Hours of Service: Changing the Rules
In the commercial trucking industry, there is always tension between highway safety and making money. The on-going debate about changes to the Hours of Service regulations show the kind of compromises made to accommodate these competing interests. (For an introduction to the Hours of Service regulations, see our previous post.)
In 1995, Congress ordered the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) to revise the Hours of Service regulations, the rules governing how long truck drivers may work before resting. The job fell to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) when that agency was created in 1999.
In May 2000, the FMCSA proposed new rules and invited public comment. The final rule adopted in April 2003, however, diluted the safety protections afforded in the proposed rules. The changes to the final regulations lead consumer safety advocates to challenge the new rule in Court. In its decision invalidating the new rule, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia criticized the rule changes as “arbitrary and capricious.” (The Truck Safety Coalition describes the unsafe features of the new regulations here.) The Court criticized the new rule for, among other things, increasing from 10 to 11 the number of consecutive hours drivers may drive before resting and for failing to require the use of electronic on-board recording devices to assure compliance with the rules despite evidence that these changes may be detrimental to public safety.
In July 2004, Congress temporarily rescued the new regulation by allowing it to become effective until the FMSCA considered and addressed the federal Court’s criticisms. In August 2005, FMSCA did just that by promulgating virtually the identical rule all over again. This time, FMSCA simply supported the changes with additional research and written findings.
Consumer advocacy groups again challenged the regulation in Court, claiming that the changes were detrimental to public safety. In its July 2007 Opinion, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals again invalidated portions of the new regulations, essentially finding that the FMSCA failed to publicly disclose its methodology in studying the new rules in time to allow public comment as required by law.
As recently as December 2007, the U.S. Senate held hearings about the new Hours of Service regulations. (These hearing can by viewed at C-Span website.) The debate, as it has for more than a decade, centered around the competition between public safety and trucking company profits. That debate, no doubt, will continue for years to come.
