Congressmen Want to Suspend HOS Restart Changes

A bipartisan trio of House members have introduced a bill to delay the latest changes to the 34-hour restart provision of the hours-of-service rule for truck drivers until a study of the changes is completed.

The bill, introduced Oct. 30 by Reps. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.), Tom Rice (R-S.C.), and Mike Michaud (D-Maine), would suspend the 34-hour restart provision, which went into effect July 1, until six months after the Government Accountability Office completes an independent assessment of the methodology the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration used to come up with the new restart rule.

The restart provision allows drivers to reset their weekly work cycles by resting for 34 hours. But the rule requires that the time block include two periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. in an effort to get drivers to sleep two nights.

“It is wrongheaded for the federal government to impose an arbitrary and capricious regulation that impacts almost every sector of the American economy without first finishing a study on its effectiveness,” Hanna said in an Oct. 31 statement. “Federal agencies should have an obligation to prove that new rules and regulations do not cause more harm than good — in terms of both safety and costs.”

Hanna said that concerns have been raised that the restart rule causes more congestion during peak morning travel and could push drivers to be more aggressive during the hours they do spend on the road.

The rule also could cost businesses and consumers billions of dollars, and it is plausible that it will decrease safety on the roads, Hanna said.