American Trucking Associations is "extremely perplexed" by the Department of Transportation's decision to reopen its truck driver hours of service rulemaking.


In a November 4 letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, ATA President and CEO Bill Graves said DOT's decision creates uncertainty for the trucking industry and is "wholly unwarranted" given safety improvements under the current rule.

Graves was responding to an agreement late last month between DOT and safety advocacy groups in which the groups will suspend their case against the rules pending completion of a new hours rule. The groups, including Public Citizen, Advocates for Auto and Highway Safety and the Teamsters union, were challenging the rules on several grounds, asserting for example that they permit too much driving time.

Under the agreement, DOT will draft a new proposed rule within nine months and publish a final rule within 21 months. (See "Hours of Service Regulations Being Reviewed Again" 10/28/09.)

In his letter Graves requested a meeting with LaHood to discuss the association's concerns.
"Mr. Secretary, given the extensive, multi-year process and exhaustive research which produced the current HOS rules, and the very good safety progress the trucking industry has made over the past five years under the current rules, ATA is very concerned with the USDOT's decision to re-open the HOS rules," Graves wrote.

There is no evidence to suggest that the current rules have harmed safety, or that supports a conclusion that more revisions will improve safety, Graves wrote. Further, the rules strike a good balance between promoting alertness, reducing fatigue and operational flexibility.
"Reconsideration of the rules is likely to upset this balance, at a significant economic cost to the trucking industry, a price which will ultimately be borne by the American people in, perhaps, more ways than one."

LaHood's comment in DOT's announcement of the deal was, "We believe that starting over and developing a rule that can help save lives is the smart thing to do."