FMCSA reopens comment period on hours-of-service proposed rule change   

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMSCA) has reopened its hours-of-service proposed rule to public comments in order to allow review of four new studies. The four studies are related to driver fatigue, and can be accessed at the FMSCA web site. The titles are "The Impact of Driving, Non-Driving Work, and Rest Breaks on Driving Performance in Commercial Motor Vehicle Operations"; "Hours of Service and Driver Fatigue: Drive Characteristics Research"; "Analysis of the Relationship between Operator Cumulative Driving Hours and Involvement in Preventable Collisions" ; and "Potential Causes of Driver Fatigue: A Study on Transit Bus Operations in Florida".

I share the ATA's skepticism regarding the new research. "ATA believes decisions about the future of this important regulation should be made based on sound science and research and not political pressure, but we're clearly skeptical of new research that has been discovered or generated by DOT at the '11th hour,'" ATA's president, Bill Graves, said in a statement.

FMCSA is under a court-ordered deadline to post a final rule by July 26 and appears to be extending the comment period to June 8.

The fastest and easiest way to make your voice heard is via the web. Go to the government's regulatory web site, and click on "Submit a comment". In the dialogue box for "Enter Keyword or ID" enter: FMCSA-2004-19608 and click on "search". In the far right hand column of the search results click "submit a comment". I suggest you draft your comment in advance as the site allows only 20 minutes to type in your comment, which can be no more than 2000 words. You can cut and paste your drafted comment into the web site.