The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced that it will hold three public listening sessions in January seeking comments on a potential new “hours of service” (HOS) regulation. The HOS regulation places limitations on when, and for how long, commercial vehicle drivers may operate.

In November 2009, the FMCSA adopted a final rule instituting the "11-hour rule," which allows drivers to drive up to 11 hours within a 14-hour window from the beginning of the workday following at least 10 consecutive hours off duty. The rule also follows the "34-hour restart," which allows motor carriers and drivers to continue to restart calculations of the weekly on-duty limits after the driver has at least 34 consecutive hours off duty.

In addition, the rule includes a separate limitation on construction drivers, allowing a “restart” after 24 consecutive hours off-duty. AED and industry allies have protected the lower “restart” time for construction drivers during past revisions to the rule. The rule has a major impact both on equipment distributors and on our contractor customers.

The final rule was challenged in court, and as part of the settlement, the FMCSA must submit a new notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on HOS before August 2010. These listening sessions will help the agency draft the NPRM.

 Specifically, FMCSA is seeking information on reasonable rest and on-duty time periods for drivers, the viability of the “34-hour restart” standard, and the impact of HOS standards on shippers and receivers determining loading and unloading times. All comments from the listening sessions will be transcribed and placed in the rulemaking docket for the FMCSA's consideration.
The first listening session will be Jan. 19, 2010, in Arlington, Va.. Subsequent listening sessions will be Jan. 22, 2010, in Dallas Fort Worth Airport, Texas; and Jan. 25, 2010, in Los Angeles, Calif. All listening sessions will begin at 9 a.m. local time and end at 5 p.m.

For more information visit: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/E9-31194.htm