The third and final roundtable on the hours of service proposal being held by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration gets under way today and continues through tomorrow.

Held in Washington, D.C., the roundtable will cover categories of operations, electronic onboard recorders and exemptions.
The first roundtable addressed fatigue research, the economic impact of the proposal, and enforcement. (See "Round and Round at the Hours of Service Roundtables, 9/26/00, and "Day Two at the Hours of Service Roundtable," 9/27/00.)
The second covered sleeper berth requirements, communications during rest periods, weekend rest and hours of work. (See "HOS Roundtables: Sleeper Berths and Driver Communications," 10/2/00, and "HOS Roundtables: Weekend Breaks and Daily Work," 10/3/00.)
FMCSA hopes the roundtable discussions will help it get in-depth answers to fundamental questions about its bitterly contested proposal to reform the hours of service rules. A compromise deal on Capitol Hill on legislation to block the proposal will allow the agency to continue gathering comments and research, but will not allow implementation of the rules until Oct. 1 of next year.