HOS Rule Clears White House Review
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours of service rule proposal cleared review by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget Friday and is expected to be released soon.
The proposal, sent to OMB for review in July, has been expected since late October and FMCSA officials have committed to publishing it before year’s end.
The HOS rule governs the time that truck drivers can drive and sets mandated periods for rest breaks.
FMCSA began its work on revising the regulation in October 2009 after a court settlement with opponents of the current rule. That settlement calls for a new final rule to be published by July 2011.
While the contents of the rule are still unknown, trucking industry officials have said they expect the agency to trim driving time and alter the process by which drivers reset their weekly allotment of work and driving hours.
American Trucking Associations has launched a website, www.safedriverhours.com, defending the trucking industry’s record under current HOS rules.
