HOS Ruling

Driver HOS Ruling Back

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Interim Final Rule announced that truck drivers will continue to be limited to driving only 11 hours within a 14-hour duty period, after which they must go off duty for at least 10 hours.

What others are saying about the Interim Ruling:

December 11, 2007 -- Statement of Joan Claybrook, President, Public Citizen:

How many times must the FMCSA be told to improve working conditions for truck drivers before it gets it right? Apparently, more than twice. Today, the agency released yet another interim rule governing the number of hours truckers can drive without stopping (known as hours-of-service rules) that is practically identical to two rules that the courts struck down earlier this year and in 2004. The third time is not the charm. The latest rule, which is subject to a 60-day comment period, astonishingly maintains the exact same 11-hour driving limitations and 34-hour restart provisions of rules past.

Under this interim rule, drivers may continue to log an exhausting 77 hours behind the wheel in a seven-day period, take a mere 34 hours off, then hit the road to do it all over. The Bush administration's arrogance in believing it is above the law will force the nation's truck drivers to continue enduring sweatshop-like working conditions.

Which part of "health and safety" does FMCSA not understand? Truck driving is one of the most dangerous occupations. From 2003 to 2006, the number of deaths among occupants of large trucks increased from 726 to 805, according to the Department of Transportation. Additionally, nearly 5,000 people were killed in 2006, in crashes involving large trucks, while another 106,000 were injured. Research clearly shows the risk of a crash dramatically increases after 10 hours of driving. Tired drivers are putting themselves and all of us who share the highways with them at risk. Instead of improving safety, FMCSA is continuing to allow large trucks to roll like time bombs on our highways. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. With its action today, the administration has shown that it is willing to risk carnage on the highways to boost the bottom line for big corporations. We urge the agency to draft a rule based on science instead of industry politics - a rule that will protect truck drivers and those of us who share the road with them. To do otherwise is the height of insanity.

Source: Public Citizen
Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Bush Administration Weakens Truck Safety
Teamsters Say Regulators Co-Opted by Industry
The Teamsters union regrets the Bush administration's decision Tuesday to side with the trucking industry rather than the driving public by reinstating a rule that undermines highway safety. The hours-of-service rule, which allows truck drivers to work as many as 17 more hours a week, was twice thrown out by the court.

"The Bush administration is recklessly endangering the lives of all Americans driving on our highways," said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. "Longer hours for truck drivers behind the wheel and unsafe Mexican trucks on our highways will jeopardize public safety."

"It's clear the Bush administration has more loyalty to its corporate supporters than to the men and women who actually drive on our roads," Hoffa said. "The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in particular is showing that it is held captive by the trucking industry."

On July 24, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for the second time threw out the rule that increased driving time to 11 hours from 10 hours and required drivers to be off duty for only 34 hours before going back to work. In the 39-page opinion, Judge Merrick Garland called the rule "arbitrary and capricious." Hoffa said the Teamsters do not believe there is evidence that the new rule is safer, and plenty of evidence to show that it is not. "There has been no peer-reviewed study published that shows this rule is safer than the previous rule," Hoffa said. "Further, Congress ordered that the health of the driver be taken into consideration, which FMCSA has once again ignored," Hoffa said. In the first court decision, FMCSA was cited for failing to take into account the health of the driver.

Background

FMCSA first promulgated the hours-of-service regulation increasing the number of hours truckers can drive in 2003. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit struck down the rule in 2004, but Congress reinstated it as part of the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2004. FMCSA issued a new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in January 2005, proposing a rule that was little changed from the 2003 rule that had been struck down. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was a plaintiff in the case, joining Public Citizen and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. The legal deadline for the court's July decision to go into effect was Sept. 14. But legal challenges pushed that deadline back.

Information Source - Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA)