Arguments heard in hours of service lawsuit
By Dave Hannon -- Purchasing, 12/6/2006 10:52:00 AM
A three-judge panel heard arguments on Monday in a lawsuit challenging the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s current Hours of Service (HOS) rule for truckers.
Two groups, Public Citizen and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association have filed lawsuits against the FMCSA challenging its 2005 revision to the HOS rule. The two suits were eventually combined into one and arguments were presented to U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Monday.
In a statement released the OOIDA said its suit is based on three main points:
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The regulations do not fulfill a congressional mandate to address loading and unloading;
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The regulations do not comply with the court’s previous direction to consider the impact of the regulations on drivers’ health; and
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FMCSA did not follow the Administrative Procedures Act in arriving at the regulation.
The lawyer arguing for OOIDA said of the three arguments, the three-judge panel seemed most interested in the contention FMCSA did an end-around of the Administrative Procedures Act, which dictates that a proposed regulation must be “reasonably specific” so the public has at least a general idea of what the final regulation will be. OOIDA says the way the HOS regulations were originally proposed offered too many variations to be addressed in comments before enactment.
Public Citizen’s suit is centered around the rule lets truckers drive for 11 consecutive hours before taking a break, which they feel is too long. According to a statement on the Public Citizen web site, in 2004, Public Citizen successfully sued FMCSA over a similar rule created by the agency in 2003. The U.S. Court of Appeals struck down that rule because the agency did not consider its impact on truck driver health.
According to a report on eTrucker.com, Bonnie Robin-Vergeer, an attorney for Public Citizen, argued that, “We have extensive evidence about the sharp increase in crash risk after eight hours of driving.”
According to the OOIDA, the case is now in the hands of the judges, but their opinion will not decide what the rule should be. If the court overturns the rule it will simply send the FMCSA back to the drawing board.
What do you think?
Purchasing wants your thoughts on the current HOS rule and the lawsuit challenging it. Have you noticed any change in service since the current version of the rule took effect?
Take a short online survey here to provide your input.
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