Court Sets March 15 Date for HOS Oral Arguments
American Trucking Associations will argue its case against the hours-of-service rule for truck drivers on March 15 before a federal appeals court in Washington.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said Wednesday it will hear arguments from ATA against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s HOS rule, which the agency issued last December.
The HOS rule, set to take place in July 2013, mandates that truck drivers can only use the 34-hour restart to reset their weekly driving limits once every seven days, and the restart time must include two periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. It also requires that drivers take a half-hour rest break before driving more than eight hours in a day.
ATA sought to overturn the rule with its lawsuit, claiming that the cost-benefit analysis FMCSA used to justify the rule was flawed and overstated the prevalence of truck driver fatigue.
Public Citizen, along with other interest groups, also sued to overturn the rule, though they sought a rule that further restricts driver hours. Their lawsuit was combined with ATA’s, so they will also present oral arguments on March 15.
