In July, the US Court of Appeals had ordered changes in the existing Hours of Service (HOS) regulations. Current regulations call for 11 hours of driving, followed by 10 hours of rest and a 34-hour reset. The FMCSA had requested that they remain in effect for a full year. The Court ordered HOS regulations changed to limit long haul truck drivers to a daily driving time of 10 hours followed by 8 hours of rest with no weekly reset permitted.
In its response the FMCSA said, “We are carefully evaluating our options in light of the court's ruling. Make no mistake, maintaining the safety of America's highways continues to be our priority.” The American Trucking Associations (ATA) had requested the Court to delay implementation of its ruling, arguing that truckers and their customers couldn’t immediately shift to a different HOS ruling. Though the delay granted was not as long as ATA had requested, half a loaf seemed better than none at all.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) had asked the Court to review whether FMCSA had adequately given the public notice of the changes it made to the sleeper-berth rule, and whether the agency had adequately considered the effect of the 14-hour rule to discourage drivers from taking short rest breaks. The Court refused to review the matter.
