Hours-of-Service Regulations to Be Revised?
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is considering new rules that will control the number of hours truckers can operate, and on how much rest.

May 20, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Since 2003, the trucking industry and a coalition of truck-safety advocates and organized labor have fought over the hours-of-service regulations imposed on commercial truck drivers by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The hours-of-service regulations control the number of hours a trucker can drive in a day or week, and on how much rest. They were instituted to reduce the number of accidents caused by truck driver fatigue.

In 2003 the Bush Administration altered the hours-of-service rules,allowing truckers to drive for 11 hours straight, up from the 10-hour shifts that had been the standard for decades. The administration also decreased the minimum time off necessary.

A coalition of safety organizations challenged the new hours-of-service rules by suing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. As part of a settlement agreement, the FMCSA agreed to"review and reconsider" the Bush hours-of-service rules. The agency must issue a notice of proposed rule making and publish a final rule by the end of the summer of 2010.

As it enters this rule making phase, the FMCSA has announced its intention to review relevant information about the rules and to seek input from the public. The FMCSA will hold a number of public "listening sessions", where truck drivers, trucking companies and other interested parties will have the opportunity to make their voices heard.

The agency must then draft a Notice of Proposed Rule Making and make it available to the public. Proposed changes will then travel to the White House Office of Management and Budget, after which the rules will be published.

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