A new study from the FMCSA will focus on commercial motor vehicle driver detention time and how it affects their safety.
FMCSA announced on Aug. 23 that they plan on submitting an Information Collection Request for data. Upon collection, FMCSA will analyze the data, “to determine the frequency and severity of detention time, as well as assess the utility of existing intelligent transportation systems (ITS) solutions to measure detention time.”
“This information will allow FMCSA to identify the severity and frequency of detention time, the factors that contribute to detention time, as well as the administrative, operational and safety outcomes of detention time,” FMCSA officials noted.
According to the Information Collection Request, 80 carriers and 2,500 commercial motor vehicle drivers will provide data to the study.
“The study will provide a better understanding of the impact of driver detention time on driver safety and CMV operations and inform strategies that may be used to mitigate driver detention time,” the IRC states.
Detention time refers to the amount of time a driver waits at shipping and receiving facilities caused by delays in loading and unloading times.
This time spent waiting is at the drivers expense as they are not being paid for the time they wait at these facilities.
“Although there is currently no standard definition of detention time, the CMV industry, the U.S. government and academic detention research in the United States have typically used dwell time — the total amount of time spent at a facility — exceeding two hours to define when detention time occurs,” according to the FMCSA.
Detention time has been a long-standing issue with commercial motor vehicle drivers and has been ranked as one of the top industry problems consistently.
According to FMCSA, increased detention time results in a loss of revenue for both the driver and the carrier.
Reducing detention time may reduce costs for carriers, increase pay for drivers, and improve CMV drivers’ ability to make deliveries on time or arrive at a destination as planned without violating hours-of-service (HOS) requirements.
