House and Senate negotiators face a slew of sticking points as they hash out a compromise on a multi-year transportation bill - from funding for mass transit to oil drilling in the Arctic.
But executives at Prime Inc., the Springfield-based trucking company, are keeping tabs on one narrow provision: a requirement that all big rigs be equipped with so-called black boxes. Those are electronic recording devices that can keep tabs on a truck's whereabouts and track the number of hours a driver spends at the wheel.
The little-noticed provision is causing a big fight within the trucking industry. Larger companies like Prime - backed by the powerful American Trucking Associations - are advocating strongly in favor of the mandate, while smaller, independent truckers are fighting it tooth and nail.
The Senate-passed version of the highway bill would direct the federal Department of Transportation to require the use of tamper-resistant, electronic, on-board recorders that are synchronized with the truck's engine. A competing House bill does not include such a requirement.
Lawmakers are now trying to craft a compromise bill that reconciles that and many other differences. The trucking provision is a minor measure, but it has sparked a lobbying skirmish all the same.
Proponents of the recording devices, essentially electronic log books, say their use will reduce truck accidents by preventing drivers from exceeding federal limits on the number of hours they spend on the road. That, they argue, will reduce the risk that a tired driver will crash.
"Our families are out there in cars, too, like everyone else," said Don Lacy, director of safety at Prime. "We want everyone to be as safe as they can be."
But independent drivers and smaller companies say the proposed Senate mandate would be intrusive and expensive. The big trucking firms are actually pushing this because they want to keep constant tabs on their drivers, opponents say.
The Grain Valley-based Owner-Operated Independent Drivers Association, which represents professional truckers and small trucking firms, has blasted the Senate provision as a "Big Brother" mandate that can be used to "harass drivers," as Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the independent drivers association, put it.
"ATA has really made no bones about why they like (the black boxes)," said Spencer. "It allows them to maximize productivity of drivers, which means every available second of a 70-hour workweek, they want that truck moving."
Spencer says the Senate provision would hit smaller firms and independent truckers with a new cost that would be hard to absorb. The devices cost $1,000 to $2,500, he said, and monthly fees for the tracking service can add up to an additional $800 per unit per year.
"It's not that people won't spend money for things that will benefit them or will improve safety, but this does neither," Spencer said. "An on-board recorder can't do anything other than tell when a truck is moving. It can't tell if a driver is waiting to load or unload, or in the bunk asleep. It can't tell if a driver is tired."
And, he argues, there's "absolutely no connection" between the use of recording devices and improved highway safety.
Not true, says the ATA. The trucking association notes that both the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have recommended mandating the use of electronic records, as a way to make sure drivers comply with federal driving limits.
Officially called "hours of service," those rules generally say that drivers cannot be at the wheel more than 11 hours straight, and can't work more than 14 hours straight. In its support for electronic recorders, the federal motor carrier agency has pointed to data showing that companies with a pattern of exceeding hours of service rules generally have a 40 percent higher crash rate than the average.
"Fleets that are compliant with the hours of service regulations have lower crash rates," said Rob Abbott, vice president of safety policy at the ATA.
Abbott acknowledged that there are some privacy concerns. "If I'm at the casino or the racetrack, my employer will know that," he said. But he added that the owner of a rig has a right to know where his equipment is.
He and others also conceded that they have other reasons for supporting the mandate. Some larger trucking companies are already voluntarily installing the electronic devices, and they want a level playing field for the entire industry.
"We've been 100 percent equipped with them for over a year," said Lacy, of Prime, which has 4,400 trucks. He said the company has not noticed an increase in safety performance, but the devices have made operations more efficient.
And by relying on the devices, instead of paper logs, that means Prime's drivers cannot exceed the hours of service limits. Other companies and drivers can sneak in extra hours by "fudging" their records, Lacy said. That, in turn, lets them charge cheaper rates.
The people who oppose the mandate "want to cheat or fudge on their hours," said Lacy. "We're doing it totally legal and by the book, and we'd like everyone else to be there, too."
Update 5/17/2012
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