ATA: Give Us 14 Hours on Duty
ORLANDO, Fla. — Trucking’s largest trade group went on record Nov. 2 in support of allowing truck drivers to be on duty for up to 14 hours a day as long as they get 10 hours of rest.
The proposal by American Trucking Associations would replace the current rule’s 18-hour work-rest cycle with one that is 24 hours long. It would mandate a minimum 10-hour off-duty period, which ATA says will allow drivers a greater opportunity to gain sufficient rest.
“We are trying to get a rule that is based on science, common sense and the human body’s metabolism,” ATA President Walter B. McCormick Jr. said at a Nov. 3 press conference. The proposal is the result of 18 months of work by the association’s hours-of-service subcommittee, which struggled to find consensus on an issue that has divided trucking for years. Long-haul carriers support keeping the driver behind the wheel as long as is safely possible, while agricultural haulers and local fuel delivery companies want the flexibility to have seasonal differences in hours of service. Less-than-truckload carriers have built hub-and-spoke route systems around the existing policy.
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Current regulations allow drivers to work 15 hours a day, but only 10 hours of that can be spent behind the wheel. ATA wants to eliminate what it calls an artificial distinction between driving time and on-duty time. The association wants to allow drivers to work 70 hours a week.
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