FMCSA to Review ATA’s Sleeper-Berth Rule Petition

he Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said last week it would examine an American Trucking Associations proposal that would change driver work rules to allow team drivers to take part of their off-duty time in the passenger seat, rather than entirely in the truck’s sleeper berth.

FMCSA said it was treating ATA’s request as a “petition for rulemaking,” which would start a process that might amend the current rules.

FMCSA’s announcement came as the truck-safety agency last week rejected two other petitions for reconsideration of its revised hours-of-service rule — one from Honeywell International Inc., and the other from the Teamsters union — leaving five petitions still unaddressed.