U.S. HOS scrutiny continues

WASHINGTON, (April 29, 2003) — The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has weighed in on the new U.S. hours-of-service rule, saying that “on balance,” the rule published last week by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration should prove to be palatable for the industry.

The FMCSA has published the first substantial changes to the hours-of-service rules in the U.S. since 1939. The science-based rules are intended to improve highway safety and help reduce the number of truck crashes and related fatalities and injuries by addressing commercial motor vehicle driver fatigue. Under the new rule, drivers may drive up to 11 hours per day (up from the current 10), but are limited to 14 hours on duty in a given duty period (down from 15). The 14-hour duty period may not be extended with off-duty time for meal and fuel stops, etc. Only the use of a sleeper berth can extend the 14-hour on-duty period. The 60 hours on-duty in 7 consecutive days, or 70 hours on duty in 8 consecutive days, remains the same, but drivers can ‘restart’ the 7/8-day period by taking at least 34 consecutive hours off-duty.

“While there are some changes to the existing rules, it in no way resembles the proposed rules that FMCSA issued back in 2000. At first glance, the administration seems to have listened to many of the comments CVSA submitted to the docket,” CVSA said.

The Alliance gave top marks for correlation of research findings and crash analysis with the proposed rule; ease of understanding; uniformity in application and enforcement; and ease of enforceability. CVSA also said it is equally important that the changes, which go into effect Jan. 4, 2004, be coordinated with Mexico and Canada as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Michael Leizerman, chairman of a national group of trucking litigation attorneys, said he believes the rule will only slightly reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by truck-driver fatigue. He added the changes are a small step in the right direction, but fall short of the National Sleep Foundation’s recommendations.

“The new rule could save up to 75 lives each year out of an estimated 4,902 deaths in truck-related traffic crashes,” he reports. “We don’t discount the importance of increasing the number of off-duty hours; however, we would have liked equipment in the truck that would monitor the number of hours the truck driver actually works.”

The rule did not include two controversial features originally proposed: They do not require onboard electronic devices or “black boxes” to track driver hours, and they do not vary from one type of operation to another.

— with files from Truckinginfo.com


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