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Introduction

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has proposed new hours-of-service regulations to replace the current regulations, CFR 49 §395. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was made public on April 25, 2000 with a public comment period of 90 days which would end on July 31, 2000. Subsequently, Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater granted an extension of the comment period for an additional 90 days to October 31, 2000 and just recently again extended the comment period to December 15^th, 2000.

Premise for the Hours-of-Service Regulations Change

The current hours-of-service regulations were promulgated on December 29, 1937. There have been some modifications to the regulations over the years, notably in 1962 and 1996, but generally the regulations have remained the same since1937.

It is generally agreed upon by regulators, the motor carrier industry and Congress that the hours-of-service regulations are outdated and do not properly apply to the current economy or motor carrier industry. The equipment, roadways and truck driver skill levels have dramatically changed since the initial hours-of-service regulations were developed in the 1930's and the economy’s dependence on motor carrier transportation has significantly increased. The regulations simply have not kept pace with these changes.

In 1995 Congress passed the ICC Termination Act which eliminated the Interstate Commerce Commission and assigned the remaining regulatory authority of the ICC to the Federal Highway Administration. The Office of Motor Carriers, which was under the Federal Highway Administration, was charged with promulgation and enforcement of the regulations. Since then the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has been formed, under a mandate by Congress, assuming the regulatory and enforcement duties of the former Office of Motor Carriers.

As part of the ICC Termination Act, FHWA was mandated to promulgate new hours-of-service regulations. FHWA published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on November 5, 1996 with a comment period extending until June 30,1997.

Since the publishing of the ANPRM FHWA, Office of Motor Carriers and now the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have reviewed the comments, conducted studies on and researched the issue of fatigue on the commercial vehicle driver. The culmination of this review is the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Hours of Service of Drivers, issued April 25^th, 2000 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The primary objective of the proposed hours-of service regulations, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, is "to reduce the number of fatigue-related truck and motorcoach crashes". This objective is in keeping with Secretary Slater’s goal of reducing heavy truck fatalities by 50% by 2009.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s rulemaking process has centered solely around the issue of rest/sleep of commercial motor vehicle drivers. This issue has been broadly labeled by the FMCSA as "fatigue" but in fact has only addressed the single fatigue factor of sleep/sleep deprivation/circadian rhythm. This single focus is exemplified by FHWA’s introduction of the NPRM which states: "There is general consensus that modifications to current HOS regulations would substantially improve CMV safety by reducing the fatigue factor in CMV-involved crashes. There is evidence that many crashes occur as a result of CMV driver error, that driver error is often the result of inattention, that inattention can often be the result of fatigue, that fatigue which causes inattention is often related to sleep deprivation, and that sleep deprivation is often related to working conditions of drivers".

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has formed the proposed hours-of-service regulations around the framework of six standards.

â Promote scheduling, dispatching and operating practices minimizing the use of tired, inattentive drivers.

ã Make available for each driver a consecutive minimum off-duty period of time each workday and workweek for the purpose of obtaining restorative sleep.

ä Make available for each driver an additional minimum off-duty period of time each workday, during the workday or afterwards, to allow a driver to tend to personal necessities and rest at the drivers discretion.

å Empower the driver to accept or refuse dispatch or continuation of a trip based upon the driver’s assessment of his/her alertness level.

æ Enhance motor carrier’s and CMV driver’s knowledge and use of safety techniques, devices, and practices that avoid driver impairment due to lack of sleep.

ç Require the use of automated time EOBR technology to monitor the work-rest cycles of long-haul and regional drivers and compliance with the rules, as well as encourage the use of technology for other drivers.

For purposes of brevity and simplicity the proposed hours-of-service regulations are incorporated into this analysis by reference, through the Tuesday May 2, 2000 Federal Register entitled "Part II, Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 49 CFR Parts 350, et al., Hours of Service of Drivers; Drivers Rest and Sleep for Safe Operations; Proposed Rule.