hos News Updates

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said it is planning to do a field study on split rest times for those who drive sleeper berths.

American Trucking Associations and the Minnesota Trucking Association are asking the federal government to do a pilot project to study whether greater flexibility in hours-of service-rules for truck drivers who use sleeper berths would affect highway safety.

House Republicans and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Anne Ferro sparred over the 34-hour restart provision of the new hours-of-service rule for truck drivers at a hearing last week, with some members accusing her agency of “arrogance” and slowness in producing a congressionally required study on the rule.

Just four months into the federal hours-of-service rules on rest breaks, carriers said they have had to hire more drivers, pay higher wages, buy more rigs, juggle work schedules and lower customer expectations of service.

Hostess is back under new management and leaner structure and says it plans to have Twinkies and its other snacks on shelves by July 15, the Associated Press reported.

Hostess Brands, the maker of Twinkies, HoHos and Wonder Bread, said it is going out of business after failing to get wage and benefit cuts from thousands of its striking bakery workers, news services reported Friday.

The federal government defended its latest hours-of-service rule last week, telling a U.S. court that it “acted at the height of its expertise and discretion” when it decided in December to put new restrictions on the 34-hour restart provision, while retaining the 11-hour driving day.

Housing starts fell 1.1% in July, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

American Trucking Associations has filed suit against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s latest attempt to modify the hours-of-service rule because it believes it had no other way to prevent a serious mistake on the part of the very agency that is charged with improving safety by and for the motor carrier industry.