WASHINGTON, D.C. — Public Citizen, one of the special interest groups that led an attack against the current US hours-of-service rules, is ignoring the safety experiences of motor carriers according to the American Trucking Associations (ATA).

Public Citizen and several other organizations successfully convinced the US Court system to call into question two key components of the US HoS rules the 11-hour driving day and 34-hour reset provision. The current rules are now in limbo, although the ATA has pushed for an eight-month stay of a decision which will hopefully allow the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to defend its reasoning for the two hours-of-service components.

The ATA filed a motion late last week which poked holes in several of Public Citizens positions. Its expected the Court will proceed with its next course of action within the next few weeks.

For its part, the Canadian Trucking Alliance sided with its US counterpart in submitting an amicus memorandum supporting the ATAs motion for a stay. CTA pointed out Canadian drivers are allowed 13 hours of daily driving time and a 36-hour reset, neither of which has proven to pose a safety concern.

Both statements are available on the ATAs Web site at www.truckline.com.