Court mostly upholds new Hours of Service rule

On August 2, 2013 Hours of service rules were upheld in a court of law with one exception.

The U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected most of the American Trucking Association’s (ATA) arguments against the recent changes to the Hours of Service rules that began enforcement on July 1, 2013. The only portion of the rule to be vacated was the required 30 minute break for short-haul drivers. Short haul drivers are those drivers who operate within a 150 mile radius of their home base from which they are dispatched.

Many are now asking why short-haul drivers are different from long haul drivers in regards to the 30 minute break requirement. The court opinion noted on this subject that “the HOS regulations cover not only the ‘long-haul’ truck drivers who regularly sacrifice days, weeks, and even months with their families to make the American economy go round, but ‘short-haul’ drivers as well, those who run within a local area.” Then opinion goes on to quote FMCSA itself to the effect that “short-haul trucking work has far more in common with other occupations than it does with regional or long-haul trucking” and “[s]hort-haul drivers rarely drive anything close to 11 hours, and available statistics show that they are greatly under-represented in fatigue-related accidents.” Now it is up to the FMCSA to formally rescind the rule or try to better justify their position, this must include more research to prove their point. Popular opinion indicates the FMCSA will just rescind the ruling in regards to short-haul drivers.

The current hours rule became largely effective July 1 and, along with the mandatory 30-minute break after eight on-duty hours, it limits the use of a 34-hour workweek restart to just once in 168 hours and requires that the restart include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods.

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