The Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) has latched onto a recent lawsuit launched by the American Trucking Associations against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours-of-service (HOS) regulations.
“Since the 2004 hours-of-service rule went into effect, we have experienced a year-over-year decline in crashes and fatalities involving commercial vehicles on our nation’s highways,” said Chris Burruss, TCA’s president. “Safety is paramount to the trucking industry and while we remain committed to continuing to reduce accidents, we believe the new rule will take us backward, not forward.”
The ATA announced that they have filed a Statement of Issues in court. Later, TCA’s executive committee voted to file a motion in the case as well.
ATA argues that several aspects of the new rule are “arbitrary and capricious.”
Specifically, ATA is challenging the proposed changes to the restart provision requiring that it include two consecutive periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m.; limits on the frequency with which a driver may use the restart; the requirement that a mandatory 30-minute break from driving also exclude all other on-duty activity; and narrowing — without prior notice — certain exceptions to drive-time regulations for local delivery drivers.
“There are still many areas where the trucking industry and FMCSA can work together to make progress on highway safety,” said ATA president and CEO Bill Graves in a statement, “but the unsoundness of this regulatory process has forced us into court.”
