The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has temporarily waived truck driver hours-of-service rules for drivers who are helping recovery efforts from the major tornado that hit near Oklahoma City on Monday.

Publicly traded trucking companies are warning investors that upcoming changes to the hours-of-service rule could take a bite out of productivity and reduce equipment utilization.

CINCINNATI — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s chief safety officer strongly defended changes in driver hours-of-service rules slated to take effect in July, saying they are necessary to reduce exposure to fatigue that can lead to crashes.

I am enclosing a copy of the letter I recently sent to the several congressman about the federal hours-of-service rule.

Ya gotta love it that the royalty in Washington, D.C., is so out of touch with the American people and the business world. The bureaucrats in Washington have never sat in a truck, and yet they are the ones telling me how to drive my truck.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Despite pleas from bipartisan groups of lawmakers in Congress and the uncertain outcome of court challenges, there will not be any delay to the July 1 start date for enforcing the newest modifications to the hours-of-service rule, said Anne Ferro, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Despite receiving requests from a bipartisan group of seven lawmakers in transportation oversight roles, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will not delay the July 1 effective date of the latest changes to its hours-of-service rule, FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro said here Friday.

WASHINGTON — Lawyers representing the federal government told an appeals court that industry objections to the latest changes to hours-of-service rules for truck drivers are nothing more than “simple scientific disputes” and that the court should defer to the government’s judgment in solving such disputes.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Despite receiving requests from a bipartisan group of seven lawmakers in transportation oversight roles, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will not delay the July 1 effective date of the latest changes to its hours-of-service rule, FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro said here Friday.