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EYE ON TRUCKING: Study says more flexible sleeper time better for restorative sleep

We don’t know whether you’ve been keeping track or not, but since the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration extended the original February 15 deadline for comments on the Interim Final Rule (IFR) on Hours of Service until March 15, at least a couple of hundred comments had been filed by the end of the first week of March.

Most have been supportive of the IFR with one caveat ? there seems to be a reasonably strong sentiment to change the eight-plus-two sleeper berth rule, but then we’ve been hearing that from truckers and trucking company executives for months now.

The other day as we were browsing through the comments on the Internet, a submission prepared for the American Trucking Associations caught our attention.

It was titled “Split Sleeper Berth Use and Driver Performance: A Review of the Literature and Application of a Mathematical Model Predicting Performance from Sleep/Wake History and Circadian Phase.”

The primary author of the study is Dr. Gregory Belenky, director of the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University.

Unfortunately, because of his obligations to the National Sleep Foundation, we were unable to talk with Dr. Belenky prior to press time, but we will and report on that conversation next issue.

But the report was too important not to report immediately, so we will and pass on any further explanations by Dr. Belenky in the April 1-14 issue.

The study says that there is a consensus within the trucking industry, the FMCSA and the scientific community that the 14 hours only duty and 10 hours off duty schedule provides adequate opportunity for drivers to get recuperative sleep, but that consensus is lacking regarding how to structure the 10 hours off duty when the sleeper berth is being used for sleep.

“In 2003 and 2005, when the current rules with respect to commercial drivers were promulgated,

there were limited studies bearing on the issue of the relative recuperative value of split sleep,” Dr. Belenky and his associates wrote in their report on the study. “What little work had been done exhibited design shortcomings or was misinterpreted leaving open the possibility that alternative sleeper berth rules would yield better maintenance of performance.

“Since then, new work has suggested that performance may be a function primarily of (1) total sleep time in 24 hours and (2) the placement of sleep relative to the circadian rhythm. Proper circadian placement of work and sleep opportunities is important to sustain performance. This work suggests that alternative, more flexible sleeper berth rules may help to better maintain performance, provided that circadian timing of work and sleep are carefully considered in rule making and work/rest scheduling.”

Researchers studied several sleeper berth schedules that were both compliant and non-compliant with the current HOS rule, and reported that further analysis and validation of their modeling could lead to a “more broadly optimal as well as more flexible” rule by accounting for the important role of circadian rhythms.

“The literature review and modeling suggest that the time is ripe for the development and promulgation of a more flexible, circadian smart sleeper berth rule,” Dr. Belenky wrote. “This would allow more flexibility than the current rule and take into account not only sufficient opportunities for sleep but also the placement of these sleep opportunities relative to the circadian rhythm to better sustain the performance and safety of commercial drivers. Within the 10 hours off duty, drivers should be allowed the flexibility to split their 10 hour sleep opportunity into two or three sleep periods in order to sleep when sleepy and drive when alert."

“Industry supports flexibility suggesting that drivers using the sleeper berth be allowed to divide their off duty time as they see fit, enabling drivers to manage their fatigue risk by driving when alert and sleeping when sleepy.”

The report does note that there is a critical question at the heart of the debate about the eight-plus-two sleeper berth rule and that relates to the issue of whether split sleep (i.e., three periods of four, four and two) would yield the same recuperation as consolidated sleep (i.e., eight consecutive hours).

The FMCSA is faced with a tough decision with respect to the sleeper berth rule.

Safety must be the No. 1 concern of the agency, and obviously, how best to ensure that truckers are rested and can sleep when tired is open to heated debate.

We’re anxious to ask Dr. Belenky more about his research.

In the meantime, we tend to think that a more flexible sleeper berth rule is the answer.

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