ATA Challenges Public Citizen’s Filing on HOS Rule

American Trucking Associations said that the public interest group that claims to promote highway safety disregards the safety advantages of truck drivers’ hours of service regulations the group has repeatedly challenged in court.

The group, Public Citizen, also disregards the positive safety experience of the motor carrier industry under the HOS rules, ATA said Friday.

Public Citizen “continues to fail to recognize that the current HOS regulations significantly increased the mandated daily rest period for drivers from 8 to 10 hours and required drivers to complete their daily driving within 14 hours of the beginning of their shifts instead of an extendable 15 hours in the previous regulations,” ATA said.

Those changes help ensure that drivers do not suffer from cumulative fatigue and make safer the driver’s daily driving tour, including in the 11th hour, ATA said.

In response to a challenge from Public Citizen, other safety groups and the Teamsters union, a federal court in July vacated two HOS provisions: one allowing 11 hours of driving time per day and one allowing drivers to restart their weekly clock after 34 hours of rest.

ATA, citing positive safety data under the new rules and extreme disruptions to the trucking industry related to a transition to new rules is seeking a stay of decision for eight months to allow those provisions to stay in place pending further agency action.

FMCSA strongly supported that motion, citing the same grounds relied on by ATA, but asked that the stay be 12 instead of eight months.

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