Agency Agrees to Meet Head-On the Dangers of Commercial Trucker Fatigue
In accordance with a lawsuit settlement, the FMCSA may be revising trucking regulations related to hours-of-service rules in the future.


November 18, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Agency Agrees to Meet Head-On the Dangers of Commercial Trucker Fatigue

Article provided by Law Offices of Tim L. Fields
Visit us at www.timfieldslaw.com

Experts disagree about how often driver fatigue causes semi-truck accidents, but it's hard to dispute that if you are hit in a five-thousand pound car by a 40-ton tractor-trailer, your chances of coming out ahead are slim to none. Any time a truck driver falls asleep at the wheel or makes a bad driving decision because he or she is exhausted, it can be deadly.

Hours-of-Service Regulations

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), is responsible at the federal level for ensuring trucking safety. The main weapon in FMCSA's arsenal for combating driver exhaustion is the agency's hours-of-service (HOS) regulations, which establish maximum drive times and minimum rest periods in an effort to prevent fatigue-related crashes.

Hours-of-service rules remained essentially unchanged for decades, until FMCSA, during the Bush administration in 2003, increased from 10 to 11 the number of consecutive hours a semi operator could drive, and lowered the limit on the number of hours a driver needs to be off duty before restarting calculation of weekly hour driving limits (the so-called 34-hour restart), among other important changes.

A concerned alliance of industry and labor watchdogs believed the new regulations would contribute to accidents involving weary truck drivers and could negatively affect drivers' health. This coalition challenged the regulations three times in federal court. After losing the first two lawsuits, the agency defiantly reintroduced essentially the same provisions, most recently becoming effective January 19, 2009, the day before President Obama took office.

Lawsuit Settlement

On October 26, 2009, FMCSA settled the third lawsuit with the plaintiffs:
-Public Citizen
-Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
-Truck Safety Coalition (parents Against Tired Truckers (PATT) and Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways)
-Teamsters Union

The settlement asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to stay the case pending new hours-of-service rulemaking by the FMCSA. The agency agrees to reconsider the Bush-era HOS regulations, which will include the opportunity for a new period of public comment.

Split Opinion

Supporters of the loosened regulations ? mainly those in the trucking industry ? contend that the scientific and statistical evidence shows that increased drive time is not more dangerous and that returning to shorter drive times will be economically detrimental to the industry.

Secretary LaHood has stated that safety is his first priority. Industry watchdogs, the traveling public, organized labor and plaintiff's lawyers will watch the FMCSA with intense concern as it moves into the new HOS rulemaking period. Members of the public should take advantage of this opportunity? so tirelessly fought for by safety advocates ? to make public comment to the agency on these critical trucking regulations. The result may literally be a matter of life and death.

Article provided by Law Offices of Tim L. Fields
Visit us at www.timfieldslaw.com

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