Story Update

Both Heavy Duty Trucking and Transport Topics are reporting that The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will not meet the Friday deadline to issue a final hours-of-service (HOS) rule.

Previous Story Dated August 23, 2011

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) said it will publish its revised hours-of-service (HOS) rule by October 28, nearly three months later than the court-issued July 26 deadline. The agency said the delay was necessary after it placed four additional research studies in the official HOS rulemaking docket and re-opened comments on the rule.

The four studies, which focus on driver fatigue, weren’t complete when the FMCSA proposed the revised HOS rule in December.

The proposed HOS changes include a possible reduction of one driving hour - from the current 11 hours to 10 hours - a required 30-minute break after a maximum of seven hours, and a modification to the 34-hour reset provision requiring that it includes two rest periods between midnight and 6 a.m.

Comments on the studies closed June 8. FMCSA will now consider the feedback and use it to help shape the HOS rule.

For more information on the studies, please view them online:

The Impact of Driving, Non-Driving Work, and Rest Breaks on Driving Performance in Commercial Motor Vehicle Operations

Hours of Service and Driver Fatigue-Driver Characteristics Research

Analysis of the Relationship Between Operator Cumulative Driving Hours and Involvement in Preventable Collisions

Potential Causes Of Driver Fatigue: A Study On Transit Bus Operators In Florida

To view comments on the studies and the proposed HOS rule in the public docket, follow these steps:

• Visit http://www.regulations.gov and click on "Read comments" box in the upper right hand side of the screen
• In the "Keyword" box insert "FMCSA-2004-19608" and click "Search"
• Click the "Open Docket Folder" in the "Actions" column
• In the "Title" column, click on the document you would like to review

By “Move Ahead” Staff