At the request of trucking trade groups, the Office of Motor Carrier Safety is rethinking its policy of imposing federal hours-of-service rules on a driver for a four-month period after any interstate service.
Julie A. Cirillo, head of the office, made the decision following a Oct. 21 meeting with representatives from American Trucking Associations, the California Trucking Association, the Distribution & LTL Carriers Association and ATA’s Agricultural Transporters Conference.
OMCS staff will be told not to enforce penalties or issue warnings based on the four-month rule until Cirillo completes a review of the matter, said agency spokesman Dave Longo.
The dispute arose after Cirillo issued a memo in July clarifying when intrastate carriers that also haul interstate loads on occasion are covered by federal hours-of-service rules and when their drivers are covered by state statutes ("Feds' Hours Authority May Expand," 9-6, p. 68). In general, federal rules require that drivers work fewer hours than to do state regulations.
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