Truck drivers will continue to be limited to driving only 11 hours within a 14-hour duty period, after which they must go off duty for at least 10 hours under an Interim Final Rule made public Tuesday, Dec. 11, by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
The IFR also retains the provision of the hours rules that allows drivers to restart their cumulative on-duty limits by taking 34 consecutive hours off duty. FMCSA also is seeking comment by late February on its methodology and on safety data that was not available when the agency issued its most recent version of the rules in 2005.
The agency issued the new hours-of-service rule in response to the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacating those two key provisions of the existing rules. The IFR takes effect Dec. 27 — the same day that a stay granted by the appeals court expires. In order to ensure no gap in coverage of the rules, the IFR temporarily reinstates those two provisions while the agency gathers public comment on its actions and the underlying safety analysis before issuing a final rule.
In its July opinion, the court voided the 11 hours of driving and the 34-hour restart on the grounds that the public didn’t have adequate notice of FMCSA’s methodology for analyzing crash risk. The IFR was developed after new data showed that safety levels have been maintained since the 11-hour driving limit was first implemented in 2003, FMCSA said.
“This proposal keeps in place hours-of-service limits that improve highway safety by ensuring that drivers are rested and ready to work,” FMCSA Administrator John Hill said. “The data makes clear that these rules continue to protect drivers, make our roads safer and keep our economy moving.”
After the IFR becomes effective Dec. 27, there will be a 60-day period for the public to comment on the proposal and its underlying safety analysis. Further analysis after that could take “a few weeks or even a few months,” Hill said. Once a final rule has been established, FMCSA will review longstanding concerns from drivers and carriers over the provision that restricts the sleeper berth split to eight-hour and two-hour periods, Hill said.
Hill noted that the agency also is working to finalize a proposed rule that would require drivers and trucking companies with serious or repeat hours-of-service violations to track their hours of service using electronic onboard recorders.
