ATA ‘extremely perplexed’ by HOS settlement

“There is nothing to support a conclusion that further revision of the regulation will likely improve safety,” ATA President Bill Graves stated.

The Trucker Staff

11/6/2009

ARLINGTON, Va. — In a letter to Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood dated Nov. 4, the head of the American Trucking Associations said the group is “extremely perplexed” with the decision to review and reconsider the current Hours of Service rules.

Bill Graves, president and CEO of ATA, went on to say “this decision creates uncertainty for trucking companies, their drivers and their customers, and is wholly unwarranted given the consistent and significant highway safety improvements made by the trucking industry under the current rules.”

In court documents filed Oct. 26, it was agreed in a joint motion of petitioners and FMCSA (respondent) to hold the case in abeyance (temporary inactivity) pending the issuance of a new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) concerning HOS.

FMCSA has decided to review and reconsider the 2008 rule, according to court papers.

And in light of FMCSA’s decision to reconsider the rule challenged, the petitioners and FMCSA entered into a settlement agreement.

Within the agreement, FMCSA said it will submit the NPRM to the Office of Management and Budget for review nine months from the date of the settlement (Oct. 26) and will publish a final rule within 21 months of the date of settlement.

“As [DOT] officials have pointed out on many occasions, both the available scientific research and the safety data provide a strong and substantial basis for retaining the existing HOS rules,” Graves continued in his letter to LaHood.

Graves wrote that since January 2004, when the latest rules took effect, the large truck fatal crash rate has come down by 9 percent. Adding that the 2007 large truck fatal crash rate is the lowest ever recorded by DOT. And even more impressive, he stated, the number of injuries in truck-involved crashes has declined by 13 percent, and the injury rate has declined by 15 percent.

“There is nothing to support a conclusion that further revision of the regulation will likely improve safety,” Graves stated.

“In your recent announcement you stated that: ‘Safety is our highest priority at the [DOT] and so we believe that starting over and developing a rule that can help save lives is the smart thing to do.’ Mr. Secretary, the current rule is working as [DOT] intended — it is saving lives,” Graves continued.

Besides his claim that the HOS rule is saving lives, there’s another problem that Graves said needs to be considered.

“In addition to potential safety problems, a new rule will wreak havoc with trucking company operations, increasing freight transportation costs while destabilizing the trucking industry which is critically important to our nation’s economy,” Graves wrote. It will also “sow confusion within the trucking, shipping and enforcement communities, creating more uncertainty in very uncertain times. … While we ourselves have had difficulties with a certain element of the current rules, they do strike a good balance between promoting alertness, reducing driver fatigue and providing the trucking industry with the operational flexibility it needs to move 70 percent of the nation’s freight. Reconsideration of the rules is likely to upset this balance, at a significant economic cost to the trucking industry, a price which will ultimately be borne by the American people in, perhaps, more ways than one.

In closing, Graves requested a meeting with LaHood to further discuss ATA’s concerns.

Barb Kampbell of The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at barbkampbell@thetrucker.com.

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