HOS Rules to Remain in Place While Government Reviews Court Decision

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nnette Sandberg, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said the existing hours-of-service rules for truck drivers would remain in place during a 45-day review period of an appeals court decision on Friday to overturn those rules.

"Under the court's rules of procedure, [the Department of Justice] has 45 days to review the decision and decide whether to seek other legal remedies," Sandberg said in a statement released Friday afternoon. "During that period of time, the current hours-of-service rule, announced in April 2003, remains in effect." (Click here for the full statement.)

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., on Friday morning agreed with a lawsuit filed earlier this year by public interest group Public Citizen that the regulations "failed to consider the impact of the rules on the health of the drivers," according to the opinion posted on the court’s Web site.

"The FMCSA points to nothing in the agency’s extensive deliberations establishing that it considered that statutorily mandated factor of drivers’ health in the slightest," the court said.

American Trucking Associations said in a statement it would encourage FMCSA to attempt to keep the new HOS rules in place beyond 45 days while it reconsiders the rules and the rationale for changes. (Click here for the full statement.)

ATA believes that switching back and forth between the old and new rules would be confusing to the point of adversely affecting highway safety. ATA will keep the industry informed about future developments regarding FMCSA’s handling of this matter.

The new rules, which took effect Jan. 4, expanded the time a driver can drive from 10 to 11 hours a day, but cuts back on the number of hours a driver can be on-duty from 15 to 14 hours a day and eliminates the ability of drivers to “clock out” during meals and fuel breaks and for loading and unloading activity.

"This is a victory for all truck drivers, including Teamsters," Teamsters President Jim Hoffa said in a statement. "Working behind the wheel of a truck is hard, and our concern with this set of rules was that they would increase driver fatigue. We know fatigue creates danger on the highways."

ATA said in its statement that "switching back and forth between the old and new rules would be confusing to the point of adversely affecting highway safety."

The court said it had more concerns with the regulation but made no ruling because the health issue was enough to throw it out entirely.

(Click here for the full court decision.)

B>NOTE: This link will take you off the TTNews.com Web site and is in PDF format.

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