The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will hold at least two more additional listening sessions as part of its hours of service feedback tour, the agency is set to announce. One will be held this Friday (Sept. 28) at the Guilty by Association Truck Show in Joplin, Missouri, at 4 States Trucks headquarters. The session will take place from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. local time.
The other is scheduled for Oct. 2 (next Tuesday) in Orlando, Florida, at the MetroPlan Orlando — 250 S. Orange Ave., Suite 200. It will take place 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. local time.
Both sessions will be streamed live on FMCSA’s website for those interested in watching or participating remotely. The listening sessions are intended to gather feedback from trucking industry stakeholders and the public about potential reforms to hours of service regulations. The chief points FMCSA is seeking feedback on are the 30-minute break required by current hours of service rules and allowing 14-hour rule flexibility via split-sleeper berth options or an extension of the 14-hour clock when adverse conditions arise. The agency is also evaluating whether to extend short-haul drivers’ daily on-duty time from 12 hours to 14 hours.
Comments can be filed at this link until Oct. 10 on the agency’s Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the vehicle by which FMCSA is accepting public comments on the potential hours of service reforms.