Hours-of-Service Reform Unveiled, Assailed, Shelved

After years of study and months of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, the Department of Transportation unveiled a proposal for reforming hours-of-service rules for truck and bus drivers.

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Trucking officials immediately criticized the proposal, saying it would hurt productivity, exacerbate driver shortages and increase highway congestion while having little impact on driver fatigue.

The proposal would have limited drivers to working 12 hours each day with no distinction between on-duty and driving time and required at least two hours of rest during each 12-hour work day.

Motor carriers would have been required to install onboard recorders to monitor compliance with new regulations, eliminating paper logbooks but raising questions about enforcement and carrier liability for minor hours-of-service violations.

The DOT plan marked the first substantive change in hours of service since the regulations were put in place more than 60 years ago.

Although trucking has long wanted modernized regulations, most of the industry vehemently opposed the limitations that would have been imposed by DOT’s plan. American Trucking Associations launched a grassroots lobbying effort to stop the rulemaking. A Senate-House conference committee agreed to prohibit its implementation for at least 12 months ("Hill Slows Hours Plan," 10-3, p. 1).

For the full story, see the Jan. 1 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.