AGC submitted a second set of comments to the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) on its proposal to alter the truck driver Hours-of-Service regulations. AGC’s comments addressed new studies the FMCSA placed in the public docket to support its effort to change the rules.
AGC noted: “These studies demonstrate the very substantial differences between the driving patterns in various industries and different factors that impact different driver fatigue and crashes. AGC believes that these studies highlight the fact that a one size fits all rule is not the best way to approach the issue of driver fatigue. AGC continues to support the current portion of the HOS rule that is specific to construction. Furthermore, AGC believes that the findings in these new studies do not support altering the 11 hour driving and 14 hour on-duty times as contained in the current rules.”
FMCSA’s proposed rule suggests the following changes:
- Maximum driving time within each driving window from the existing 11 hours to 10 hours.
- Maximum on-duty time within each driving window from the existing 14 hours to 13 hours.
- Allowed consecutive hours of driving would be limited to 7 hours or less since the last off-duty period of at least 30 minutes.
- Define on-duty as not including any time resting in a parked Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV).