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FMCSA’s hours-of-service exemption implicated in fatal truck crash

Agency lacks data on agricultural exemption users’ crash rates and has inadequate oversight, NTSB finds

Aftermath of the post-crash fire involving a Freightliner tractor and passenger car. (Photo: Arizona Dept. of Public Safety/NTSB)

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board came down hard on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration after the board found that a fatigued driver of a milk-hauling tank truck was abusing the hours-of-service agriculture exemption — with little oversight of the exemption from FMCSA — when he was involved in a fatal crash.

The NTSB met on Tuesday to discuss the findings and staff recommendations of an investigation into the multivehicle crash on June 9, 2021, that killed four people and injured 11.

“Unfortunately, the FMCSA lacks the data regarding how many agriculture-exempt carriers exist, and has no statistics regarding their crash rate or severity of crashes,” Michael Fox, an NTSB staff member, told the board.

“The use of the exemption was never intended to be an unmonitored operation. Staff found that due to limited oversight and lack of monitoring of motor carriers’ operation under the ag exemption, the extent to which these motor carriers operate beyond traditional hours-of-service limits — which can increase the risk of fatigued operation by a driver — is unclear.”


Fox cited research showing that drivers who operate after 10 hours of driving have a 3.5 times greater crash rate than those operating within the first hour. “Surprisingly though, drivers operating under the agriculture exemption could operate unlimited hours” within the exemption’s 150-mile radius.

“That’s astounding,” responded NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. “And we don’t even know apparently who’s doing that, because we don’t track them so we have no idea who’s using [the exemption]. That’s ridiculous to me.”

The accident involved a 49-year-old truck driver who was hauling a fully loaded 2015 Walker stainless equipment tank trailer under the exemption from a local dairy to the United Dairymen of Arizona cooperative plant near Phoenix. A fire resulted after the driver, traveling at over 60 mph in a 2016 Freightliner, plowed into a queue of slowed traffic. A total of eight vehicles were involved in the collision.

Investigators found the driver had less than a six-hour opportunity for sleep the day of the crash and regularly worked 70-80 hours per week.


“Although exempted from hours of service, Arizona Milk Transport did not have a program to manage driver fatigue,” according to NTSB. “The investigation found the company had poor oversight over its drivers and did not enforce its own policies regarding the maximum hours employees could work.”

As a result of the investigation, NTSB recommended that the U.S. Department of Transportation “develop and implement a program to determine the prevalence of for-hire motor carriers operating under agricultural HOS exemptions and study their safety performance, and to report the findings and any recommendations to improve safety to Congress.”

The agency further recommended that DOT require interstate motor carriers operating under an agricultural HOS exemption to “implement a fatigue management program or, if necessary, seek congressional authority to do so.”

Also cited as contributing to the crash was a final rule issued by the Federal Communications Commission in 2021 that ordered states to terminate the use of a band of wireless frequency for such things as collision avoidance technology so that it could be deployed instead for other commercial uses.

“Had some of the vehicles in the crash been equipped with the technology, the systems might have been alerted early enough that the collision might have been mitigated or prevented altogether,” according to NTSB staff. “A prominent role by the FCC and USDOT is needed to ensure an optimal environment for connected vehicle deployment with sufficient safety spectrum clear of interference.”

NTSB recommended that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration develop standards for forward collision avoidance systems in commercial vehicles and mandate connected vehicle technology on all new vehicles.

NTSB also voted to reclassify two recommendations to DOT and the FCC related to connected vehicle or vehicle-to-everything implementation.

Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher.


5 Comments

  1. Richard Davis

    Donald Cunat – You are exactly correct. NO! They don’t listen to themselves. They talk out of both sides of their mouth. They like to make people believe they care, but their actions say differently. They exempt livestock haulers from using an ELD because they said they couldn’t safely do their job using one. That says everything. They care more about the safety of animals than people. ELDs are why accidents have gone up. ELDs count every single minute causing drivers to rush, hurry, speed, and cut corners. Paper logs give a driver 15 minutes of leeway on every duty change. That is why livestock haulers got their exemption, they can stop, get out of their trucks and attend to the animals, without it eating their time up. Trucking and truck driving is not a one-size-fits-all job. Yet, at times the government wants to treat it that way.

  2. Chris Toffer

    I don’t understand why legislators don’t talk to “us the truck drivers” instead of themselves. I bet they don’t have a clue how truck driving works. Commerce is a business, but driving is a way of career for many. They don’t know the stress of having to time where you fuel, bathroom stops, shipping and receiving time limits, underpaid loads, and most importantly family or home time. They seem to think they know what is best but they don’t talk to us. Everything is easier said than done.

  3. Richard Davis

    Most truck drivers’ typical work week is 70 hours in 8 days and that is following the regulations. Then you add the hours a driver isn’t paid for, like sitting at a dock, and that 70 hours becomes more like 100-110 hours in 8 days. The FMCSA/DOT has already said the longer a driver sits at a dock getting loaded/unloaded, the more likely safety will suffer. Let’s be realistic, a lot of people or companies can’t regulate themselves, but too many regulations aren’t good either. Driving a truck isn’t a one size fits all job, everyone is different and has different habits. You just don’t clock in, work your 8 hours, clock out, and go home. No two days are ever the same. Truck drivers have very little say in how their time is spent, it’s the people and circumstances around them that dictate that.

  4. Donald Cunat

    Do they listen to themselves on the subject of Fatigue. ELD forces you to work fatigued , but as long as you follow the law its ok. There needs to be away to address this. Better , legislators need to see how real people work in a challenging environment .

Comments are closed.

John Gallagher

Based in Washington, D.C., John specializes in regulation and legislation affecting all sectors of freight transportation. He has covered rail, trucking and maritime issues since 1993 for a variety of publications based in the U.S. and the U.K. John began business reporting in 1993 at Broadcasting & Cable Magazine. He graduated from Florida State University majoring in English and business.