The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced that it will hold a public listening session to solicit information, concepts, ideas and information on hours-of-service requirements for motorcoach drivers. The agency would like to know what factors, issues and data may be pertinent as it considers development of a rulemaking on these requirements.
The session will allow interested persons to present comments, views and relevant new research. This listening session will be recorded, and a transcript of the public meeting will be placed in the docket for FMCSA’s consideration, as well as all comments submitted during the session. The listening session will also be webcast via the Internet.
The listening session will be held on Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, 1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, Texas, from 10 a.m. until noon CT and from 2:30 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. CT, or earlier, if all participants wishing to express their views have done so.
I'm a trainer and driver with a charter bus company in mississippi. The greatest safety issue I deal with in the industry is driver fatigue. The biggest offender to driver fatigue, is the loop hole in hours of service that allows a driver to go off duty when he reaches an event. The driver is off duty but is in most cases allowed no means of actually getting needed rest. If a driver stays at an event long enough he can actually clear his hours, and start fresh. The work day can extend into a 24 hr period with the driver never having rested. Because a charter bus drivers responsibilites exceed that of hauling freight, and rises to the level of safety for the lives of his passengers. I feel a concerted effort on the part of the FMCSA should be made to provide a more practical approach to the hours of service in the charter bus industry. Example: Your 15 hour work day starts when you pretrip your bus, it ends 15 hours from that time regardless of what goes on between those hours.
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