Motor Carrier Hours of Service Final Rule Published

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published its much-litigated final rule on hours of service for commercial truckers yesterday. The Final Rule is attached here.

See my post of November 30, 2011 in advance of the Congressional hearing on the latest version of the proposed rule.

As to the Final Rule, the FMCSA decided to keep the 11 hour daily driving maximum in place, rather than a 10 hour limit it initially proposed. The reasoning for abandoning the proposed 10 hour limit is:

"In the absence of compelling scientific evidence demonstrating the safety benefits of a 10-hour driving limit, as opposed to an 11-hour limit, and confronted with strong evidence that an 11-hour limit could well provide higher net benefits, the Agency has concluded that adequate and reasonable grounds under the Administrative Procedures Act for adopting a new regulation on this issue do not exist and that the current driving limit should therefore be allowed to stand for now." (See page 81135 of the Rule).

The Rule also contains various charts indicating the projected costs of the various hours of service options considered. The Agency concluded that the 11 hour rule: "represents a small fraction of one percent of trucking industry revenues and is the cost-equivalent of less than a 3 cent-a-gallon increase in the price of diesel fuel to the long-haul industry."

That an economic cost-benefit won out in the final decision is indicated by this comment on why the originally-proposed 10 hour maximum was rejected: "The 10-hour limit has positive benefits in approximately half the cases, with the 11-hour limit having substantially higher net benefits than the 10-hour limit in most cases. A 10-hour limit, on the other hand might save more lives and prevent more crashes than an 11-hour limit, but at a higher cost." (Also on page 81135).

House to hold Hearing on Trucking Hours of Service

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform's Subcommitee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending, is holding a hearing today which represents the lastest in the on-going saga of the Federal Hours of Service regulations for commercial truckers.

The attached written testimony of FMCSA Anne S. Ferro, provides a concise summary of the tortured history of the hours of service regulation over the last 8 years. Ultimately, the latest iteration of the FMSCA rule reduces the current consecutive driving time to 10 from 11 hours, with certain mandatory rest periods.

The prepared testimony of industry groups, and safety advocates, is available at this link. The prepared statements of the witnesses can be viewed by clicking the name of the individual witnesses.

The title of today's hearing: "The Price of Uncertainty: How Much Could DOT's Proposed Billion Dollar Service Rules Cost Consumers This Holiday Season," rather bluntly indicates the Committee's focus on the potential economic impact of shortened hours of service.