It seems that a consensus is developing in the trucking industry to support electronic devices that monitor the number of hours that drivers work behind the wheel.

The number of comments on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association’s proposed revised hours-of-service regulation has topped 20,000 — the most for any current rule being considered.

Trade organizations representing motor carriers, shippers, and retailers continued their campaign against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposed hours-of-service rule change, making last-minute appeals last week that the agency withdraw the rule and claiming it would hurt supply chain productivity and highway safety.

Not all truckers are the longhaul, cross-country, gone-way-too-long operators everyone seems to see in their mind’s eye. However, the proposals FMCSA has had to come up with now to fix a system that works well affects all drivers.

Efforts to block changes in hours-of-service proposed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration gained steam last week as the closing of the agency’s comment period on the proposal approached.

The public comment period for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s proposed hours-of-service rule ends Friday at midnight.

A researcher who worked on the scientific studies used by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in formulating its hours-of-service rules said the agency misapplied those studies’ findings, American Trucking Associations said Monday.

OK, now we’ve said it again: Leave the current hours-of-service rule alone because it has proven its value for promoting safety while allowing the freight transportation industry to continue moving the nation’s freight.

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Transportation Department’s new proposed hours-of-service rule is too complex, rigid, and would reduce the productivity of motor carriers, while making highways no safer, trucking industry and trade association executives and truck drivers told federal regulators last week.