Transcripts For CSPAN2 Senate Commerce Hearing On Trucking Industry 20240713

Up next Senate Lawmakers look into regulations and safety issues for large trucks. The Senate Commerce subcommittee heard from those who work in the Trucking Industry and a truck safety group. Authorization. Several trucking policies found many changes in the past decade including changes in both the industry and regulatory changes at the federal motor carrier safety administration. In nebraska, the hours of service at the top of the list. Concerns from truckers are consistent. These regulations are in flexible and do not reflect realworld situations. Because the Trucking Industry, 1sizefitsall approach fails, each of the different types of operations. Congress requires them to enforce Service Requirements. To be sure drivers dont drive when fatigued and delegated significant authority to f m csa for these requirements. A notice of proposed rulemaking for Service Requirements. To update regulations, interested stakeholders made their comments known to the agency. One has faced the challenges of hours of Service Regulations, they have a critical responsibility, moving lives, cashable products, and livestock callers found themselves in a regulatory bind between the hours of Service Requirement and animal where a welfare lives. The regulations received significant attention several regulatory changes are worth discussing today. The entry level Driver Training rule has drug and alcohol clearinghouse both of which will improve safety. In both cases after am csa had to delay these rules. More about the intended impact of these rules on safety. It required f m csa to take down the safety measure system from public view. After study by National Academy of sciences am csa is considering how to move forward with this program. I expect to hear from the witnesses about the impact with the broader Accountability Program on trucking. Others impact the Trucking Industry including the availability of parking, advances in vehicle and load matching technology, and the event of time. And and and it is crib year from the American Trucking association. Mark leibovich, in depth from the independent drivers association, american manifesto saving democracy from villains, vandals, and ourselves from the Truck Safety Coalition and Sergeant Deirdre mccloskey from commercial Vehicle Safety association. I want to thank the witnesses for traveling to participate in this hearing. All of you are widely respected within your organizations and have unique experiences and perspectives that are valuable to us as we continue our work to improve the safety and efficiency of americas Trucking Industry. I would like to invite Ranking Member durbin for opening remarks. I want to apologize for being late this morning. Thank you for your patience and thank you to the chairman for the hearing and thank you for joining us today to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Us Commercial Trucking Industry. Our Global Competitiveness is closely tied to the efficient Transportation Network. The nexus between interstate commerce and commercial trucking demonstrates the relationship with federal investments and our nations economic prosperity. Up to 18 billion tons of grapefruits moved across the United States in 2018, 12 million tons valued 12 trillion removed by truck. Illinois at the epicenter of a great conversation Network Offering unparalleled access to global markets. 1 billion tons valued at 3 trillion move through illinois and trucks carry half of that tonnage, valued at 1 trillion. Investing in infrastructure keeps goods going through the system and a tremendous return on investment for customers in all 50 states. The most important aspect of any Transportation Network is safety. Safety remains a work in progress and we have a long way to go. Bottom line we can and must do better. Our nation in toward 560 roadway fatalities in 2018 including 4951 fatalities including large trucks. It is technically accurate large truck fatalities decline 59 from 19802017, over the last decade for which we have data. And they increased 47 . We need to keep a close eye on trends and impact on roadway users. Safety trends have reason for concern. Agencies like f mcm say, and its the nhtsa examining the impact of safetyrelated trucking initiatives. These agencies and others like them should have the opportunity to provide Technical Analysis and feedback needed to minimize uncertainty associated with untested initiatives. As we move toward reauthorization, congress should promote the use of new Safety Technologies designed to reduce hazards for Law Enforcement and supply chain efficiencies. We should also consider the role states play in commercial trucking and provide necessary space for critical collaboration and partnership to develop for the benefit of improved safety outcomes. Finally congress should continue to promote meaningful benchmark and metrics designed to enhance safety and performance while informing policy discussions. I look forward to developing these and other important topics with an eye toward safety. With transportation policies, i want to thank todays witnesses and our chairman and look forward to your testimony. Thank you, senator duckworth. We will recognize witnesses for opening testimony and i would like to recognize senator peters who has the pleasure of introducing our witness today. Thank you for the opportunity, i would like to extend a warm welcome to our witness, a native michigan, 15 years after suffering from a terrible tragedy that took the life of her father, dawn king made it her lifes work to advocate measures to improve safety on our roadways. She serves as president of the Truck Safety Coalition, a partnership between citizens for reliable and safe highways foundation and parent against tired truckers. In this role miss king is passionate and the tireless advocate for safety legislation and an invaluable voice for victims on the state and federal level. Miss king hails from davis berg, michigan, northwest and is with her husband, bruce, who also advocates truck safety issues. Thank you for your testimony today and thank you for taking time to meet with me earlier this morning and your work on these important issues and i look forward to your testimony and testimony of all members of the distinguished panel. Thank you. You are recognized. Good morning fisher, Ranking Member duckworth and other members of the somebody. My name is dawn king and im president of the Truck Safety Coalition and a board member of crash, which along with parent against tired truckers forms tsc. Thank you for the opportunity to testify this morning. Im here to give a voice to thousands of survivors, victims and families like mine who had a loved one killed or seriously injured in a tragic, preventable truck crash. In this hearing room we have another victims family member, tracy, his daughter, and unborn granddaughter were killed on the beltway in dc a couple years ago and she provide support as well. Im here because my father was killed two days before christmas in 2004 by a tired truckers who fell asleep at the wheel. Every year, thousands of people are dying needlessly in truck crashes. The National Traffic Highway Safety administrations most recent data shows 4951 people were killed in 2018, a 50 increase from 2009. Additionally, 151,000 people were injured. 885 truck accidents were killed, the highest and 1989 yet even with this horrendous rise in fatalities, important and lifesaving regulations are under attack in congress and the administration. I assure you the safety rollback that repeals would never be tolerated in any other mode of transportation especially with such an unacceptable death and injury told. They are proposing unsaved changes to the hours of service regulation. Furthermore, in every session of congress there exempts for special interests for hours of service. My written statement goes into detail how harmful these proposals would be and we urge you to oppose these attacks. Even more difficult to understand, we introduce legislation which lowers the minimum age from 2118 which allows teams to drive teen drivers have significantly higher crash rates in a safer space than older drivers. There is no evidence that introducing teen drivers will in any way improve safety. We strongly oppose the change and so does the american public. Advocates for auto safety released an opinion poll that shows 62 of the public opposes this change. What we should be doing is focusing on what can be done to promote truck safety, automatic emergency braking have been proven 3 years of use to reduce the numbers of crashes to mitigate the severity. The rebels including f 2700, protecting First Responders act introduced require the lifesaving technology. We commend senator duckworth for cosponsoring the legislation with senator durbin. Additionally there is clear and convincing evidence that the limiters make trucking safety, this lifesaving technology is not new in his been used in other countries for years. It has been a standard component on most trucks since the late 1990s with many Truck Companies voluntarily sets their trucks to a safe speedball trucks should be using speed limiters. Truck under ride crashes are the most horrific crashes imaginable particularly when violent intrusion occurs under the passenger compartment. A bipartisan legislation, 665 to stop under ride which would strengthen rearguard and improve under ride protection on all sides of a tractortrailer, this bill was sponsored by senator gillibrand and cosponsored by many members of the committee including senators duckworth, marky, blumenthal, all of these technologies can prevent serious and deadly crashes but when the crash involves a truck that is underinsured the results can be devastating. Today the minimum amount of insurance required per truck per crash, no matter how many victims, is only 750, 000. That was set 40 years ago and never been increased. Many victims of truck crashes struggle to pay for rehab expenses. We urge support for hr 3781, the insurance act, which will increase the minimum insurance required, and account for medical cost inflation and be indexed every five years. And conclusion, the survivors of large truck crashes remain hopeful members of this committee will make sure safety never takes a backseat to industry profits or political pressure. I would like to take a moment to wish my dad a happy birthday. Had he not been killed, by a tired trucker in a completely preventable crash he would be 91 today. I cant call him,. I cant talk to him tonight like i would have. Cant send him a card but i can offer this testimony. Thank you for the opportunity to testify and answer your questions. I would like to introduce Christopher Spear of the American Trucking association and Trucking Industry stakeholders. Welcome. Subcommittee members, for 87 years, eta remains the Largest National trade organization representing the Trucking Industry. Affiliates in all 50 states encompass 34,000 Motor Carriers and suppliers, represent every sector of the industry and 80 of ata membership comprised of small carriers. Trucking is 70 of the freight tonnage worth 10 trillion. 80 of Us Communities rely on trucks for their freight needs. The Trucking Industry is 7. 7 Million People strong, one in every 18 jobs in the us where a truck driver, the top job in 2000 states 29 states. My statement focuses on safety and technology, Workforce Development and infrastructure and is grounded in data. From 19802017 america witnessed a 71 drop in fatal crashes. Yet fatalities on our nations highways climbed in recent years. We can and must do better. The cause is clear. Distracted driving. 72 of large truck crashes had no truck driver related factors recorded fueled largely by the growing addiction to speeding and texting. Technology is key, automated emergency braking and Adaptive Cruise control. Like pilot and planes we will continue to see drivers in trucks, a future not based on Driverless Technology but Driver Assist solutions. We applaud the secretary of transportation for leadership on Technology Including preserving 5. 9 gigahertz spectrum for safety connecting cars, trucks and infrastructure, using aeb to save lives. The suv wants to handle the spectrum to big cable so you can download youtube videos faster. Please stop the shameless assault on Public Safety. We need more tools to populate the fmc drug clearinghouse including technology that detects marijuana. Employers must be allowed to use hair testing as a small screening method. Three years since this committee instructed h h s to issue such rules. Sounds to me like a few cubicle glowing bureaucrats are coming their noses at you and Public Safety by keeping the scientifically proven and successfully deployed method, to be held accountable. Trucking is short 60,800 drivers and must hire one. One new drivers over the next decade made harder by a 50 year low on employment. We need more women, minorities, veterans, service men and women and a focus on improving the safety and health and wellness of our current workforce. We need access to the next generation of drivers. 49 states currently allowing 18yearold to drive a class a commercial vehicle making it legal to drive an 850 mile stretch of california. It is illegal to drive to providence, rhode island to rehobeth, massachusetts, a mere 10 miles. A heavily bipartisan safe drive act would require 400 hours of Apprenticeship Training and Safety Technology is 49 states require none of this making the drive safe act toward safety and recommend its media passes. Lastly, america cannot lead with third world infrastructure. Trucking is 4 of vehicles on our roads, we pay half to the Highway Trust Fund and willing to pay more. Trucking loses 70 billion each year sitting in congestion, 420,000 drivers sitting idle for an entire year. 67 million tons of co2 being admitted. Passenger drivers lose 1,600 a year due to traffic and repairs. These are the costs of doing nothing. Under atas build america fund, one nickel a year for four years would generate 340 billion in new revenue shoring up the soon to go broke Highway Trust Fund without adding a dime to the deficit. It is immediate. It is conservative. Less than one sent on abolish minister versus 0. 35 on the dollar for holes. Business and labor are 100 behind the build america fund. Your passing it would be a major victory for americas roads and the millions of voters that use them each day, thank you. Thank you, mister spear. I would like to welcome mister lewie pugh, executive Vice President of the Owner Operator independent drivers association, a role he was elected to in 2018. He began his career in trucking in 1992 as mode of transport operator in the United States army reserves. Welcome. Thank you. I am lewie pugh, executive Vice President of the owner operated independent drivers association. Prior to working here i was a Small Business operator for nearly 23 years with roughly 2 and a half million miles of driving. Prior to that i was a truck driver in the United States army and still proudly hold my cdl. In short, my entire career has been in trucking. From the perspective of Small Business Motor Carriers and professional drivers, the state of the Trucking Industry is dysfunctional. This is because too many people who know virtually nothing about trucking have an oversized role in shaping trucking policies. Drivers feel the negative effects of this firsthand myself included. The hours of Service Rules are broken. There are hundreds of regulations that have nothing to do with Highway Safety. The lack of available trucks is a national crisis. Enforcement is often motivated by profit, and drivers work extremely long hours for notoriously low. If you ask most drivers what congress has done recently to help their profession the answer would be simple, nothing. Most members would tell you congress and ask laws that drive truckers away from the industry and decrease Highway Safety. This isnt a partisan attack against republicans or democrats but an honest reflection of how truckers view congress. Washington has contributed its fair dysfunction, theres plenty to go around, plenty of blame. Too many drivers are forced to haul freight, too many carriers are underpaid. Too many shippers and receivers retain drivers for extended periods of time. Too many enforcement agencies prioritize profits over safety. Too many Safety Advocates seek mandates that do not work and too many motorists dont even attempt operate safely around big trucks. I make these claims with firsthand experience. I have seen it and lived it. We are all responsible for creating this mess we are responsible for fixing it as well. Congress considers the next highway bill there are several ways to make a positive difference, repeal the mandate, repeal the overtime exemption for drivers in the fair labor standard act, provide dedicated funding to new Truck Parking capacity, create a fair process for drivers to repeal inspections and fix the nations crumbling infrastructure in an equitable way. You should abandon meaningless unproven unsafe policies. Do not mandate speed limiters. Do not mandate under ride guards, do not mandate higher insurance minimums. Do not enact bmps for trucks only and do not expand towing authority and to not pass the drive safe act. I want to take a moment to focus on the drive safe act. There is no Driver Shortage. The notion of the Driver Shortage isnt supported by facts or data or reputable research. In other words it is a myth. We oppose this bill because it is a solution in search of a problem and we urge congress to reject it. Washington has allowed truck policy to be influenced by executives looking to maximize profits. Activists would like to let regulate truckers into oblivion. State and local governments view them as rolling piggy banks and sulfur claimed experts who dont even know what the inside of the cab of the truck looks like. This has to change. Most truckers dont wear suits on a daily basis. Dont have advanced degrees in engineering and economics. But they now trucking. Truckers arent the problem. They are the solution and congress should treat them accordingly. Thankfully there are some lawmakers such as chairwoman fisher and congressman brian babin who see much of the dysfunction in our industry and understand just maybe it is time to listen to what real truckers have to say. We appreciate being part of this hearing and we have sensible ideas, i look forward to sharing them with you. Thank you. Next we have mister jake parnell, with the the Livestock Marketing association. Welcome. Members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify about the Trucking Industry and its related regulatory environment. Specifically we appreciate the inputs from agriculture as a whole and in particular the livestock industry. My name is jake parnell. Im testifying today on behalf of members of the Livestock Marketing association, an organization which i serve on the board of directors and member of the transportation subcommittee. Livestock markets gather and sell livestock for farmers and ranchers in a Competitive Bidding environment. I am a member of the National Feed association, manager heard of commercial cattle and 1000 yearlings on the west coast. Our market stimulates local economies and facilitates buyers gathering loads of livestock to be shipped to the next part of the production chain. The cornerstone of our business is the ability to gather livestock for farmers, ranchers and dairy men who raise them and market them to buyers throughout the United States. The movement of livestock is entirely dependent on the use of a limited population of highly skilled followers who drive livestock commercial related vehicles. It might surprise you to hear livestock producers and livestock option markets are specifically impacted by transportation laws and regulations. In california which ranks fourth in total number of cattle there is only one major feed yard so the cattle we raise in most cases must be transported to the Pacific Northwest or more commonly the midwest for feeding and processing. It is necessary for the wellbeing of the animals being transported. The place we are hauling livestock especially in times of great heat and humidity is to stop as infrequently as possible and keep the trailer moving to provide ventilation. The majority of livestock policy concluded in the timeframe, with hours of service regulation, livestock in the center part of the country cannot reach their destination safely in an 11 hour drive time. When a driver runs out of time when hauling live animals they are given the grim prospect of unloading the livestock. If they can find somewhere willing to receive them. Or leaving them on the trailer for a 10 hour stretch to suffer from the elements of ventilation and possible injury. Live animals cannot unload on the side of the road or the local hotel, there are a few public systems along highways and the owner and managers of private feed yards and livestock markets really accept livestock in transit due to liability, staffing and bio security concerns. The act of loading and unloading livestock report more stressful than transport itself. The driver of transport animals work hard with safety, livestock holler is forced by nature, by the nature of their cargo to drive more cautiously than conventional cargo haulers because live animals move throughout the trailer and could be severely injured if the driver turns too suddenly or drive too fast. Safety is so important to the livestock industry that many livestock haulers are an additional specialized training including the beef industry as master transport program which provides instruction of proper animal handling, transportation methods and focus on preventing driver fatigue. Livestock haulers, boasted fantastic safety record. For instance a study conducted by the f m csa of the national highway Traffic Safety institute showed 1123 advocates involved trucks hauling cargo into me or five involve livestock transporters. Similarly trucks involved in fatal accidents in 2008, a report by the Transportation Research institute, 352 trucks involved in fatal accidents with 0. 6 . With this great track record of safety, this great track record of safety in mind american agriculture needs some help. The current hours of safety provide two ridges, 1sizefitsall framework. Increase great costs and shortage of qualified drivers, cattle on the coast and in the southeast discounted. This could lead to livestock holler dropout and could be felt by the American Consumer putting unaffordable meal on their table. Live animal hollers need more flexible in order to get cargo to its destination. Several members of the subcommittee, many of whom serve on the Senate Ag Committee for their assistance and diligent work for a safe solution for the nations agriculture holler. Thank you. I would like to welcome Sergeant John samis with Delaware State Police, president of the commercial Vehicle Safety alliance. Thank you for inviting me to participate in todays discussion. As a sergeant with Delaware State Police i supervise the Enforcement Program for the commercial Vehicle Safety alliance representing safety regulations throughout north america. As the Trucking Industry continues to evolve, technology is playing a leading role in redefining the industry, this prepares for the future of trucking to meet shared goal of crashes and fatalities. And progress by the fast act, aimed at further improving safety. And the Enforcement Community and resources to a growing industry that is more sophisticated by the day. Cva ministers with industry to reduce crashes and save lives. Enforcement officials inspect vehicles, interact with drivers, and work to ensure those operating on our roadways do so safety. The Roadside Program helped to significantly reduce the number of crashes and fatalities involved in cmv. The foundation for comprehensive approach to reach 0 fatalities. States build on that program with initiatives designed to meet their unique needs following the goal of eliminating cmv crashes. Enforcement is only a portion of what the states do. There are outreach and immigration campaign, Technology Deployment and a focus on crash prevention and high risk areas as well as other creative programs designed to help and history understand and comply with safety requirements. Congress can help by giving states like ability and funding needed to address their own unique safety needs. Meeting corresponds body of conducting inspections and ensuring Regulatory Compliance but also innovating to keep pace with industry. For example, we are asking congress to make two small changes to the Grant Program to fund cmv enforcement activities. First we are asking additional year to spend grant funds with we are asking f m csa like h w a to give them authority for unspent funds rather than return them to the treasury. We need to keep every dollar located to critical safety programs where they belong. In addition states need tolls to operate an Effective Program given the growing size and complexity of the Trucking Industry, jurisdictions do not have the resources to inspect every vehicle, driver and motor carrier on a regular basis. As a result, inspectors interact with only a fraction of trucks on the road. To maximize resources, theres accommodation of methods and technology to identify vehicles, drivers and carriers. They report data to give jurisdictions better information on which to build their programs which if we better understand where, White House Trashes are referring, we can do more to prevent that. This encourages, to provide dot the resources to maintain status that will inform the next generation of safety programs, specifically supports funding on updates to the study. In addition it is important regulations keep pace with the evolving motor carrier industry. As we move to more and more advanced Safety Systems and cmvs the Enforcement Community must have the resources to effectively regulate industry. Cvs they asked nhtsa to establish an identifier for all cmvs was the. Identify electronically each truck from short range would revolutionize roadside Infection Program and improve program safety. Finally as you draft Transportation Safety policies for the next decade, please consider how important will implement those policies. Establishing new policies without considering a Practical Impact to be to inconsistency and the necessary tension between industry and enforcement. Cvsa is asking for any limitation window requirement for any future exemption. This will allow time to receive guidance and training leading to greater uniformity which benefits industry and enforcement. Thank you for including me in todays discussion. We, like our partners in industry are committed to saving lives. It is important that everyone involved have the tools they need to do their part for the states, that Means Program facility and funding to support comprehensive, innovative programs that take dangerous drivers and carriers off the roadway. Thank you to all the Panel Members for your opening statement. I would like to begin my questions with mister Christopher Spear and lewie pugh. I share many of the sentiments both of you expressed regarding the need for more flex will hours of Service Requirements across the Trucking Industry and also appreciate the efforts we have seen from the fmc sa to update those requirements. Could each of you briefly explain what you see as the key change that is going to be needed in the hours of Service Requirements to help provide truckers with the flexibility they need while making sure we dont see negative impact on safety . One of the key factors that was petitioned for was to extend your clock by three hours as far as anyone needing to take a nap, traffic, something to that effect but with that being said there needs to be added protection for the driver where the driver has control that and not a motor carrier, shipper, receiver, anything of that effect. If the driver feels the need to take a nap in unsafe weather conditions or whatever he has that opportunity to do it and not be forced to do it by carrier or someone like that. That being said, that is where fmcsa has a hotline, the one thing we have been asking for, for fmcsa to be stricter on that. We never hear anything coming back from these complaints being filed by us for our members so that is the one main concern. Put the power in the drivers hands, give that accident extra activity. I want to check out this is live rulemaking, when we do believe is necessary but we havent seen the final product yet. I dont want to prejudge it. In the advance notice of proposed rulemaking we see four part of the department we are looking at. We are encouraged that it is moving in the right direction. They have taken all the comments, digested and believe we will see a final product. Without seeing the result of those comments it is difficult to predict what it is going to say but it needs to reflect the realities that are happening on the road. The flexibility the industry and the drivers need, we share that concern. Adverse driving conditions was when a driver can take a 30 minute break when they are tired, not when the government tells them they are tired. Common sense needs to prevail. The rule needs to reflect reality, not something designed from a cubicle in washington dc. We are optimistic this rule will do that. I like the fact they took such time and attention to all the comments across the spectrum. Once we see the final product it will be something we can comment in detail on. I assume your association made comments . Differently. Were the points you made in your testimony . Yes. Jake parnell, you mentioned in your testimony livestock collars must receive additional transport training, specifically the transport Quality Assurance program for the pork industry and master Cattle Program for the beef industry. Can you elaborate on the training these programs provide with truck safety. These programs that were developed in Quality Assurance program with a couple programs takes it from step one through the transport station. Many times our truckers are involved in loading of actual freight, talk about the handling of them and handling of animals on the roadway and the need to drive slower, and in rural condition, not always paved roads. Part of the program teach them about how to handle that. Can you specifically address the flexibility when hauling livestock. If pulling over at a certain time, what does that involve. To do it the correct way, you need to pull over, unload at a facility to handle those. How many of those facilities do you run across as transported across country . Close to highways, it is a challenging part. I would like to recognize senator duckworth. Illinois one of the Largest Court pork producers. Im synthetic to the challenges. I want to start off, the 5. 8 gigahertz m, the Safety Technology Pilot Programs. The benefits of technologies for Emergency Response vehicles using the 5. 9 gigahertz safety. The Communications Commission released a proposal to reallocate more than half of the 5. 9 gigahertz been to operations like wifi. You touched on this. With the recent actions taken by the fcc to relocate the 5. 9 gigahertz band. Thank you. Those who raise their hands and oppose the proposal. Yes. Anyone else . Thank you for your service protecting us, not just delaware but extend beyond the state as well. One of my priorities is working on Law Enforcement fatalities for roadside accidents and chairman fisher and i asked the confident i can the office to review move over laws. Our subcommittee is seeking to understand how these policies are working for the federal government to enhance the state initiatives. Protecting roadside First Responders act to promote development and use Safety Technologies to reduce accident risk for those who need to stop among busy highways. Your testimony mentioned universal electronic identifiers for commercial vehicles. Can you address how these identifiers could improve Public Safety . What do you say to stakeholders who raise privacy concerns . Thank you for your work to protect my brothers and sisters in Law Enforcement. To your question, given the size of a motor carrier industry, we do not have the resources necessary to inspect any vehicle on the roadway obviously. States must prioritize enforcement activities and utilize technology to continue to increase efficiency. With the universal electronic vehicle identifier, would help us identify which trucks or carriers might be more likely to have issues and we could concentrate efforts on those carriers. As much as privacy concerns go, the universal vehicle identifier would not transmit any data other than that specific truck going down the roadway and we would take that specific truck and run it through systems we are using to identify the carrier and their safety record. It does not seem to be a concern to andriy yermak. I commend chairman fischer and others for trying to expand opportunities for those who have served our nation. And the transportation sector or any sector where there hasnt been meaningful increase in wages. Increasing wages is 3 market response charges. And with aviation stakeholders for Pilot Training standards for flight 30407. And with less hours of training. Andriy yermak trying to understand the safety impact of allowing 1820yearold drivers to operate large trucks for the purpose of interstate commerce. What data is available or unavailable to inform congress about safety of proposals to expand trucking to those with the least amount of experience. What has already been said there are 48 states that allow 18yearolds to drive semitrucks in state boundaries. There is Data Available already on what trash levels crash level are for younger drivers. The dot should be studying it, freightingyearolds to drive interstate. We believe these young people would be the new hires and are not likely to get the cushy job where they get to drive the same room with their family. Nobody in their first job is the best route and we are concerned the younger drivers will end up on the longer route, take them into states they are not familiar with. We believe the crash data needs to be studied first. I would like to give a chance to talk a little bit about especially military drivers. A drivers license myself, the quality of the Young Drivers especially those coming out of the military. I agree the 18, 20yearolds, dont feel they are safe. A truck at a farm, i would agree i learned skills on how to operate a truck or maneuver a truck in the United States army and im thankful for that. I think there is further training that needs to be issued. Much different from driving truck in civilian life. Usually overseeing where you were going or undesignated roots and not just turned loose. When i turned 21 and went to work, i was just turned loose. As far as the knowledge and realworld knowledge of what is out there i was lucky, didnt have any accidents or anything happened but had some realworld knowledge that would be nice to have a little more training on before i was turned loose. I would like to follow up with hiring younger drivers who will hire them. Who is going to insure them . That was one of the biggest problems i had. At 21 years old, stepping out of the United States army i only found two Motor Carriers that would give me a job. It wasnt a very good job. At 22 i bought my own truck and then struggled with finding those who would lease me because of my age and lack of experience even though i owned a tractortrailer and was fortunate enough to find opportunity. I was 25 years old, the door was pretty much open for me to drive for anybody and i needed those to be trained because there is no training and needs more training out there. If you could submit response to the written format . Thank you. Senator lee. Thank you for your insight today. I would like to start with jake parnell. In your testimony you have pointed out the consequences of strict hours of service, pools that are wellintentioned and also fools, 1sizefitsall tools that they are. They have consequences of commercial drivers. They dont yield the benefit we want. They cause increased heart by encouraging drivers to stop where they shouldnt be stopping. Along the side of the road to comply with overly rigid regulatory structure that can cause safety problems and this is setting aside what senator fischer mentioned about the harm and stress that can come from doing that when dealing with livestock or insects like bees. That can cause some significant problems. As Congress Considers updating its hours of Service Requirements. Where do you see the biggest need for reform across all commercial operations . As it relates to agriculture, the part i am most familiar with is hauling livestock. We are very unique calling perishable product, the flexibility, numerous options and legislative answers that have been put up and some reintroduced this congress. We petition fm csa for a 5year test project that have not given a public decision on. We introduced 18 months ago, 12 months ago introduced it to comment, that increased some hours of service drivetime, flexibility a little bit. There are specific solutions, not the safest place to pull over, we talk about regulation, 39. One which is the ag commodity exemption. As we get close to where we are going, the road is dark and on narrow roads, tough roads they can pull over and have that fixed ability to get to their destination safely. It also appears there is ambiguity within the hours of service regulation. What constitutes onduty versus offduty time and it appears even rest breaks can be considered a count against the 14 hour clock. How my congress provide greater clarity to those definitions . Do you think that is something we should clarify . That needs to be clarified especially in our industry because there are various times we have called us to stop and check votes and make sure everything is safe and they are on the clock during that 10 or 15 minute time. To muse livelihood is dependent on that livestock i want them to check because it affects my livelihood, the increased price if you need to switch trucks or do other things within hours of progress, make it there safely and on time. We need to do that. The Competitive Enterprise Institute estimates federal regulations to quantify with precision, estimated in 2016 compliance with federal regulations, just under 2 trillion a year in that year alone. Within federal infrastructure products this and up costing not only consumers but also drivers, moms and dads trying to get home to be with their kids, stuck in traffic and it cost State Government additional money to comply with federal regulations. There are many estimates that quote 20 when youre using federal funds, federal regulations you have to comply with often increase the cost of the federal project by 20 compared to what it would be if you were using state funds. There are instances i have heard of where it is more like 30 or 40 in a particular project. This means federal dollars sometimes being used to fund a project that is unable to go as far as it would otherwise. Sometimes regulations are necessary but not all regulations are necessary and they could create harmful barriers to innovation and compensation that harm consumers, drivers, commercial and otherwise. What do you think of the greatest regular tory cost of your industry and what challenges, what are some of the challenges you consider necessary to address . I think simply put, infrastructure is safety. We need to look at it through that lens. We talk about regulation and infrastructure but they are synonymous. If you have good infrastructure you have less traffic, less accidents, more space in between the vehicles to do the things they need to do. You also have lower cost not just on the industry but the economy. Infrastructure, having more of it in welldefined, well engineered breeds good safety policy. In terms of the regulatory side we are not fearful of regulation. What we do ask for is clear and concise regulation. When you have ambiguity you have litigation and that costs to the industry, horrendous cost. The balance between that and maintaining good safety regulation, to have a true and measurable impact, we recommend supporting that. What we do think is having expanded safety policy apply to infrastructure would be a good thing. We lose 70 billion a year as an industry sitting in traffic and we are only 4 of the vehicles on the road. As i said, 420,000 drivers sitting idle for an entire year. In terms of the Environmental Impact think about this for a minute. Environment lists dont want to speed up the permitting process which i cant understand why because if you have more efficient infrastructure you have less congestion. That is 67 million tons of co2 being emitted just sitting in traffic. The trucks are moving they will not emit like that. One modern truck todayy the same diesel particulate matter as 60 trucks in 1988. We are doing all the right things. We are buying the newer, safer, more energy and environmentally friendly equipment. Without infrastructure you will have bad environmental policy, bad safety policy. They are all connected to one another and the cost of all that, the impact on the industry and economy goes down the more you invest in it. Senator young. Madame chair and Ranking Member, thank you for holding this important hearing. Employment is reaching historic lows, the National Investment in climate remains incredibly strong yet we have a substantial Driver Shortage in this country and this threatens longterm economic stability of our country. We want to maintain this lot is period of economic expansion in american history. Back home in indiana we like to call the crossroads of america and i have heard from countless constituents, drivers, other workers and employers about the detrimental impact the Driver Shortage has on the ability to efficiently receive and deliver freight. That exacerbates a rule mentioned by mister spear. And and federal regulations prevent those drivers crossing state lines until they turn 21. If you are from the state of indiana you can drive a truck to jeffersonvilla indiana or new albany, indiana but you cant cross the ohio river. You can drive when into dearborn county, indiana, you can drive to lake county and northwest, you cant go to chicago. One can understand how this would disrupt congress and from their economic expansion. That is why i have introduced the drive safe act. Pansion. That is why i introduced the drive safe act with senator tester and a number of colleagues on a bipartisan basis that would address this Driver Shortage, create opportunities for young hoosiers and folks around america and substantially raise training standards to ens i encourage my colleagues to support this important truck safety and workforce developmen bill. Mr. Spear, can you touch on a Pilot Programs that dot has already undertaken to address this issue . And reiterate why its important that we pass the drive safe act to set the address the truck Driver Shortage . Certainly, thank you for your leadership on this issue and the commentary. The department of transportation i believe agrees with policy, the path you take a legislatively putting out the Pilot Program for military personnel in this age bracket is one step. Its also an Agency Looking at broadening that pilot to nonmilitary personnel. I want to take a step back on this for a moment too so we have some context, okay . Were spending all our time talking about age. Lets just say 18, 19, 20 but you are legal at 21. So one year deferential and you are legal. Its really not about age. Its about training. Your bill has 400 hours of apprenticeship basic training of which 2140 hours just to have an experienced driver in the cab. You have technology, speed governors, cameras, antimitigation pollution controlsls on that truck. Not one of the is 49, alaska just adopted. 49 states allow allow you to drive class a at 18 years old. You just cant cross state lines. Your bill puts all this training on top of that plus all this technology in addition to that. This is a step towards safety. One of what to do is where is everybody that is posing this bill . Wherewith it on the 49 states that allow you to drive 850 miles in california but you cant go ten miles from providence, rhode island, into massachusetts . Thats got to be the dumbest post i have ever seen. You remedy it with training. You remedy it with technology. Thats exactly what your bill does. Its exactly what theme dot is doing. You serve and military, thank you for that. I have four kids. My oldest two, army. What he will Commission Next year as a second lieutenant. Another another when you just started in theyo United States military academy at west point. I sleep pretty well at night. I dont know about my wife, she worries as mothers do but i dont. Why . Because i know theyre getting the training they need to go off and protect our country to fight for our freedom. How are we willing to about 18 year olds toan off and do that t we cant teach them how to cross state lines in a class a . This bill is responsible, safety minded, its the right thing to do. Safety minded. Its the right thing to do. Thank you, mr. Spear. You had me until west point as a Naval Academy grad. I do ask unanimous consent showing Broad National support for the safety legislation into the record. Without objection. Thank you, senator young. Senator capitow . Thank you, madam chair. Thanks to the panel. Mr. Spear, you mentioned something in response to senator youngs question on training and different aspects. I was approached a couple probably six, eight months ago from a couple who lost their son, who was rear ended by a truck traveling in excessive speed on interstate. And one of the proposals theyve put forward to honor their sons life is to have a governor on your semi that wont let you exceed the legal speed limit. Whats your position on that . We revisited this policy because we felt that the 11yearold policy was outdated. It was not just trucks, but cars. And so what happens is if you govern trucks, where states exceed 80 miles an hour for cars, you can drive legal ly, probably do a little faster and not get pulled over, theres a big differential between what that truck is going and what the car is going. If people are speeding and theyre texting, thats a recipe for an accident. Possibly fatality. We believe technology has a role to play. We upgraded it just last year. Its still 65 for trucks but up to 70 if you have certain technologies within that equipment. Let me ask you that, though. Thats not on trucks as we have now, as a requirement or an option or anything . Oh, yeah, it is. Some at 6, some at 70. Plenty of fleets in our membership that govern. You do . We do and they trained to that. I didnt mean to interrupt i wanted to make clarification on that. Does anyone else have a comment on that . I do. Yes, go ahead. I dont think that the differential is that big of an issue. We have differential on freeways. Theres no freeway out there that everyone is going 65 or 70. Most of us are driving 80 and many trucks are speed loaded to 65 and we dont see that as being a real issue. Ontario, they mandated speed limiters and did a study recently that showed 73 reduction in speed related truck crashes. Thank you. Excuse me . Yes . I would like to follow up as well as someone who actually drove a truck, speed limiters are not a good thing from the drivers perspective due to the fact is there have been many occasions someone driving up the highway on my truck, and im sure you all realize it in your car. Once in a while, i need the ability to get myself out of harms way, whether thats speeding up momentarily or whatever, to get away from something, to be safer for myself and the people around me. If im governed, i dont have that control. Ive heard over and over here about training for these 18 to 20yearolds. We need training for no matter what your age is and proper training and i hear about technology. All of these are wonderful things and have their place but nothing can replace a trained driver. A trained driver knows how to control the truck. They dont want truck speed limiter because they want to run down the highway 100mileanhour. They dont want their Trucks Limited because they want control of their vehicle and be in complete control of their vehicle. Thank you. That brings me to another question i have, which is the av capabilities of truck. I see a great future in a lot of different circumstances. The circumstance i describe of a crowded interstate, you know, at night or in bad weather is hard for me to imagine how do you see it with heavier weight vehicles . Promising. We applaud the secretary of transportation for her 4. 0 guidance in this space. Its much needed. It needs to include not just cars but trucks and all cars, all 25 auto manufacturers agree to put automated emergency breaking as standard on every vehicle come 2020. Twothirds of the accidents of our trucks are caused by passenger vehicles. Its usually distracted driving as the root cause. Seven channels preserved for safety, if youre connected to the cars, trucks and infrastructure, it matters that that driver in the passing vehicle is texting or not paying attention, but the technology, being able to talk to the truck and apply that aab will save lives. That will take a dramatic reduction in the 40,000 fatalities every year on our highways and prevent those accidents from happening. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you, senator capitow. Senator thune . Thank you for having this meeting. The efficiency of motor carrier speculations and improved quality of life for drivers. Sergeant, can you provide some examples of how new technologies can help improve the expectation process for both drivers and Law Enforcement community . Yes, sir. There will never be enough Law Enforcement to reach everybody on the roadway. Theres a vast number of trucking and Trucking Companies out there. We are looking to introduce the electronic identifier, to help us identify trucks and focus in on possibly the bad actors and focus our resources to concentrate our efforts like that. Mr. Spear, you mentioned the importance of technology, automatic emergency braking and lane keep assist to improving truck safety. What can congress do to incentivize the trucking fleet . Let innovation thrive. Its so far ahead of anything were doing in the government. Its a good thing if its channeled toward safety, toward things that eliminate congestion. Theres so much in combination with infrastructure and safety policy that technology can solve. We dont want to restrain it. But you do need to restrain it. States like michigan, california, nevada. You have a lot of pockets of technology being developed. In the end its go iing over ste lines, cars and trucks. Were governed by state rules. I dont need a patchwork of 50 different regimes governing what technology you should comply with and what you shouldnt. Having a seamless standard is really, really important so that if theres anything that i would recommend to this committee is maintaining that seamless, one standard fabric i think that will cause a lot of disruption to our economy and certainly our industry if that happens. I sent a letter to fscma urging them to consider livestock haulers to certain hours of Service Regulations and in response fmcsa provided official notice and requested Public Comments on the petition in february of 2019. You mentioned in your testimony fmcsa has not taken any further action on this petition. In coveringses with the agency is fmcsa indicated any further action forthcoming . Thank you for your consistent support of our industry and of the livestock haulers. We did comment on that petition 12 months ago when they released it for comment. We also commented on the new proposed rule making, in particular the adverse weather conditions to us, heat and humidity. So were continuing to, you know, be involved in that process. In conversations with the agency, they have not indicated to us when an actual decision or ruling on our petition might be levied but we continue to be hopeful theyll recognize our petition and support it. To accommodate the specific circumstance of livestock haulers while maintaining high levels of safety . I get it. Im a dad of twins. Ag trucks, any kind of trucks, i get the concern for safety but the safety of the product that is our livelihood is really important as well. We continue with the thoughts of that petition, flexibilities on hours of service, maybe the ag exemption for the 150 miles at the end to let these guys finish their hauls. There are options out there. There are options that have been introduced in legislation. I understand that we would love to work through and find that proper solution to give our unique industry the help it need needs. Mortgage carry Assistance Program to reduce burdens for fmcsa and the states in motor carrier safety enforcement. What additional flexibility can with we provide states to assist in improving commercial Vehicle Safety . One of the challenges we face is the limited time to spend the funds were granted. More time to spend that money allowing fmcsa to distribute the funds rather than return them if the states have to give them back. Those funds were allocated for safety programs and we would like to keep them for their intended use. Could i just piggyback on mr. Spairs comment on technology . Its important we recognize technology has promise but we also need congress to require minimum performance standards so that we dont have several different aeb technologies out there and know what they should be doing. Thank you. Thank you all very much. May i follow up on that as well . Yeah. Thank you. Ill be brief. You asked what congress can do for the safety of drivers. Ive heard about the safety of cattle. Ive heard about the safety of the motoring public and i agree that is all very important. Ive heard no one talk about the safety of the driver. Truckers do die, too. Truckers know better than anyone out there how dangerous the highways are. I saw horrific things when i drove a truck on the road. So, truckers get it. Truckers want to be safe. One thing they can do is find dedicated funding, support the bill that odia is working on in congress for places to park. Thats one of the Biggest Challenges we have is parking. Our drivers are forced to follow rinld hours of service, forced to use elds. Just like cattle need a safe place to be, so do our truckers. All right. Good answer. Thank you. Thank you madam chair. The hearing record will remain open for two weeks, and during this time senators are asked to submit any questions for the record. Upon receipt, the witnesses are requested to submit their written answers to the committee as soon as possible. Again, thank you for a good hearingd today. Wemi are adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] this week we are featuring booktv programs showcasing whats available and the weekend on cspan2. Tonight starting at 8 p. M. Former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice talks about u. S. China relations in the 21st century. Enjoy booktv this week and every weekend on cspan2. During this election season the candidates beyond the talking points are only revealed over time. But since you cant be everywhere, there is cspan. Our campaign 2020 programming differs from all other political coverage o since 1979, and this year will bring you an unfiltered view of the people seeking to steer that government this november. In other words, your future. So this election season would be complete, direct an unfiltered. See the andake up your own mind. With cspan campaign 2020, brought to you as a Public Service by your television provider. Former georgia candidate for governor Stacey Abrams spoke with Morehouse College students recently about political activism and voting rights. Good evening. I am jordan davis, a senior english major here at Morehouse College. I have the esteemed honor of introducingg our 2020 king lecture series speaker, leader Stacey Abrams. [applause] Stacey Abrams is a New York Times bestselling author, serial entrepreneur, nonprofit