Public Citizen Sues Again on Hours-of-Service Rule
ive groups including Public Citizen and the Teamsters union filed suit in federal court Monday against federal truck driver hours-of-service rules, challenging the rules on safety grounds.
The five asked the court to review the final HOS rule issued Aug. 25 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and said the rule’s provisions on how many hours truckers may drive before taking a break is flawed and should be changed to help reduce fatigue-related crashes.
Public Citizen sued the agency’s previous rules successfully, winning an appeals court decision in July 2004. (Click here for previous coverage.)
"That FMCSA chose in both rules to expand driving hours is astounding given its statutory mandate to make safety its highest priority and Congress’s specific directive to the agency to reduce fatigue-related incidents,” Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook said in a statement.
Public Citizen and the Teamsters had filed a petition for reconsideration of the rule with FMCSA in September. (Click here for previous coverage.)
The legal challenge is separate from a similar suit by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, filed in late January, against the rule’s sleeper-berth provisions. (Click here for previous coverage.)
Three of the five groups — Public Citizen, Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways and Parents Against Tired Truckers — successfully sued FMCSA over the previous HOS rule in 2003.
In addition to the Teamsters, the group Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, which had filed a supportive brief in the previous suit, joined Public Citizen in the new challenge.
The current HOS rule allows drivers to be behind the wheel for 11 hours in a 14-hour period.
Prior to 2003, drivers could drive for 10 hours in a 15-hour period, but could log on and off duty during that time, thus interrupting their time allotments.
