Public Citizen, others file motion to vacate immediately the HOS Interim Final Rule
Joan Claybrook
By Barb Kampbell
The Trucker Staff
12/19/2007
WASHINGTON — While many in the trucking industry have supported the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s 2005 Hours of Service rule, even after the court vacated it, there are some who are opposed so strongly to the rule that they have filed an order with the court to “enforce its orders to vacate the Interim Final Rule” which was issued in December.
This IFR is temporary and a new rule was promised by FMCSA for sometime in 2008.
FMCSA will now have to contend with this filing while still trying to issue a new rule next year.
“We are reviewing the petition filed today to determine our next steps,” Melissa Delaney, FMCSA’s director of communications told The Trucker. “FMCSA strongly supports the Interim Final Rule and the data included that show safety has been maintained on America's highways under the current rule.”
Public Citizen, CRASH, PATT, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters filed a motion in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Dec. 19 urging the court to vacate the IFR and direct FMCSA to issue a revised IFR or other authoritative guidance that subjects truck drivers to a 10-hour (not an 11-hour) consecutive driving limit and to the governing 60-hour and 70-hour weekly on-duty limits with no 34-hour restart provision, pending completion of a new notice and comment rulemaking.
Public Citizen and the other groups argue that FMCSA’s IFR violates the court’s order, does not comply with the Administrative Procedure Act, and “must be set aside.”