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The
deadline for comments to the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration's
proposed hours-of-service regulation came on December 15th. The FMCSA will not
accept further comments but will complete the process of reviewing the 70,000+
comments they have already received. This in itself is a daunting task for
FMCSA. In the 2001 FY Budget Congress prohibited (by withholding
funding) FMCSA from implementing the proposed regulations this fiscal year.
FMCSA is free however, to study and research the issue of driver fatigue and
propose regulations next fiscal year. FMCSA has 4 basic
options:
-
Propose the same proposed HOS
regulation next fiscal year.
-
Propose the currently proposed HOS
regulation with changes.
-
Propose an entirely new HOS
regulation.
-
Leave the current HOS regulation in
place.
The prospect that FMCSA would offer the
currently proposed regulation, an entirely new regulation or leave the current
HOS regulation in place is extremely slim. More than likely, they will propose a
changed version of their currently proposed regulation.
The next 10 months will be critical to all
affected, to voice their ideas and concerns and to furnish FMCSA with concrete
proposals on how they believe the regulation should be written. In defense of
FMCSA, they received over 70,000 comments telling them their proposed HOS
regulation was junk. However, they received very few comments suggesting ways to
make it better.
We all need to come together and help
FMCSA develop a regulation that will improve safety, productivity and is enforceable.
The regulation proposed by FMCSA in 2000 was overly complex, based on bad
science, would not have provided any safety benefit and would have been
impossible to enforce.
ATA has suggested to FMCSA that they hire
an outside consulting service to research and devise a palatable HOS regulation
that will accomplish the stated goal.......................reduction of
fatalities. Although it is unlikely FMCSA will go to this length, it is
extremely important that the next round of HOS regulations is based on objective
evidence, careful consideration and determination to produce a quality
regulation.
A regulation produced in the midst of the
trucking industry and its special interest opponents lobbing bombs at each other
is not an ideal environment to consider safety regulations.
Get involved in this process over the next
10 months. You will be glad you did and FMCSA will probably welcome your
participation.
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