Motor Carriers Spent the Year Arguing Against New HOS Rule

Motor carriers spent all of 2011 waiting for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to announce its latest hours-of-service rule.

The proposed rule, announced a year ago, was not well received by motor carriers and shippers. Industry groups say a final rule that mirrors the proposal would add significant costs to their bottom lines but not necessarily reduce the number of truck-related fatalities and injuries.

FMCSA said in a court filing last month that the rule, still being reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, would be completed by the end of the year.

As of Dec. 14, however, the draft of the final rule was still being scrutinized by policy and budget bureaucrats at OMB.

When it announced the hours proposal in December 2010, FMCSA said it was leaning toward cutting driving hours back to 10 from 11 and modifying the 34-hour reset provision by requiring that it include two rest periods of at least six hours and mandating that they fall between midnight and 6 a.m. (1-3, p. 1).

The proposal also would in most cases reduce maximum on-duty time allowed to 13 hours by requiring drivers to take two 30-minute rest breaks during the current 14-hour duty time.

In addition, the proposed rule changes how many off-hours team drivers can sit in the cab rather than spend in the sleeper berth.

The proposed rule was the result of an out-of-court settlement FMCSA reached with safety advocacy groups led by Public Citizen and the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

Because of deep policy divisions among supporters and opponents, the chances are good that the new final rule will end up back in court.

Since the day the hours-of-service proposal was introduced, trucking, shipping and other industry stakeholders and some key Republican congressional leaders have vigorously spoke out against the rule, largely based on the economic costs that it would add to the supply chain.

FMCSA estimates the rule would cost the industry $1 billion, but some estimates have been even higher.

In a statement last month, ATA President Bill Graves criticized safety advocates and the Obama administration for pushing an hours rule that the federation estimates would reduce productivity by a minimum of 5%, artificially creating a need for at least 115,000 additional trucks to haul the nation’s freight.

“These trucks will need to travel an estimated 5 billion miles to deliver their goods and, given the most recent crash rates, could lead to an additional 52 fatal crashes, and nearly 900 injury crashes,” Graves said.

In testimony before a congressional subcommittee last month, FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro disagreed with the notion that the cost of the hours rule would outweigh the public benefits.

She said the rule is aimed at reducing driver fatigue and that, by agency estimates, 49 lives could be saved if driving hours were reduced.

“Many commercial drivers are still not getting enough rest and breaks under the current rule,” Ferro said.

Although regulatory officials have had a lot to say about the need for the rule, they remain mum about whether final draft will exit the White House unscathed.