WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Trucking Associations (ATA) has voiced concern and skepticism after the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) took the unusual step of re-opening the comment period on its hours-of-service review to include four new studies.

The US DoT announced on Friday that it would be re-opening the official rulemaking docket on the hours-of-service issue as four new studies have come to light. They’re entitled: The Impact of Driving, Non-Driving Work, and Rest Breaks on Driving Performance in Commercial Motor Vehicle Operations; Hours of Service and Driver Fatigue-Driver Characteristics Research; Analysis of the Relationship Between Operator Cumulative Driving Hours and Involvement in Preventable Collisions; and Potential Causes Of Driver Fatigue: A Study On Transit Bus Operators In Florida.

The ATA found the re-opening of the docket to be curious and issued the following statement: “We are intrigued by today’s unusual announcement that the Department of Transportation is reopening its hours-of-service docket in order to insert into the record and seek comment on a number of DOT-selected studies. ATA believes decisions about the future of this important regulation should be made based on sound science and research and not political pressure, but we’re clearly skeptical of new research that has been discovered or generated by DOT at the ’11th hour.’ Given that DoT, according to a key sleep and health researcher, may have misused scientific data as part of this process; ATA will carefully review this new information. We hope and trust that FMCSA will give stakeholders adequate time to evaluate it.”