Big-Time Carriers Urge FMCSA to Keep HOS Rules

Transportation Topics, published by the American Trucking Associations, has reported that several major fleets, including UPS Freight (fka Overnight), Con-Way Truckload, and Schneider National, have urged the FMCSA to retain the 11 hour driving and 34-hour restart portions of the revised Hours of Service rules, which were originally put into effect in 2005. The Carriers presented statistics showing that their accident and injury rates have declined since the HOS rules were revised, presumably implying that the revised rules have not had a negative impact on safety.

Of course, the FMCSA is the agency that developed the new rules and is responsible for implementing them, so there is somewhat of a preaching-to-the-converted aspect to the carriers' plea.

Public comment on the revised rules has been extended until March 17. Groups including Public Citizen, the Teamsters, and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety oppose the rule, which effectively increases the workday for drivers (to 11 hours) and decreases the minimum amount of time a driver must stop driving before restarting the work week (34 hours). These groups believe that this would increase driver fatigue and increase accident rates. The statistics cited by UPS, Con-Way, Schneider National, et al., dispute this.