DOT Will Propose New Hours Rule

img src="/sites/default/files/images/articles/printeditiontag_new.gif" width=120 align=right>WASHINGTON — Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta said a new plan to reform federal regulations for commercial drivers' hours of service is likely to be completed in the next few weeks.

That would be the department's first attempt to change those rules since October 2000, when Congress shelved a highly controversial hours reform plan that the Clinton administration had offered.

Mineta, in a recent interview with Transport Topics, said that issuing a new hours-of-service proposal would be one of the last actions taken by Joseph M. Clapp before he departs as administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.