FMCSA Stakeholder Audience Research
Motor Carrier Industry: Bulletin Boards
DISCUSSION GUIDE
Public Burden Statement
A federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with a collection of information subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act unless that collection of information displays a current valid OMB Control Number. The OMB Control Number for this information collection is 2126-0061. Public reporting for this collection of information is estimated to be approximately (90) minutes per person, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. All responses to this collection of information are voluntary. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to: Information Collection Clearance Officer, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, MC-RRA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, D.C. 20590.
Hello! Welcome to our Bulletin Board Discussion. I’m Zack, and I’ll be moderating the group.
We are glad you could join us and are looking forward to hearing your opinions during the next few days! If you haven't already read through the information on the "Welcome Page," please do so. It contains valuable information about the process of participating in this online discussion. We suggest printing the Welcome Page for quick and easy reference during the group.
Throughout the course of our discussion, I encourage you to interact with not only me, but with other respondents. The idea here is to begin a free-flowing exchange of ideas, opinions, and perceptions. There are no right or wrong answers here. In fact, if you read something that you agree or disagree with, please speak up. Since I am an independent researcher, it doesn't have an effect on me as to what you think or feel about our topic. So if you don’t like something, please feel free to express your true feelings.
As you begin to answer questions, you will notice that the questions initially have to be answered in order. Once you've answered all of the questions you may go back to them at any time, and in any order, to review what others have said and perhaps expand on what you wrote, too! Also, you will not be able to see how others have answered until you post your own answers. However, after posting your response, all others’ answers will be visible for you to read and comment.
The estimated public burden for this discussion is 30 minutes a day over 3 days, for a total of 90 minutes. I will post new questions at 6 AM (EST) each morning. There will be three days of questions spread out over [INSERT DATES WHEN FINAL]. As you go through each day’s worth of questions, you’ll notice that each item may actually include multiple questions; please try to answer everything I ask. Also, since there will be several of you providing your opinions, try to visit the site a couple times a day to see if I have posted any additional questions looking for clarification on things. Most importantly, you can also read what others post and comment on their responses as well!
The goal here is not to change anyone’s opinion. It’s to fully understand what everyone’s opinion is. We won’t ask you to sign up for anything. We’re only interested in your ideas and experiences.
As a reminder, you will receive $150 for your FULL participation in this week’s discussion.
Let’s start with some introductions. Briefly, tell us a little bit about yourself. Where do you live? What do you do for a living? What do you do for fun when you’re not working?
We’d like to talk about your jobs a bit. You’re all involved in the trucking or bus or passenger vehicle industries.
What do you like most about your job? Why?
What do you like least about it? Why is that?
What makes your job difficult to do, if anything? How could it be easier?
What do you think are the most important issues impacting your industry and your job?
What organizations or entities have the most impact on these issues, either positively or negatively?
Please complete the following sentence: In 5 years from now, our industry will be______________________________. Why did you say that?
How do you stay informed about issues and developments impacting your industry, like the ones you mentioned above? Where do you get your information about them?
How do you hear about issues related to safety and compliance? Where do you get your information about them?
How safe do you think the Nation’s roadways are generally? Why do you say that?
How safe do you personally feel on the Nation’s roadways? What makes you feel safe? What makes you feel at risk?
What sort of impact do you think you personally can have on the Nation’s roadway safety? Please elaborate.
Whose responsibility is it to maintain the Nation’s roadway safety? Do drivers play a role? What role do you think you have?
What specific things do you personally do to improve safety when you’re on the Nation’s roadways?
What agencies, organizations and departments do you have to deal with on a regular basis when it concerns safety and compliance? Try to think of as many as possible and be as specific as you can.
How or where do you typically hear about issues concerning safety and compliance? Do you look it up online, receive an email or text, hear about it on a message board? Do you read about it somewhere on the job, like a rest area? Try to think of as many as possible and be as specific as you can.
Who are the most influential people, agencies, organizations or departments on how you do your job? Put them in order of most to least influential.
Who do you trust most to inform you about safety and compliance issues within your industry? How come?
Are you part of any trade association? Which one(s)?
Do you know anything about the electronic logging devices mandate?
Yes
No
In your own words, tell me what the electronic logging devices mandate says and means.
Where do you first remember hearing about the electronic logging devices mandate? Who told you about it? Who explained it to you?
Where else do you remember hearing about the electronic logging devices mandate? Who did you discuss it with? What was the discussion about?
Who did you listen to most when it came to the electronic logging devices mandate? Why is that?
Which, if any, of the following industry associations do you get safety and compliance information directly from?
American Trucking Associations (ATA)
Owner–Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA)
Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA)
United Motorcoach Association (UMA)
American Bus Association (ABA)
Intermodal Association of North America (IANA)
That concludes Day 1! New questions will be available at 6 AM ET [INSERT DAY].
Thanks for your help – so far you all have been a GREAT group!
Welcome to Day 2 of our bulletin board discussion. Before we get going, please go back to Day 1 for a few minutes to see if I have posted any follow-up questions for you and be sure to answer anything new. Also, you might find it interesting to read what some of the other participants have said and might want to comment. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts!
Yesterday we talked a lot about where you get safety and compliance information for your job and industry. Today I want to focus on one organization.
Have you heard of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)?
In your own words, what does the FMCSA do? What is its function?
How do you feel about the FMCSA generally? Would you say you feel positive or negative about them? How come? Please be as detailed as you can in your response.
Very positive
Somewhat positive
Somewhat negative
Very negative
How important is the FMCSA to your industry? Why do you think that? Please be as detailed as you can in your response.
Very important
Somewhat important
Somewhat unimportant
Very unimportant
Thinking more specifically, what are some things the FMCSA does well? Why do you say that?
What does the FMCSA need to improve? How could it improve?
Do you ever receive safety and compliance communication either directly or indirectly from the FMCSA?
How do you receive your FMCSA communication? Do you go find it on your own? Does somebody give it to you? If someone else, who is it? Think about all the ways you get safety and compliance information from the FMCSA.
Think about the other organizations and agencies you deal with in your job when it comes to safety and compliance. How does FMCSA’s communication compare to those organizations? Why do you say that?
Much better
Somewhat better
About the same
Somewhat worse
Much worse
How does receiving safety and compliance information from the FMCSA positively impact you? What are the good things that happen from getting this info?
How does receiving safety and compliance information from the FMCSA negatively impact you? What are the bad things that happen from getting this info?
Is there any difficulty in receiving safety and compliance communication from the FMCSA? How could it be easier?
How clear is the safety and compliance information you get from the FMCSA? When you typically get that information from the FMCSA (either directly or indirectly), how well do you know what you need to do (if anything)? Why do you say that?
What’s the most important thing FMCSA could do to improve its safety and compliance communication with you? Why do you say that?
What’s the best way to provide you with safety and compliance information from the FMCSA? Why is that the best route?
In Day 1, some of you mentioned receiving safety and compliance information from organizations other than the FMCSA. Think about the organization that communicates with you about safety and compliance most often other than the FMCSA. Who is it?
How do you feel about this other organization generally? Would you say you feel positive or negative about them? Why do you say that? Please be as detailed as you can in your response.
Very positive
Somewhat positive
Somewhat negative
Very negative
Think about how you receive safety and compliance communication from this other organization. What do you like most about the way it communicates with you? Why? What don’t you like about how it communicates with you? How come?
What makes it difficult to receive or find safety and compliance communication from this other organization? What makes it easy?
How does communication from this other organization compare to the communication from the FMCSA? Why do you say that?
Much better
Somewhat better
About the same
Somewhat worse
Much worse
That concludes Day 1! New questions will be available at 6 AM PT next [INSERT DAY].
Program Discussion
Welcome to Day 3 of our bulletin board discussion. Before we get going, please go back to Day 2 for a few minutes to see if I have posted any follow-up questions for you and be sure to answer anything new. Also, you might find it interesting to read what some of the other participants have said. Perhaps you agree or disagree – either way, I would love to hear what you have to say about their comments. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts!
Yesterday we talked a lot about the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Today I’d like to talk about a few of specific programs that the FMCSA runs.
[Q3-9 WILL BE ASKED OF UP TO FOUR (4) PROGRAMS. INCLUDED IN THIS GUIDE IS ONE PROGRAM AS AN EXAMPLE. THE OTHER PROGRAMS WILL BE THE SAME LENGTH AND COMPLEXITY]
Have you ever heard of the electronic logging devices mandate?
In your own words, what is the electronic logging devices mandate?
Here is a description of the electronic logging devices mandate:
FMCSA’s recently announced Electronic Logging Device (ELD) rule will improve roadway safety by using technology to ensure commercial truck and bus drivers comply with hours-of-service regulations that prevent fatigue. An ELD will synchronize with a vehicle’s engine to automatically record driving time, along with other data like engine hours, vehicle movement, miles driven and location information. The rule establishes a four-year transition period with multiple phases to gradually eliminate the use of paper logs, as well as currently installed Automatic On-Board Recording Devices, and replace them with ELDs.
In your own words, describe for me what this program is.
Is this information important or relevant to you in your work? Why or why not?
Was there anything new in this program for you, either now or the first time you saw it? What was new, if anything?
What impact does (or did) this information have on you, if any? Did it change the way you think about the issue? Did it impact your behavior in any way? If either, please describe the impact it had.
How do you feel about this program generally? Would you say you feel positive or negative about it? How come? Please be as specific as you can.
Very positive
Somewhat positive
Neither positive or negative
Somewhat negative
Very negative
Please read the following statements about this program and tell me if it makes you more or less favorable toward it.
[PARTICIPANTS WILL BE SHOWN A SERIES OF STATEMENTS FOR EACH PROGRAM. BELOW ARE EXAMPLES FOR ABOVE PROGRAM. OTHER STATEMENTS WILL BE THE SAME LENGTH AND COMPLEXITY]
The new ELD rule will result in annual net benefits worth more than $1 billion – largely by reducing the amount of required industry paperwork and making it easier, simpler, and quicker to keep driver logs.
ELD use will increase the efficiency of roadside law enforcement personnel in reviewing driver records.
Strict protections are included in the final rule designed to shield commercial drivers from harassment by employers.
ELDs are projected to save 26 lives and prevent more than 550 injuries annually that result from crashes involving large trucks and buses.
The ELD rule is an intrusion into the privacy rights of professional truckers.
It will do nothing at all to improve highway safety and will actually do the opposite by placing even more pressure and stress on already frazzled drivers.
This inflexible electronic surveillance will dictate strict windows of opportunity to work and may limit where responsible drivers can choose to rest.
Buying these expensive devices will reduce driver salaries, especially those working for small businesses and owner-operator independent drivers.
Much more positive
Somewhat more positive
Neither more positive or more negative
Somewhat more negative
Much more negative
Thinking about our discussion over the last few days related to safety and compliance issues on the Nation’s roadways, can you think of any other categories of people we should talk to? Any general audience definitions? Any specific organizations?
Before we wrap up, we wanted to give you a chance to give your opinion on any other roadway issue that may not have come up in this discussion. Tell us what is important to you and what you want to make sure we take away from this discussion as it pertains to the Nation’s roadways.
That’s it for today’3 questions. Thank you all for your participation. If you have any further questions or comments, please post them here.
I'd like to thank you for participating. We really appreciate and value all of the information you've given us during the course of this discussion. You should be receiving your honorarium check in the next 3 weeks. If you have any questions about this project, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]. Goodbye!!
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Robert |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-27 |