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!!!

[Twilight Flyer]

That'll throw a wrench into things. Prepare to watch driver and dispatcher heads begin randomly exploding as they try to comprehend yet ANOTHER change in the system. :?

[yoopr]

I never did the split-sleeper thing but, as I've said many times before, Go back to the Old HOS.
10 on-8 off

[golfhobo]

WOW!!! First off, forget about the dispatcher's brains..... they never understood them NOR cared!!! But, this could cause MY brain to go into overload!! :shock:

Could you provide a LINK to this Fozzy??

Personally, I would think that the SAME "stay" will be imposed immediately, to allow the FMCSA to continue with the current rules until this is settled. From what I read, there was AMPLE input from carriers and other organizations.

But, I would loose no sleep over going back to the old, old rules! I agree that drivers SHOULD know best what works for them!

This is SOooo..... typical of the government!

[Useless]

Fozzy;

I haven't had time to follow this issue. Who challenged the revised rule in the first place??

[Fozzy]

Fozzy;

I haven't had time to follow this issue. Who challenged the revised rule in the first place??

Somebody's (not mine) friends at the OOIDA and of course a big rabble of anti-truck safety groups...

[danske]

Here are 2 links to this issue. The second article is partisan(eg. It is Bush's fault) and presumptous(eg. tired truckers).

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

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

For almost 70 years the 10-8 70 hours in 8 days rule worked fine. Then all of a sudden was not good enough for the Shippers and receivers and then the Mega Carriers. They were the reason and the push behind the new and twice rejected now HOS regs when you think about it. Yes under the old ones drivers did push the regs but it when you went home 34 hours later your comapny did not call you and say you have had enough time off.

[SemperFi]

The "we know what's best for you" crowd is pushing for an eight hour day. Exhibit A:

Each year more than 5,000 people are killed and more than 110,000 are injured in large truck crashes. Truck driver fatigue is a major contributor to severe crashes. Many studies have shown that truck driver alertness and performance begin to dangerously deteriorate after about eight hours of consecutive driving. After eight hours of driving, the risk of a truck driver having a crash begins to increase rapidly.

This is the same crowd that wakes up every day with the attitude of "who's going to offend me today"! Good luck truckers!

[yoopr]

Many studies have shown that truck driver alertness and performance begin to dangerously deteriorate after about eight hours of consecutive driving. After eight hours of driving, the risk of a truck driver having a crash

How Nice-"Many Studies"
I can say there are "Many Studies" That prove otherwise but I'd have to show WHO Did the Studies.
IF they go to 8 hours it will be just about the biggest Disasters to hit Trucking. People are going to bail out of their Profession-Many more trucks are going to be needed to haul the Freight and this in turn is going to bring in a TON of green drivers(No I'm not badmouthing new drivers) and they're gonna be just about the Majority on the Road because the Veteran drivers are going to MORE Fed up than they already are.

[rebajosh]

I wish enough truckers would stick together and stop moving freight for a week. That would be all it would take to wake up the American public. The anti-truck groups BS would fall on deaf ears then.

[Fozzy]

I wish enough truckers would stick together and stop moving freight for a week. That would be all it would take to wake up the American public. The anti-truck groups BS would fall on deaf ears then.

Yeah? Why not wish for world peace while your dreaming...

[greg3564]

I wish enough truckers would stick together and stop moving freight for a week. That would be all it would take to wake up the American public. The anti-truck groups BS would fall on deaf ears then.

Yeah? Why not wish for world peace while your dreaming...

We'll have to add those to the "gas boycott."

[rebajosh]

I wish enough truckers would stick together and stop moving freight for a week. That would be all it would take to wake up the American public. The anti-truck groups BS would fall on deaf ears then.

Yeah? Why not wish for world peace while your dreaming...

I know it will never happen. :sad:

[geeshock]

would be nice, idleing fobiden in NY boycot NY for a week. CA haveing such a diference in speed for trucks and 4 wheelers boycott. again, never going to happen, and if it did might as well say hi to our mexican counterparts.

[Raafi]

The 34-hour restart allowed truckers to drive 77 hours in seven days or 88 hours in eight days – a more than 25 percent increase over the pre-2003 rules. On-duty hours during which truckers may drive also climbed, so that a driver working 14-hour shifts under the new rules can now work as many as 84 hours in seven days or 98 hours in eight days – the latter a 40 percent increase over the old limits.

i dont understand this. I am away from home for 168hrs a week, i am only allowed to drive 70, and these people are saying THAT is too much?


honestly, i could see me driving more than 100 and not being remotely tired. but like was said, this is the "they know me better than I know me" crowd.

funny, i havent had anyone tell me to go to bed since i was about 10 yrs old

[countryhorseman]

What they don't want to tell you, is that most studies have shown in the truck at fault rate, I believe it was found that 40% of those accidents occured in the first 4 hours of driving, and only 1% occurred in the 11th hour of driving. Read the in the truckers new or one of those just this last week.

They also fail to tell the rest of the world that over 70% of the accidents involving big trucks and four-wheelers are the fault of the four wheeler, which at the time of the accident, over 70% occured after the four wheeler driver had been at work over 8 hours.

So they cross the figures to skew them against the truck driver.