FMCSA To Miss Sept. 30 Deadline for HOS Study

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will not meet a congressionally mandated Sept. 30 deadline to complete a study of changes made to the 34-hour restart provision of the agency’s hours-of-service rule.

Last year’s MAP-21 highway funding law, calls on the agency to complete a “field study on the efficacy of the restart rule” included in FMCSA’s 2011 hours of service rule.

The controversial restart can be used only once every seven days, and must include two periods from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.

An agency spokesman has said the study won’t be sent to Congress until later this year.

“It is disheartening that the administration will miss yet another deadline on its new hours-of-service regulation,” Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) said in a Sept. 17 statement. “This development adds to the areas of concerns for Congress since this costly rule was enacted without proper study or transparent analysis.”

Hanna was one of four congressmen who sent a letter earlier this month to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx seeking a timeline for the study’s completion. Hanna spokeswoman Renée Gamela said that so far Foxx has not responded.

 “First, FMCSA ignored its researcher’s recommendation to conduct a field study on the restart prior to changing the rules, and now the agency will fail to meet a reasonable congressional deadline,” said Dave Osiecki, senior vice president of policy and regulatory affairs for American Trucking Associations. “It’s beyond frustrating, and it points to a serious flaw in the process.  There is no penalty on FMCSA for missing the deadline. Therefore, there’s no accountability.”