FMCSA Official Says Agency Taking Serious Look at ATA's Hours Plan
SAN DIEGO – The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will give serious consideration to the American Trucking Associations' proposal for reforming federal rules governing truck drivers' hours of service, an FMCSA official told members of ATA's safety policy committee.
Brian M. McLaughlin, director of FMCSA's office of policy planning and regulations applauded ATA for submitting information that attempted to take a science-based approach to hours of service. He said that while he hadn't reviewed all the comments in the docket, he believed that ATA's proposal and a proposal from Parents Against Tired Truckers do the best job of presenting science-based suggestions for reform.
He added that the agency was in no rush to issue a final rule. The proposal just came out in March, McLaughlin said in interview. "It's not unreasonable that we would take some time to develop a final rule," he said adding that the government has not looked at hours of service for 40 years. FMCSA has received 70,000 comments and is reviewing data gathered at the roundtables, McLaughlin said.
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McLaughlin also said that hours-of-service recorder devices was a critical part of the reform proposal. "Fairness and candor require that I indicate that part of the guts of the hours-of-service regulation is an electronic recorder provision," McGlaughlin said.
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