FMCSA stays mum on final hours-of-service rules
Annette Sandberg, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said she has made the final decisions on the broad shape of revised work rules governing how long commercial truck drivers can spend behind the wheel before taking mandated breaks.
Sandberg, speaking at the National Industrial Transportation League’s Spring Policy Forum in Arlington, Va., declined to disclose any details about the new policy.
FMCSA will send the draft of the final rulemaking in May to Department of Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta for his approval, after which the Office of Management and Budget will have 60 days to review the new policy, which could alter existing work rules and affect the ability of carriers to serve shippers.
“We are going to write a rule which is as bulletproof from litigation as we can,” Sandberg told reporters after her address.
The agency is making changes because a federal court threw out part of the new rules that were adopted in 2003 and went into effect a year ago, saying the agency looked at how the rule would impact safety but neglecting to consider the health effects on drivers. The court also criticized the ruling on other fronts, but did not mandate other changes.
The rulemaking reduced the overall workday for drivers by an hour to 14 hours, but increased the daily driving limit to 11 hours from 10 hours. However, a big change was the use of a continuous workday clock that no longer permitted drivers to subtract lunch, loading, filling out paperwork and other breaks from their total driving allotment.
Congress gave the agency until Sept. 30 to fix the rule, keeping the current rule in effect until then so as to minimize industry disruption. The review process is being expedited to meet the deadline.
The rules were challenged by groups led by Public Citizen, a health and safety advocacy group that believes trucking industry big rigs pose a danger to motorists. The groups have indicated they plan to sue the agency again if there aren’t significant changes to the current rules.
“We are extremely concerned about rulemaking by litigation,” Sandberg said.
She said her agency worked with the Transportation Research Board to find health studies related to how prolonged periods of driving affect driver health.
Early data indicates the new rules are having a positive effect on safety, but overall data is too small after less than a full year to draw any firm conclusions, she noted.
FMCSA will also address sleeper-berth exceptions, electronic on-board recorders, and the 34-hour restart period at the end of the work week.
Sandberg said she hoped to have a rule in place requiring electronic on-board recorders to monitor driver activity by January.
Last week, Sandberg asked Congress to codify the current trucking hours-of-service rules in the six-year highway funding bill being crafted in the Senate. Making the work rules permanent would allow for consistent enforcement and eliminate confusion over the status of the rules that could worsen safety, she argued. The House has passed its version of the bill and it is moving through the Senate. Any changes at this point would likely come through an amendment offered during a conference deliberations between the two chambers on a final version.
Sandberg reiterated to the NIT League that she wants to limit the number of exemptions to the rules. The old rules contained exemptions for various industries, but new blanket exemptions for various industries increase the likelihood of tired drivers. Exemptions undermine the effort to codify the existing rules, she said.
“Let us get the basic rule codified first and then we’ll make adjustments as needed,” she said.