The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's change in the hours-of-service rule will only slightly reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by truck-driver fatigue, according to Michael Leizerman, chairman of a national group of trucking litigation attorneys.

In the first major change in hours-of-service rules in 64 years, the FMCSA increased the number of off-duty hours from 8 to 10. However, it increased the number of hours a driver may spend behind the wheel from 10 to 11 hours -- and a work shift can be as long as 14 hours.
Leizerman, who is chairman of the Interstate Trucking Litigation Group, says the new rule is a small step in the right direction, but falls short of the National Sleep Foundation's recommendations.
"The new rule could save up to 75 lives each year out of an estimated 4,902 deaths in truck-related traffic crashes," he reports. "We don't discount the importance of increasing the number of off-duty hours; however, we would have liked equipment in the truck that would monitor the number of hours the truck driver actually works."
This rule governs drivers transporting freight in interstate commerce in a property-carrying commercial vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating of at least 10,001 pounds, and operating vehicles transporting hazardous materials in quantities requiring vehicle placards. Drivers of buses involved in interstate transportation will continue to use the current hours-of-service regulations.
Consistent with the existing rule, the new rule prohibits drivers from driving after being on duty for 60 hours within seven days, or 70 hours within eight days. This on-duty cycle begins whenever a driver goes off duty for at least 34 consecutive hours. FMCSA and its state enforcement agencies will start enforcing the new rule on Jan. 4, 2004.