Oral arguments commenced in a legal case to stop the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s revised hours-of-service regulations.
However, according to trade press reports in the U.S. there is no indication how long the hearing will last or if the court will issue a decision before the new rules take effect on July 1.
The American Trucking Associations claimed the changes would put onerous restrictions on drivers’ ability to effectively manage their schedules while also exacerbating the shortage of qualified drivers.
ATA is challenging the 34-hour restart period being reduced to once every seven days, as well as inflexibly of the mandated 30-minute off-duty breaks during the workday after no more than eight hours of driving.
“The existing rules have a proven track record, and the agency’s purported reasons for tinkering with them were baseless,” said ATA General Counsel Prasad Sharma. “We’re hopeful the judges will see through the agency’s mere pleas for deference and after-the-fact explanations for a rule that was agenda-driven rather than evidence-based.”
