Predicting the future is rarely easy — but that’s what FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) and other federal agencies must do when they propose a new rule. The total costs of implementing and complying with the rule, and the total benefits that society will get from it, are supposed to be identified and given a dollar value. Obviously, some costs and benefits are difficult to predict, or to translate into dollars. But FMSCA has done its best for the texting rule, and concluded that the benefits of banning texting during CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles driving would outweigh the costs: The agency believes the rule would have to prevent only one CMV-related fatal accident to offset its likely $2.7 million annual cost to CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles operators. FMSCA now wants your input to double check its math. Are FMCSA’s cost and benefit figures in the ball park? Are there costs or benefits left out of its calculation?
An important part of FMCSA’s cost analysis is taking a special look at the rule’s impact on small entities (businesses, non-profits and small governments.) FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) concluded that the texting rule wouldn’t significantly impact small entities. (In fact, its worst case scenario predicts costs of less than $8 a year on small motor carrier A person providing motor vehicle transportation for compensation. The term includes a motor carrier’s agents, officers and employees operations). If you are a small business owner the company that owns the rights to repayment of the mortgage principal plus interest or employee, or work for a small government unit, FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) wants to hear from you. Will the texting rule be a bigger deal for smaller entities than FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) realizes?
The Details:
Costs and benefits of prohibiting texting while driving. The Motor Carrier Safety Act requires FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) to consider the costs and benefits of proposed regulations “to the extent practicable.”49 USC United States Code § 31136(c). In addition, FMCSA considers this a “significant regulatory action” requiring a regulatory evaluation under Executive Order 12866.
Because texting while driving is a recent phenomenon, quantitative safety analyses about its impact are limited. (A “quantitative safety analysis” makes a numerical estimate of (i) the frequency of accidents and other safety problems occurring from the risky activity, and (ii) the magnitude of the consequences to people and property when the accident, etc. does occur.) Because not much safety impact data for texting exists yet, FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) did what is known as a “threshold analysis.” This involves determining what the minimum value of the safety benefits must be for the rule’s benefits to at least equal its costs.
FMCSA estimated that prohibiting texting while driving would cost CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles operators about $2.7 million annually. Here are factors that went into this estimate, and the dollar value FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) estimated for each (per year, for all drivers affected by the rule):
Lost driver time refers to additional time it would take the CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles operator to pull over and text, rather than texting while driving. Similarly, increased fuel costs are fuel expended while idling and entering and exiting driving lanes. Increased crash risk includes CMVs Commercial Motor Vehicles (vehicles owned or used by a business) being rear-ended while parked on the side of the road for texting, and for collisions during exiting and reentering traffic. The $6 million figure for “Benefit of Eliminating One Fatality” is the current statistical valuation of one human life that DOT Department of Transportation agencies use in all their cost benefit calculations. (“Statistical value of a life” is an economic estimate of the dollar value of avoiding one fatality in general, not the value of preserving any particular individual’s life). The bottom line: FMCSA concluded that the texting rule would need to prevent only one fatal CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles crash per year for its benefits to exceed its costs.
(For details on these calculations, see FMCSA’s Preliminary Regulatory Evaluation.)
Other Factors? FMCSA recognizes that there are probably other factors that affect the total costs and benefits of a new federal-level rule addressing texting by CMV Commercial Motor Vechicles drivers. A survey by the American Trucking Associations showed that many large commercial carriers already have policies prohibiting their employees from texting while driving. Other efforts to control texting—including state texting bans applicable to all drivers, local ordinances prohibiting texting by school bus drivers, and public transit authority anti-texting rules—are already in place. (See Which drivers are covered.) Many states and localities are already expending some enforcement resources on their own texting bans, but the new rule could mean additional compliance and enforcement efforts. (See Who & how of enforcement.)
FMCSA’s preliminary regulatory evaluation concludes there wouldn’t be “appreciable costs” to states. But it wants feedback on that conclusion. It also noted that there might be other, hard-to-estimate costs of banning texting while driving, such as delays in communicating information. FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) specifically asks people for help in identifying and accurately valuing additional costs and benefits likely to be produced by the rule.
Impact on “small entities.” The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) to consider whether the proposed rule will particularly affect several groups:
- Small Businesses: Those that are “independently owned and operated” and “not dominant in their field of operation”.
- Small Not-for Profit Organizations: Like small businesses, those that are “independently owned and operated” and “not dominant in their field of operation”.
- Small Governmental Units: Those with a population under 50,000.
FMCSA concluded that although the texting rule would affect “all of the approximately 357,000 small entities covered by this rule,” the economic impact would not be significant. The majority of motor carriers are small entities; FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) estimates the number of them at 357,000. However, even under the worst case scenario– where the entire $2.7 million in estimated costs is borne by these carriers only– the average annual cost of the rule would be less than $8 per carrier. FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) therefore decided that it did not have to prepare a full Regulatory Flexibility Analysis.
FMCSA specifically encourages any small business, organization, or government unit with questions about the proposed rule or compliance options to contact the FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) Transportation Specialist whose contact information is provided in the NPRM. And we encourage discussion here about any particular impacts the texting rule might have on small carriers or local government units.
Help FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) get it right. Predicting the full costs and benefits of the texting rule is tough for several reasons: Texting by drivers is a relatively new phenomenon, and it’s not easy behavior to observe and measure. In addition, any new federal rule will be an overlay on top of all sorts of existing state, local, and carrier rules and policies about distracted driving. So this is an area where FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (The agency proposing the EOBR Electronic on-Board Recorder (A device attached to commercial motor vehicles that tracks the number of hours drivers spend on the road) rule) can really use help. It has specifically asked commenters for any available data on:
- The causes and prevalence of texting and other forms of distracted driving;
- The incidence of texting-related crashes and the injuries and property damage involved;
- Costs to drivers and carriers of banning texting while driving;
- State and local compliance/enforcement costs of a federal texting rule.
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