The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is recruiting drivers and carriers to participate in a study of the 34-hour restart provision of the hours of service rule.

In an announcement Thursday the agency said it will pay drivers for their participation and may compensate carriers for lost revenues or the cost of data collection equipment.

Drivers in the study will work their normal routes, the agency said.

Earlier this week Martin Walker, chief of the agency’s research division, said the agency is looking for drivers who routinely drive 60 to 70 hours a week, and at night, as well as carriers that will support those drivers.

Congress ordered the study last December when it suspended the restart that went into effect in 2013 and replaced it temporarily with a less restrictive version of the provision.

The 2013 provision said that if a driver takes a 34-hour restart he must take off two periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., and that the restart could only be used once a week. The provision now in place does not have those restrictions.

The study will compare the two approaches. It will look at data from five months of work to assess safety events, fatigue, alertness and driver health, the agency said.

To find out more, and sign up for the study, go to the agency’s restart web page.

The agency also has a mailing list for those who want to participate.

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