Court rejects 34 hr restart, and the extra hour of driving

[Fozzy]

BREAKING NEWS: Court rejects HOS restart, additional hour of driving
By Avery Vise

In a significant setback for many trucking companies, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today, July 24, invalidated two significant pieces of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours-of-service regulations – the increase of the daily driving limit to 11 hours from the previous 10 hours, and the 34-hour restart option for drivers’ weekly on-duty limits.

In addition, the court rejected the petition filed by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association for greater flexibility in use of the sleeper berth, including allowing team drivers to continue to split rest in sleeper berths as they could before the August 2005 revision.

FMCSA's failings in the case appear to have been mainly in how it put the rule together, rather than in what the rule contained. The court concluded FMCSA “violated the Administrative Procedure Act because it failed to give interested parties an opportunity to comment on the methodology of the crash-risk model that the agency used to justify an increase in the maximum number of daily and weekly hours that truck drivers may drive and work.” The court also held that the agency “failed to provide an explanation for critical elements of that methodology.”

What happens now is unclear. When the appeals court rejected the first revised hours-of-service regulation in July 2004, Congress held the new rules in place for about a year while FMCSA worked on a new version. It remains to be seen whether a Democrat-controlled Congress will be so inclined to intervene. On the other hand, given that the flaws cited are essentially procedural, lawmakers might be inclined to hold the current rule in place pending a new rule.

“What happens now is unclear” - Be prepared to see the 34 hour re-start and the 11 hour driving rules vanish sooner rather than later. I will monitor closely!!!

[golfhobo]

Fozzy: As mentioned on the other thread..... could you provide a link? It's NOT that I don't TRUST you.... :wink:

This DOES throw a curveball to us drivers and professional regulation debaters!

[larz0142]

http://www.etrucker.com/apps/news/article.asp?id=61746

http://www.todaystrucking.com/news.cfm?intDocID=18230

http://www.citizen.org/autosafety/Tr...s.cfm?ID=16949

I even put the lib's version too..

[Jumbo]

I propose a new system. You can drive 20 hours a day and work up to 24 hours per day. 5 hour restart. That should make everybody happy. No need to thank me. You telepathic appreciation is enough.

[yoopr]

I propose a new system. You can drive 20 hours a day and work up to 24 hours per day. 5 hour restart. That should make everybody happy. No need to thank me. You telepathic appreciation is enough.

You getting sunstroke down there? :P

[Karnajj]

I had heard they were getting ready to drop the 14 hr provision as well.
Anybody else heard this?

[Jumbo]

I propose a new system. You can drive 20 hours a day and work up to 24 hours per day. 5 hour restart. That should make everybody happy. No need to thank me. You telepathic appreciation is enough.

You getting sunstroke down there? :P

I figure this is closer to what most people have to work anyway. Unload first thing in the morning. Dink around all day for another load, drive 500 miles overnight and be ready to unload first thing in the morning. Lather, rinse, repeat.

[Ridge Runner]

I rejected them way back in Oct. '05. I went local.

[yoopr]

I propose a new system. You can drive 20 hours a day and work up to 24 hours per day. 5 hour restart. That should make everybody happy. No need to thank me. You telepathic appreciation is enough.

You getting sunstroke down there? :P

I figure this is closer to what most people have to work anyway. Unload first thing in the morning. Dink around all day for another load, drive 500 miles overnight and be ready to unload first thing in the morning. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Pretty close :P
You ever run up my way? I saw my old truck that I used to drive up in sagola month or so ago and it's still kicking butt-I'm sure you've seen it around Laona town

[silvan]

I had heard they were getting ready to drop the 14 hr provision as well.
Anybody else heard this?

No, but I'd be surprised if they did, or if they do, they'll just come up with something even worse.

I think the old rules from the 1930s were fine for a long, long, long damn time.

[Malaki86]

I had heard they were getting ready to drop the 14 hr provision as well.
Anybody else heard this?

No, but I'd be surprised if they did, or if they do, they'll just come up with something even worse.

I think the old rules from the 1930s were fine for a long, long, long damn time.

They'll probably make it a 12 (or even 10) hour workday...

[GMAN]

I propose we throw the log books out along with the hos and drive as long as we feel comfortable and stop when we get tired, like everyone else. Of course, that would involve common sense and put a lot of lawyers out of business with all of these changes to the hos rules.

[yoopr]

I propose we throw the log books out along with the hos and drive as long as we feel comfortable and stop when we get tired, like everyone else. Of course, that would involve common sense and put a lot of lawyers out of business with all of these changes to the hos rules.

Well that's basically what we used to do :P

[Ridge Runner]

I propose we throw the log books out along with the hos and drive as long as we feel comfortable and stop when we get tired, like everyone else. Of course, that would involve common sense and put a lot of lawyers out of business with all of these changes to the hos rules.

I'd bet that the accident rate wouldn't move enough to notice. The fools that run tired will run tired regardless of the rules.

[Hat Rak]

I find it hilarious that the folks who drive no more than 10 to 20 minutes to commute to work are making the decisions for those who have trained and are capable of driving for hours on end.

[marcel27208]

I propose we throw the log books out along with the hos and drive as long as we feel comfortable and stop when we get tired, like everyone else. Of course, that would involve common sense and put a lot of lawyers out of business with all of these changes to the hos rules.

oh thats not how it is now?? :wink:

[Jumbo]

I propose we throw the log books out along with the hos and drive as long as we feel comfortable and stop when we get tired, like everyone else. Of course, that would involve common sense and put a lot of lawyers out of business with all of these changes to the hos rules.

Why can't we just throw out the logbooks and keep the ho's. It isn't their fault somebody changed the rules.

[Uturn2001]

IMHO the HOS does more to protect the truck driver from the trucking companies than it does to protect the public.

Anyway, if groups like PATT and crash have their way about it the HOS would look something like this:

8 hours of drive time per day.
No driving after the 12th hour.
12 consecutive hours off duty.
48 consecutive hours off every week.

[yoopr]

IMHO the HOS does more to protect the truck driver from the trucking companies than it does to protect the public.

Anyway, if groups like PATT and crash have their way about it the HOS would look something like this:

8 hours of drive time per day.
No driving after the 12th hour.
12 consecutive hours off duty.
48 consecutive hours off every week.

Outrageous and stating the Obvious it's going to create more trucks than are actually needed and cause more accidents and problems that are necessary.

[Uturn2001]

Yoop, you know that and I know that, but do you think there is a snowballs chance in hell of convincing most of these pencil pushing, hankie wringing types of that.

I have seen a handful of studies, both formal and informal, over the last year or two that say drivers feel like they are driving more tired now than they did under the "original" rules.

The same studies have also indicated that under the original revision, before the removal of the flexible split sleeper provision, that drivers felt better rested.

But what do drivers know. They are the ones out there doing the job.