Regulatory oversight has 20/20 vision when it comes to its close watch over the trucking industry.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is the main vehicle that drives federal implementation and enforcement of applicable standards and rules motor carriers must follow.
As an agency under the greater U.S. DOT, the FMCSA oversees truck drivers’ hours of service (HOS) guidelines.
“Hours of service” refers to the maximum amount of time drivers are permitted to be on duty including driving time, and specifies number and length of rest periods, to help ensure that drivers stay awake and alert.
From the agency’s website, all carriers and drivers operating commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) must comply with HOS regulations.
However, this didn’t stop one trucker from sticking it to the man.
John Oiler, a pro truck driver, petitioned for an exemption—for himself only—from certain HOS regulations.
These include the mandatory 11-hour driving limit, the 14-hour driving limit (following 10 consecutive hours off-duty), and the 30-minute breaks required after driving eight hours without interruption.
Oiler filed his request to the FMCSA, seeking liberty from HOS mandates.
He wasn’t successful.
Despite public support, no exemption was granted
Last Tuesday, July 18, the FMCSA announced that it would deny Oiler’s exemption. The decision comes months after the trucker published his request in the Federal Register and was open for public comment.
Oiler argued that current HOS rules disrupt not only his job, but his health, as he feels forced to drive outside of his body’s circadian rhythm. In return, the trucker claimed this creates an unsafe situation for himself and other drivers.
Oiler defended the privilege for an exemption by stating he’s been accident-free through his career and possesses prior military experience where he trained and worked with little to no sleep.
He implied this training combined with extensive and safe driving experience enable him to responsibly operate a CMV void of HOS compliance.
The FMCSA noted public comments mostly supported Oiler and his request. Commenters behind the petition were mainly other drivers with some citing military backgrounds as well.
One of Oiler’s endorsers, commenter Richard Fuller had this to say: “As a former US Air Force Member myself I think he does deserve the permanent exemption but i [sic] also think anyone who meets the record with a career as a professional driver with a clean slate such as myself since 1990 33 years clean and still going deserves this opportunity to work freely in a messed up world!”
Despite a supportive ensemble, Oiler’s dreams of exemption were ultimately extinguished.
The FMCSA denied his request because, “Mr. Oiler failed to establish that he would likely maintain a level of safety equivalent to, or greater than, the level achieved without the exemption.”
Final Thoughts
For now, at least, John Oiler remains a subject of HOS doctrine. His quest for exemption may knight him as a folklore hero in trucking, but even heroes get burned if they fly too close to the sun.
While the FMCSA is literally not a ball of mass, the agency’s regulatory powers gravitate the industry into submission.
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