2020

Posted on May 19, 2020May 4, 2023 by Ashlee Taylor

The Southeast TN Council was excited to have our first virtual Zoom meeting today, 5/19/2020, in replacement of our typical in-person meetings.

This month’s meeting was a Panel Discussion on Back to Work Strategies, Onboarding New Drivers, Recruiting Efforts, and New Hour of Service Rules and what they mean to us. Moderator Donna England, TTA. Panelist, Dave Huneryager, TTA, Lindy Henley, Tranco, Grady Phillips, CMS and Jeremy Reymer, DriverReach.

We were able to cover many COVID-19 highlights and questions answered by our panelists. Some key takeaways of this meeting included Dave Huneryager’s advice for what the TTA is doing during COVID-19. He states that we communicate, communicate, communicate. When it comes to COVID-19, every single resource that we can use and get information from, it’s our responsibility to get that out to our members. We will get out the best and the most up to date info out to you.

Grady Phillips also says the CDC guidelines “Do’s” for COVID-19 include social distancing, wearing masks, practicing good hygiene, and proactively encouraging employees not feeling well to work remotely. Wearing masks stops you from spreading the virus through water droplets. “The only real “Don’t” of COVID-19 he discusses, is Don’t NOT have a policy. Companies need a policy for the employees to go by during this pandemic.”

Other topics discussed included the FMCSA’s clearinghouse, the rise in TN crash fatalities, drug testing of employees during COVID-19, taking temperatures of employees, the difficulties of hiring / drivers getting their CDL’s during COVID-19, ELD’s, etc. The Southeast TN Council was pleased to still be able to carry on our meetings among this pandemic and look forward to our future meetings and discussions.

Eston Pyle, Chairman

Matt Holmes, Vice Chairman

Grady Phillips, Secretary

FMCSA REVISES HOURS OF SERVICE RULES

Posted on May 14, 2020May 4, 2023 by admin

FMCSA has published new Hours of Service Rules

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today published a final rule updating hours of service (HOS) rules to increase safety on America’s roadways by updating existing regulations for commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.

“America’s truckers are doing a heroic job keeping our supply chains open during this unprecedented time and these rules will provide them greater flexibility to keep America moving,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.

“The Department of Transportation and the Trump Administration listened directly to the concerns of truckers seeking rules that are safer and have more flexibility—and we have acted. These updated hours of service rules are based on the thousands of comments we received from the American people. These reforms will improve safety on America’s roadways and strengthen the nation’s motor carrier industry,” said FMCSA Acting Administrator Jim Mullen.

First adopted in 1937, FMCSA’s hours of service rules specify the permitted operating hours of commercial drivers. In 2018, FMCSA authored an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to receive public comment on portions of the HOS rules to alleviate unnecessary burdens placed on drivers while maintaining safety on our nation’s highways and roads. Subsequently, in August 2019, the Agency published a detailed proposed rule which received an additional 2,800 public comments.

Based on the detailed public comments and input from the American people, FMCSA’s final rule on hours of service offers four key revisions to the existing HOS rules:

The Agency will increase safety and flexibility for the 30-minute break rule by requiring a break after 8 hours of consecutive driving and allowing the break to be satisfied by a driver using on-duty, not driving status, rather than off-duty status.

The Agency will modify the sleeper-berth exception to allow drivers to split their required 10 hours off duty into two periods: an 8/2 split, or a 7/3 split—with neither period counting against the driver’s 14‑hour driving window.

The Agency will modify the adverse driving conditions exception by extending by two hours the maximum window during which driving is permitted.

The Agency will change the short-haul exception available to certain commercial drivers by lengthening the drivers’ maximum on‑duty period from 12 to 14 hours and extending the distance limit within which the driver may operate from 100 air miles to 150 air miles.

FMCSA’s final rule is crafted to improve safety on the nation’s roadways. The rule changes do not increase driving time and will continue to prevent CMV operators from driving for more than eight consecutive hours without at least a 30-minute break.

In addition, FMCSA’s rule modernizing hours of service regulations is estimated to provide nearly $274 million in annualized cost savings for the U.S. economy and American consumers. The trucking industry is a key component of the national economy, employing more than seven million people and moving 70 percent of the nation’s domestic freight.

The new hours of service rule will have an implementation date of 120 days after publication in the Federal Register.

The complete final rule is available here: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/hours-service/hours-service-drivers-final-rule

Adams and Reese Legislative Update 5-01-2020

Posted on May 12, 2020May 4, 2023 by carol

This month, Governor Bill Lee announced that his safer at home order – which imposed a blanket closure of most businesses across Tennessee – will expire on April 30th and will not be renewed, thus opening the door for a majority of businesses in 89 of the state’s 95 counties to reopen on Friday, May 1. This announcement does not necessarily amount to the Governor turning on a statewide “open” sign, however. Six of Tennessee’s largest counties – Davidson (Nashville), Hamilton (Chattanooga), Knox (Knoxville), Madison (Jackson), Shelby (Memphis) and Sullivan (Bristol) – have issued
their own stay at home orders. The Governor indicated that he will work with the county health departments and mayors of those counties and Tennessee’s largest cities to implement their own reopening strategies. The Governor described his reopening plan, deemed the Tennessee Pledge, as the first step in a phased approach of reopening the state’s economy, stating that his administration is “pursuing a careful, measured approach to reopening our economy that does not depend on heavy-handed mandates but instead provides practical tools for business of all sizes,” noting that “Tennesseans pulled together to flatten the curve, and it’s time for people to begin to get back to work and back to their businesses.” On the legislative front, the staff of the Tennessee General Assembly will return to work at the Cordell Hull Building on Monday, May 4th . After passing an emergency budget on March 19th, the General Assembly recessed until June 1st, however, committee meetings could occur in late May in anticipation of resuming the 2020 legislative session. The legislature will reopen to staff under new protocols at the Cordell Hull Building, including wearing masks while in the presence of others and maintaining six feet of distance. However, the Cordell Hull Building which will remain closed to the public, except by appointment not less than one day in advance. Legislative leadership has not indicated the scope of legislative matters that will be taken up in the remainder of session or whether the public will be permitted to attend legislative proceedings. However, we anticipate increased budget cuts due to anticipated revenue shortfalls in the state. As always, we will remain on top of all legislative developments and will keep you informed accordingly. We hope this update finds each of you safe and healthy. It is a pleasure to represent you at the Tennessee General Assembly.

FMCSA Announces the Start of the Crash Preventability Determination Program

Posted on May 1, 2020May 4, 2023 by admin

The FMCSA announces the start of the Crash Preventability Determination Program (CPDP). Under this program, if you have an eligible crash that occurred on or after August 1, 2019, you may submit a Request for Data Review (RDR) with the required police accident report and other supporting documents, photos, or videos through the Agency’s DataQswebsite.

On July 27, 2017, FMCSA announced a Crash Preventability Demonstration Program to evaluate the preventability of eight categories of crashes through submissions of Requests for Data Review to its national data correction system known as DataQs. On August 5, 2019, based on experiences with the demonstration program, FMCSA proposed a new CPDP with a streamlined process. Based on comments received in response to the August 2019 proposal, FMCSA established the CPDP which will expand the types of eligible crashes, modify the Safety Measurement System to exclude crashes with not preventable determinations from the prioritization algorithm and note the not preventable determinations in the Pre-Employment Screening Program.

The following crash types are eligible for participation in the program:

Struck in the Rear type of crash when the CMV was struck:

in the rear; or
on the side at the rear.

Wrong Direction or Illegal Turns type of crash when the CMV was struck:

by a motorist driving in the wrong direction; or
by another motorist in a crash when a driver was operating in the wrong direction; or
by a vehicle that was making a U-turn or illegal turn.

Parked or Legally Stopped type of crash when the CMV was struck:

while legally stopped at a traffic control device (e.g., stop sign, red light or yield); or while parked, including while the vehicle was unattended.

Failure of the other vehicle to Stop type of crash when the CMV was struck:

by a vehicle that did not stop or slow in traffic; or
by a vehicle that failed to stop at a traffic control device.

Under the Influence type of crash when the CMV was struck:

by an individual under the influence (or related violation, such as operating while intoxicated), according to the legal standard of the jurisdiction where the crash occurred; or
by another motorist in a crash where an individual was under the influence (or related violation such as operating while intoxicated), according to the legal standard of the jurisdiction where the crash occurred.

Medical Issues, Falling Asleep or Distracted Driving type of crash when the CMV was struck:

by a driver who experienced a medical issue which contributed to the crash; or
by a driver who admitted falling asleep or admitted distracted driving (e.g., cellphone, GPS, passengers, other).

Cargo/Equipment/Debris or Infrastructure Failure type of crash when the CMV:

was struck by cargo, equipment or debris (e.g., fallen rock, fallen trees, unidentifiable items in the road); or crash was a result of an infrastructure failure.

Animal Strike type of crash when the CMV:

struck an animal

Suicide type of crash when the CMV:

struck an individual committing or attempting to commit suicide

Rare or Unusual type of crash when the CMV:

Was involved in a crash type that seldom occurs and does not meet another eligible crash type (e.g., being struck by an airplane or skydiver or being struck by a deceased driver).

For more information on the Crash Preventability Determination Program, please visit:

For information on the previous Demonstration Program, please visit:

Crash Preventability Demonstration Program