ATA Asks White House to Keep Current HOS Rules in Place

American Trucking Associations has sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget asking that current truck driver hours-of-service rules remain in place, citing the trucking industry’s strong safety record.

The letter, dated Sept. 2, commended the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for its “listening sessions” in the past year, in which it took input from trucking and other groups on the hours-of-service rule.

HOS rules that have been in place since 2004 “have helped trucking achieve unprecedented highway safety gains,” wrote Dave Osiecki, ATA’s senior vice president for regulatory affairs and policy.

The letter said a revised rule proposed by FMCSA, which is part of the Department of Transportation, “would result in reduced wages for hundreds of thousands of drivers, significant administrative and efficiency costs for trucking companies, and most importantly, billions of dollars in lost productivity.”

ATA will continue to support “sensible, cost-effective regulatory actions that maker our economy stronger and protecting public health and welfare,” the letter said, adding that “retention of the current HOS rules meets [a] two-pronged test, and we believe it is the only justifiable and defensible course of action for DOT.”

The letter was sent to Cass Sunstein, administrator of OMB’s office of information and regulatory affairs, and copies were sent to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro.