Any future trucking regulations should be about safety and not to the benefit of technology manufacturers.
That was the owner-operator Independent Drivers Association's message to the U.S. Department of Transportation ahead of an advisory committee meeting scheduled for next week.
The Department of Transport will launch the Transport Transformation Advisory Committee with its first meeting on Thursday, January 18.
“TTAC must ensure that future technology regulations and policies lead to safe, secure, affordable and equitable deployment of new technologies,” OOIDA wrote in comments signed by President Todd Spencer. “Additional regulations should not only benefit technology manufacturers or larger trucking companies that can purchase equipment, but should support a safe and productive workforce that improves the quality of trucking jobs.”
OOIDA's letter comes at a time when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is developing several technology-driven rules to improve safety, including self-driving vehicles, speed limiters and automatic emergency braking systems.
OOIDA on autonomous vehicles
“Despite various claims that automated vehicles will lead to zero deaths, there are still real-world situations in which automation has failed catastrophically,” OOIDA wrote. “For truck drivers who have to share the road with these vehicles to do their jobs, an accident caused by self-driving technology could put them out of work and cause serious injury or death.”
OOIDA on speed limiters
“By creating a one-size-fits-all federal mandate that restricts heavy-duty CMVs to a separate speed from passenger vehicles, this regulation would create dangerous speed differentials between CMVs and other vehicles,” OOIDA wrote. “Decades of research on highways shows that greater speed differentials increase interactions between truck drivers and other road users, and studies have consistently demonstrated that increased interactions between vehicles directly increase the likelihood of crashes.”
OOIDA is AEBs
“While there are many operational concerns about AEB systems, truck drivers are particularly concerned about the potential for false activations,” the association wrote. “As you can imagine, drivers are concerned that the 80,000-pound truck they are driving could stop unexpectedly for no reason.”
Other messages to the committee
OOIDA also wants to ensure that FMCSA does not use “beyond compliance” policies that reward major trucking companies for simply purchasing unproven safety equipment for their trucks.
“OOIDA members are concerned that the Beyond Compliance program has the potential to give an advantage only to motor carriers that can afford expensive new technologies,” the association wrote. “If these carriers are rewarded with better overall safety scores, smaller carriers will likely see their scores decline without any actual change in their safety performance.”
The association also encouraged the Department of Transport to listen to actual truck drivers who travel the highways to earn a living rather than representatives of large fleets.
“We urge the TTAC to gather input from owners, operators, and independent truck drivers, many of whom have driven millions of miles without incident, in determining the most effective safety policies and programs that should be included in any of the committee’s trucking recommendations,” OOIDA wrote. LL
