The National Shippers Strategic Transportation Council on Tuesday, March 27, announced that it has intervened in the court appeal brought by Public Citizen and other interests as to the most recent hours-of-service final rule by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. NASSTRAC anticipates that Public Citizen is likely to repeat past arguments that driving time for truck drivers should be reduced by at least one hour per day.
The most recent FMCSA decision is being challenged by Public Citizen because the agency declined to cut daily driving time, and in intervening in the court case to defend that decision, NASSTRAC joins the American Trucking Associations. ATA also has filed its own court case on appeal, which has been consolidated with the Public Citizen case.
ATA is challenging the modified 34-hour restart rules and other actions by FMCSA, which NASSTRAC said adversely affects motor carriers’ operational efficiency without enhancing highway safety. The Truckload Carriers Association also has filed a motion to intervene and join ATA.
NASSTRAC said that for a decade it has defended hours-of-service rules that improve highway safety while recognizing the need of motor carriers and their customers for reliability, efficient use of capacity and productivity. Under the previous hours-of-service rules, crash and fatality rates went down, the group said.
