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01/03/2008 - Hours-of-Service Debate Continues
Less than 10 days after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced its plans to retain the 11-hour driving limit and 34-hour restart rules, five groups filed a challenge asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C., to set aside the Interim Final Rule (IFR). The five groups – Public Citizen, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, Parents Against Tired Truckers, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters – filed the motion asking the Court to enforce the orders of its July 2007 ruling concerning Hours-of-Service.
This is the third time in the last three years that the Hours-of-Service rules have been challenged in Court. Unless and/or until the Court orders otherwise, the Interim Final Rule allows the trucking industry to continue operating under the current Hours-of-Service regulations.
In July, a Court decision called for the elimination of the 11-hour driving limit and 34-hour restart rules. Originally scheduled for late September, the implementation of the ruling was delayed to December 27, 2007 following requests from FMCSA and others.
In the December 11, 2007 Federal Register, FMCSA published the Interim Final Rule that essentially retained the existing Hours-of-Service rules. In published reports, agency officials have said that the purpose of the Interim Final Rule was to avoid confusion that would have resulted from changing the rules. Effective December 27, the IFR temporarily maintains the 11-hour driving limit and 34-hour restart rules while the agency gathers public comments and completes the necessary safety analysis to issue a Final Rule.
Upon issuing the Interim Final Rule last month, FMCSA also released data to illustrate that previous safety levels have been maintained since the 11-hour driving limit was first implemented in 2003.
“This proposal keeps in place hours-of-service limits that improve highway safety by ensuring that drivers are rested and ready to work,” FMCSA Administrator John H. Hill said in a statement. “The data makes clear that these rules continue to protect drivers, make our roads safer and keep our economy moving.”
According to FMCSA, the 2006 fatality rate was the lowest ever recorded at 1.94 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. Additionally, since 2003, the percentage of large trucks involved in fatigue-related fatal crashes in the 11th hour of driving has remained below the average of the years 1991 to 2002. In 2005 there was only one large truck involved in a fatigue-related fatal crash in the 11th hour of driving, and in 2004 there were none.
In addition, between 2003, when the 11-hour driving limit and the 34-hour restart were adopted, and 2006, the percent of fatigue-related large truck crashes relative to all fatal large truck crashes has remained consistent. The agency estimates that only 7 percent of large truck crashes are fatigue related.
Public Citizen’s Joan Claybrook has been critical of FMCSA, saying the agency is “asleep at the wheel when it comes to truck safety.”
While testifying before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee on December 19, 2007, Claybrook talked about the dangers of the 11-hour driving limit, 34-hour restart rule and tired truckers.
“When these tired truckers fall asleep at the wheel, they are not just at any wheel – they’re in incredibly big trucks that are suddenly like missiles on the road and everyone in their path is at risk,” Claybrook said, adding that roughly 5,000 people die and another 10,000 people are injured each year in collisions with big trucks.
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