The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will hold four listening sessions in January to gather information and comments as the agency prepares a rulemaking proposal on hours-of-service requirements for property-carrying commercial vehicle drivers. The agency wants to hear about topics such as rest and on-duty time, sleeper berth use and the effect the current hours-of-service rule has on loading and unloading times for drivers.
A record of the listening sessions will be placed in the public docket for the rulemaking. “Public input is critical to the rulemaking process,” says FMCSA Administrator Anne S. Ferro. “The public listening sessions will provide opportunities for a broad cross-section of stakeholders to present views, comments and relevant research on this forthcoming federal safety regulation proposal.”
FMCSA has scheduled three listening sessions to encourage public participation on this issue and will schedule a fourth listening session in the coming days:
FMCSA has posted five areas of discussion on its website in preparation for the listening sessions. The topics are rest and on-duty time, restart to the 60- and 70-hour rule, sleeper berth use, loading and unloading time, and general. The agency says it presented the questions for discussion, and that it would not necessarily include them in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking but would request similar information in that document.
Answers should be based upon the experience and information participants can share with FMCSA. Each submission must include the agency name and docket number, which is FMCSA 2004-19608. Comments may be submitted via:
For more information on the listening sessions, including several questions on possible alternatives to the current hours-of-service requirements, visit the FMCSA website at www.fmcsa.dot.gov. Interested persons also may contact David Miller, Office of Policy Plans and Regulation, U.S. Department of Transportation, FMCSA, at 202-366-5011.
