Trucking insiders may fight new federal proposals in court

The new proposal on hours of service by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) was designed to increase trucking safety. However, the plan is under scrutiny from many industry organization who are not threatening to take it to the courts if they are made final, The Trucker reports.

Under the proposal, operators are now only permitted to be on the clock 10 hours per day rather than the 11 hours that is currently in place. Furthermore, the plan requires many individuals to not drive between the hours of 12 am and 6 am.

However, American Trucking Associations (ATA) officials suggested that many of these operators will now be on the road at peak traffic hours.

"The 34-hour restart is one that really upsets me a lot," Barbara Windsor, chairperson of the ATA. "Telling us drivers have to sleep between midnight and 6 a.m. I don’t know where FMCSA came up with this idea."

According to the FMCSA safety progress report, more than 9,000 compliance reviews were conducted at the federal level in 2010. Furthermore, nearly 6,000 occurred at the state level.

By Andie Martin

Trucking insiders may fight new federal proposals in court

Thursday, March 17th, 2011