The American Trucking Associations Tuesday released a statement to the media in response to the most recent legal challenge against the hours of service rules, calling safety advocates' criticism of the rules "myths."


Trucks on the nation's highways are safer now, while operating under federal Hours of Service regulations that debuted in 2004, than they have ever been, the American Trucking Associations shows in a review of myths and facts on its web site.

The rates of truck-involved fatal crashes and injuries have declined every year since the current HOS regulations went into effect, ATA says.

"Ignoring these facts, the Teamsters and three so-called safety groups filed suit against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Monday for the third time over these HOS rules," ATA said in its statement. The association explained that the new hours of service rules reduced the maximum length of the truck driver's work day by at least one hour and increased the daily required number of hours of rest by two hours. The work day was shortened from a previous maximum of 15 hours (which could be extended by breaks) to no more than 14 consecutive hours. Drivers are required to rest at least 10 hours between shifts, with at least 8 of those hours in the sleeper berth if it is used while on the road. Within the shorter work day, the rules allow 11 hours of driving instead of the previous10.

"Another myth sowed by these groups is that the 34-hour restart allows significantly longer driving and on-duty times in a week than the pre-2004 rules," ATA said. FMCSA found that "longer hypothetical hours in driving and duty schedules" envisioned by critics "requires an imaginary world with nearly perfect logistics." In the real world, drivers have found that the 34-hour restart gives them more rest and time off, not less, said the association's statement.

In January 2009, the FMCSA responded to these same allegations when it rejected Public Citizen's petition to reconsider the HOS rules. FMCSA's response details how the HOS regulations have stood up to rigorous tests in the real world: "The 11-hour driving rule and 34-hour restart have now been in effect since January 2004. During this five-year period -- representing billions of commercial motor vehicle driver hours and hundreds of billions of miles traveled -- the significant increase in truck crashes and fatalities that one would have anticipated, based on Petitioners' criticism, has simply failed to occur. Indeed, the overall large truck fatality rate is at its lowest level since records have been kept."

While the groups claim that drivers' health had been ignored in drafting the regulations, FMCSA determined that the rules would not have a deleterious effect on the physical condition of drivers. According to the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of occupational injuries and illnesses in the trucking industry decreased by nearly 18 percent between 2004 and 2007.

The Hours of Service Rules Myths and Facts can be found at the ATA's web site, www.truckline.com.