training
and a finishing program will not achieve a level of safety equivalent
to drivers 21 years of age or older who have not gone through the program.
There is no question that some 20 year old drivers that go through the
program may have the maturity to operate a commercial motor vehicle
more safety than some persons over 21 years old. Those drivers, however,
would be the exception to the rule, and their maturity would not be
to the credit of the training.
Such exceptions do not form the legitimate basis for a pilot program.
Even in the unlikely event that a large percentage of younger drivers
who complete the program have the maturity to drive a truck, those who
do not would lower the overall level of safety currently achieved by
having a 21 year age requirement.
"6) At what point could the FMCSA issue an exemption to a younger
driver participating in the training program?"
FMCSA should not issue any exemption to allow persons
younger than 21 years old to possess a CDL. The training requirements
should be mandatory for all entry level commercial drivers no matter
what their age. It would not be in the interest of safety to let anyone
under 21 years old, no matter what their training, to drive a commercial
motor vehicle in interstate commerce.
2. Other Issues
1. The Stress and Danger of Trucking
Truck driving is a very intense, stressful job that requires maturity
and life experience. The low compensation, many consecutive days or
weeks away from home, the nationwide shortage of rest areas, and the
seedy industrial areas where drivers are required to go all put enormous
pressure and stress on the average truck driver.
Many of the places that drivers are required to go put them in a great
personal safety risk. Most rest areas have no security or even an attendant.
Truck stops and warehouse districts are usually in the worst part of
town, are poorly lit, have little or no security, and are places that
the police usually avoid.
Scam artists, criminals, and other less-desirables take advantage of
this scene to steal a driver's personal belongings or the truck's cargo.
Teenagers with little life experience feel invincible and are easily
conned in such circumstances. They can wind up hurt, and even dead.
In an article published by the Virginia Pilot on July 4, 1999 entitled
"Slaying Highlights Risk to Truckers," reporter Linda McNatt
describes how "[t]ruckers are often alone, tired, hungry, and targeted
by criminals who could be after cargo, or after them." 6
OOIDA has been pushing for more rest areas and more security around
the country. Safe parking areas are desperately needed for drivers to
rest free from the fear that their cargo may be taken or that their
personal safety is at risk. Unfortunately, in the past several years
states have been cutting security and staffing at rest areas. This has
made rest areas less conducive to truck drivers' safety, especially
younger truck drivers. According to the Department of Labor, truck driving
is the most dangerous job in America, as measured by the most fatalities
per 100,000 workers, and in the total number of injuries and illnesses.7
Truck drivers are 6.5 times more likely to be killed on the job than
the average worker.8 The National
Safety Counsel also reports that truck drivers represented twelve percent
of on-the-job fatalities. This includes both victims of traffic accidents
and victims of crime.
Older persons have a better understanding of their own abilities and
those of the truck. They are more aware of where the criminal element
hangs out, and better know how to avoid such elements. OOIDA does not
believe that younger persons are prepared to take on these challenges.
Nor does OOIDA believe that rules for dealing with such problems can
be taught in any class. Experience only comes with age, and there is
no substitute for the safety benefits of requiring drivers to be a minimum
of 21 years old.
2. The Real Cause of Driver Retention Problems
The proposed pilot program does not address the problems
and difficulties in trucking that are the real cause of driver retention
problems today. If the drivers were adequately compensated for their
work, and conditions of their work were to improve, then motor carriers
would be able to recruit and retain more than sufficient numbers of
drivers 21 years old and older. Both drivers and the motoring public
will be a safer for it.
IV. CONCLUSION
OOIDA does not believe that highway safety or driver
recruitment will be improved by the proposed pilot program. OOIDA believes
that allowing younger persons to drive trucks would result in a lower
standard of safety on our nation's highways. The proposed driver training
program, however, would be an excellent addition to the CDL requirements
for persons 21 years old and older.
Persons younger than 21 years do not have the level of maturity and
life experience that is necessary to successfully meet the challenges
inherent in the truck driving profession. No training program can make
up for this lack of maturity, or teach young persons how to recognize
and deal with the dangerous situations (driving and non-driving) that
arise out on the road.
OOIDA does recognize that there is a high turnover rate in the trucking
industry as drivers move from one company to the next looking for better
compensation and better working conditions. The proposed pilot program,
however, does not address those issues. It simply proposes to expose
more, and less prepared, persons to those same conditions.
OOIDA suggests that the FMCSA, instead, focus on improving the poor
working conditions of drivers today. Only through such an effort will
driver retention problems diminish, and safety in trucking improve.
Thank you for your consideration of these comments.
Respectfully submitted,
|
JAMES J. JOHNSTON
President,
Owner-Operator Independent
Drivers Association, Inc.
|
PAUL D. CULLEN, JR.
The Cullen Law Firm, PLLC
1101 30th Street, N.W.
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20007
pxc@cullenlaw.com
|
Dated: May 21, 2001
1 See letter
from Elisa R/ Braver. Ph.D., September 15, 1999, DOT Docket No. FHWA-99-5942
2 http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/newdriver/SaveTeens/sect1.html
(5/17/01)
3 See http://nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/newdriver/SaveTeens/append_b.html
(5/17/01)
4 See http://www.hwysafety.org/safety_facts/qanda/teens.htm
(5/17/01)
5 See letter from Elisa R. Braver, Ph.D., September 15, 1999,
DOT Docket No. FHWA-99-5941
6 "Slaying Highlights Risk to Truckers," Linda
McNatt, The Virginian-Pilot, page A1, July 4, 1999
7 See Compensation and Working Conditions, Summer 1997, http://stats.bls.gov/opub/cwc/1997/summer/brief3.htm
8 See Compensation and Working Conditions, Winter 1999. http://stats.bls.gov/opub/cwc/1999/winter/art4full.pdf
