The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Thursday at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky, provided updates on three initiatives it’s working on -- an ongoing study into driver compensation, likewise detention time, and the CDL Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse.
FMCSA Research Division Chief Jon Mueller said the agency is in the early stages of a new three-year study into detention time and its impacts on safety. FMCSA has previously studied detention several times, and the current study is the second phase of a study that began in 2014.
One notable change with the new phase of the study is that FMCSA is redefining “detention time.” In previous studies, detention time has been considered to begin two hours after arrival at a facility.
Moving forward, the agency will calculate detention as the total dwell time minus the combination of loading/unloading and active dwell time. FMCSA said active dwell time is time spent completing tasks associated with loading/unloading, including preparing bills of lading, vehicle inspection, load securement, etc. And, of course, loading/unloading time is time spent at a shipping or receiving facility while cargo is actively loaded or unloaded.
FMCSA's Jon Mueller provided an update on an ongoing study into detention time and its impact on trucking, including a revision of FMCSA's definition of detention time.
Detention will then be any time spent at a shipping or receiving facility not associated with active dwell or loading/unloading.
The new detention study is expected to be completed and a final report published by July 2025.
