A panel of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hear next week from supporters and critics of the latest changes to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours-of-service rule for truck drivers, which is set to take effect in three weeks.
The hearing, entitled “The Impacts of [the Department of Transportation’s] Commercial Driver Hours of Service Regulations,” has been scheduled for June 18 on Capitol Hill, the committee said.
Lawmakers in the subcommittee on highways and transit have called witnesses from FMCSA, American Trucking Associations, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, said Justin Harclerode, the committee’s chairman. The committee has not released further information about the hearing.
The hours rule, set to take effect July 1, adds a mandatory rest break for truck drivers before they can drive more than eight hours consecutively. It also makes two restrictions to the 34-hour restart that drivers can use to reset their weekly clocks: The restart can only be taken once every seven days, and it must include two periods from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.
ATA has sued to stop the rule, saying it is too restrictive and based on an overestimate of the role fatigue plays in truck crashes. Advocates have sued as well, saying FMCSA should have been more restrictive.
