Hours of Service to remain the same — for now
The Trucker Staff
1/24/2008
WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court has decided not to strike down immediately the current Hours of Services rules for interstate trucking.
In a short ruling dated Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied Public Citizen’s motion to vacate the regulations recently re-issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
“Yesterday, the court denied a request by an interest group to stop FMCSA from implementing its Interim Final Rule on hours of service,” FMCSA said in a Thursday statement. “Accordingly, the interim rule remains in effect. We are currently taking public comments on the rule, and look forward to reviewing them and issuing a Final Rule on this issue before the year is out.”
The American Trucking Associations, which argued in support of the interim rule, said the organization is pleased with the court’s decision, and stated the ruling confirms ATA’s view that the Court’s prior concerns with the 11-hour daily drive-time limit and 34-hour restart provisions were only procedural in nature and that the Court does not view those provisions as inherently unsafe.
“Government and industry safety data clearly indicate that the current rules are working in terms of driver health, truck safety, and overall highway safety,” said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. “The rules have been in force for four years and safety has improved over this time period.”
The ATA contends the interim rule’s retention of the 11- and 34-hour provisions prevents “the massive confusion and disruption” to trucking operations and law enforcement that would have taken place had those provisions been eliminated, even for an interim period.
Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa, however, said Thursday he is disappointed that the court declined to end “a dangerous rule” that lets truckers drive longer hours. The union statement noted that the court twice struck down the rule extending truck drivers’ hours-of-service from 10 hours to 11 hours.
“We will continue to fight this dangerous rule, though the court refused to intervene this time,” Hoffa said. “This was a procedural ruling that does nothing to support the Bush administration’s justification for letting tired truck drivers spend even more time behind the wheel.”
The percentage of fatal crashes that result from driver fatigue rose 20 percent in 2005 from 2004 — the first year in which the longer hours of driving were allowed, the Teamsters argue.
In the more recent court rounds, on July 24, 2007, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit threw out the disputed rule for the second time since its 2003 introduction.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was a party in the case, joining Public Citizen and the Owner-Operator Independent Driver’s Association.
The deadline for the court’s July decision to go into effect was Sept. 14, 2007. Legal challenges pushed that deadline back. FMCSA issued the interim final rule on Dec. 11, 2007.
A spokesman for the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association said the trucker group expects to comment on the ruling sometime Friday.
Read the print edition of The Trucker for award-winning analysis and discussion of hours of service and related issues.
