Hours-of-service changes delayed for a year

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 11/1/2000

The U.S. Department of Transportation's effort to revise commercial drivers' hours-of-service (HOS) rules has been delayed for about a year by a bipartisan agreement in Congress. The Senate and the House of Representatives agreed to eliminate funding that had been earmarked for moving ahead with the new rules within the $30 billion DOT budget. The final version of that bill, H.R. 4475, was signed into law late last month.

Shippers and carriers had bombarded the DOT's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and members of Congress with objections to the rules, which the FMCSA proposed in April, saying that they were too restrictive, too costly, and would not increase safety. Even the American Trucking Associations (ATA), which believes new rules are needed, has lobbied against the FMCSA proposals because "they just flat don't work in the real world,'' reports Jim Whittinghill, senior vice president of the ATA.

DOT officials met in September and October with representatives from the trucking and passenger-bus industries, labor unions, and safety groups to discuss revising the HOS safety standard. Topics covered in those meetings included fatigue research, law enforcement, sleeper berth requirements, communication during rest periods, end-of-work-week rest periods, hours of work permitted each day, categories of carrier operations, electronic on-board recorders, and exemptions.

Carriers and shippers say the revisions proposed by FMCSA would require trucking companies to hire 60,000 new drivers and buy 50,000 trucks just to keep up with today's freight volumes. Unions say truckers would earn less income, due to restrictions on driving time.

Given the serious nature of those concerns, shippers and carriers welcomed the delay. Kathy Luhn, vice president of public affairs for the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL), says the delay imposed by Congress will allow shippers and carriers to work with the FMCSA on revising the HOS regulations.

Comments on the HOS proposal are still being collected and should be sent by Dec. 15 to the USDOT Docket Facility, Attn: Docket FMCSA-97-2350, 400 Seventh St. S.W., Washington, DC 20590. The proposal and comments may be viewed on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov/. Comments may also be submitted electronically.