The American Trucking Associations said Monday it is pleased that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has granted in part its motion for a stay of the mandate to eliminate the 11-hour daily driving limit
and 34-hour restart provisions of the hours of service regulations.
While ATA awaits the decision by the Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on how they plan to proceed during the 90-day stay granted by the court, ATA said it is confident the court has provided the agency sufficient time to issue an Interim Final Rule that retains the 11-hour driving limit and the 34-hour restart.
Meanwhile, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association expressed disappointment in response to the court decision denying the association's request to review restrictions on split rest in sleeper berths.
OOIDA had asked the court to review whether FMCSA had adequately given the public notice of the changes it made to the sleeper-berth rule, and whether the agency had adequately considered the effect of the 14-hour rule to discourage drivers from taking short rest breaks.
ATA submitted a motion Sept. 6 asking the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for an eight-month stay of its mandate to eliminate the 11-hour daily driving limit and 34-hour restart provisions of the regulations, citing serious disruptions to the trucking industry. A July 24 court decision vacated the two HOS provisions, citing various procedural issues identified during the rulemaking process, but did not say that those rules were unsafe.
ATA argued that the trucking industry and its customers could not instantaneously shift to an hours of service regime with a different daily driving limit and without the 34-hour restart. Rather, such a conversion would require months of preparation.
Changes require retraining drivers and operating personnel, reprinting logs and other forms, reprogramming dispatching and electronic onboard recording software, reengineering routes, addressing customers' issues, hiring new drivers and purchasing new trucks to compensate for the loss of productivity, according to the trucking organization.
The court also decided to hold the current hours of service regulations until Dec. 27 to give the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration time to respond to changes from a ruling in July of this year. At that time, the court voided the 11 hours of driving and 34-hour restart on the grounds that the public didn't have enough notice from FMCSA and its analysis of accident risk.