Last week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced plans for a study to determine if warning devices on stopped commercial motor vehicles help prevent crashes.
At first glance, it could appear that FMCSA finally received the message from truck drivers that there is an abundance of regulations on the books that don’t affect safety. So, good on the agency for wanting to conduct a study that determines whether one of the hundreds of requirements actually is worth a trucker’s time.
Well, maybe not.
If you take a closer look at FMCSA’s notice about the study, you will see that truckers aren’t the ones driving this effort.
Nope. This is about autonomous trucking companies trying to find a way around the warning device regulations.
The regulations
Current regulations require specific warning devices to be carried on all commercial motor vehicles and, except in the case of necessary traffic stops, to be deployed near the vehicle whenever it is stopped on the road or shoulder. There are specific rules concerning how and where the warning devices must be placed based on a variety of factors, including whether the road is straight or on a curve.
“These requirements follow from the basic notion that increasing the conspicuity of a parked or disabled commercial motor vehicle makes it easier to see and recognize, thereby reducing the risk of a crash involving passing motorists,” FMCSA wrote.
For years and years, truck drivers have been responsible and held accountable for following these rules – even though doing so could put their own safety at risk.
Obviously, driverless trucks aren’t capable of placing warning devices in specific places. So now – all of a sudden – the agency is concerned about whether the regulation has merit.
The driving force
In the notice, FMCSA suggests several reasons for requesting the study now. However, you don’t need to be a detective to figure out the primary motivation.
“Public interest in warning device requirements for parked or disabled commercial motor vehicles has increased in recent years for several reasons,” FMCSA wrote in the notice. “For example, advances in automated driving system technology have raised critical questions regarding potential barriers to regulatory compliance with warning device standards and regulations which reference or require a driver.”
To be transparent, FMCSA later mentions the development of alternative warning devices and concerns about truck driver safety as additional catalysts for the study.
But, again, your name doesn’t need to be Sherlock to figure this out.
In December 2024, FMCSA announced that it had denied a request from Waymo and Aurora to exempt autonomous trucks from the warning-device regulation.
Waymo and Aurora asked for their autonomous trucks to be allowed to be equipped with warning beacons mounted on the truck cab instead of traditional warning devices.
FMCSA said the reason for the denial was because the exemption request was too broad. However, the agency also provided the companies a pretty strong hint on how to receive an exemption.
“FMCSA notes that this decision does not preclude applicants or others from seeking an exemption to use better-defined warning beacons for specified companies in particular locations,” the agency wrote in the notice.
There is a strong likelihood that in the coming months, we will see a request and approval for a company like Aurora to be exempt from the requirement on specific Texas highways, which is where the company plans to deploy its driverless trucks later this year. In addition, Aurora filed a lawsuit last week against the Department of Transportation over the exemption denial.
Meanwhile, a study will be conducted to determine if the rule can be scrapped altogether.
The frustration
Deciding whether a regulation actually benefits safety is a good thing. However, the origin of the study serves as additional frustration for truckers, who feel like regulators aren’t listening to them.
If FMCSA really is concerned about finding whether its regulations deter crashes, truck drivers have plenty of nominees for future studies. For instance, the agency could investigate the merit of a regulation that requires specific wire colors on trailers. That’s just one example, of course. I’m confident truckers could provide a long list if FMCSA were to ask. LL
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