OOIDA Files Court Challenge to Hours-of-Service Rules

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

he Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association said Wednesday that it has filed a court challenge requesting review of the federal hours-of-service rules for truck drivers.

The group petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last August over the rule, and FMCSA subsequently denied a petition to amend the rule’s sleeper-berth provisions. (Click here for previous coverage.)

The group is asking that under those provisions, that a two-hour rest period “stop the clock” on drivers hours so as not to count against working time, OOIDA’s Chief Executive Officer Jim Johnston said in a statement.

OOIDA also petitions for so-called split sleeper-berth provisions, in which, under current HOS rules, one driver in a team must remain in a sleeper berth and the other must drive for eight hours straight while the other is off duty.

“That’s impractical in most operations,” Johnston said.

OOIDA petitioned the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to review the regulations.