FMCSA, motor carriers ask court for time to correct HOS rule
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the American Trucking Associations and the Truckload Carriers Association last week asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to stay its decision overturning the current work limits on commercial truck drivers.
If granted, the motion would keep the new hours-of-service rules that went into effect in January, in place, while the agency addresses the courts concerns through further rulemaking.
The court ruled that FMCSA did not take into account the effect of the rule on drivers’ health. The new hours-of-service rules increase allowable behind-the-wheel time to 11 hours per day, up from 10 hours, but reduce total duty time by one hour to 14 hours and do not allow drivers to exempt breaks for lunch, filling out paperwork and other activities from the total duty period. The court also expressed serious reservations about other parts of the FMCSA’s rulemaking.
FMCSA argued that a quick return to the old rules would disrupt enforcement of driver work rules while the agency comes up with a new plan.
“Changing the rules would produce a potentially uncertain and problematic patchwork of enforcement obligations, thereby causing significant confusion and substantially hampered enforcement,” Administrator Annette Sandberg said in a statement.
The trucking groups said reversing course would cost the industry hundreds of millions of dollars and confusion that would worsen safety.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance also filed an amicus brief supporting the grant of a stay, saying the transition back to the old HHOS rules would impose significant costs on law enforcement agencies and create confusion that would weaken safety efforts. CVSA represents state police and other commercial truck inspectors.
Meanwhile, the agency is working to address some of the courts concerns. It published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking on Sept. 1 describing the agency’s request for information pertaining to the costs and benefits associated with electronic on-board recorders to electronically monitor driver operations. The agency said it has entered into contracts with several entities for literature reviews pertaining to the effect of hours-of-service regulations on driver health to help in drafting a revised rule.