The Federal Motor carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) entered into a settlement with Public Citizen, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, the Truck Safety Coalition, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters that resolves a lawsuit by these organizations against the FMCSA challenging the current rule governing HOS for commercial vehicle drivers.
The current rule allows 18-wheeler drivers to drive 11 hours within a 14-hour work day, coupled with a 60-hour driving limit in 7 days or a 70-hour limit in 8 days. The driver can restart the 60 or 70 hour clock after having 34 consecutive hours off duty. The previous rule had allowed for 10 hours of driving in a 15-hour period, but allowed drivers to log on and off duty whenever they wanted.
According to the FMCSA statement, the terms of the settlement require the FMCSA to begin a new rulemaking process and submit within nine months, with the current rule to remain in effect during the rulemaking proceedings.
For 60 years, truckers were allowed to drive a maximum of 10 hours at a time. The Bush administration and the trucking industry wanted to let truckers have an extra hour of driving time. The rule also cut rest and recovery time at the end of a work week from 50 or more hours off duty to as little as 34 hours off-duty. A federal appeals court struck the rule down twice, saying the government did not adequately explain its reasoning for adding the extra hour. But the Bush administration reinstated the rule each time. Public Citizen, Parents Against Tired Truckers, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters sued to get the rule thrown out.
FMCSA officials said that this settlement “resolves potentially lengthy and contentious litigation and gives the FMCSA the opportunity to reconsider its current rule with an eye towards developing a new rule.” Safe driving, driving while not fatigued can save lives. It protects the 18-wheeler driver and the motoring public in the passenger vehicle from unsafe and unhealthy driver conditions.
