ATA Files at Appeals Court, Says 4 Areas of HOS Final Rule are "Arbitrary and Capricious"
On March 15, 2012, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) filed a Statement of Issues with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In its filing, ATA identifies four areas where the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's December 2011 hours-of-service (HOS) final rule falls short of legal standards for regulatory changes. ATA contends these aspects of the rule are "arbitrary and capricious" and should be overturned.
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Specifically, ATA questioned (1) changes to the restart provision requiring that it include two consecutive periods between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.; (2) limits on the frequency with which a driver may use the restart; (3) the requirement that a mandatory 30-minute break from driving also exclude all other on-duty activity; and (4) narrowing -- without prior notice -- certain exceptions to drive-time regulations for local delivery drivers.
Background on HOS Final Rule
FMCSA's December 2011 HOS final rule, among other things, limits the use of the 34-hour restart provision to once every 168 hours and requires that anyone using the 34-hour restart provision have as part of the restart two periods that include 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. It also includes a provision that allows truckers to drive if they have had a break of at least 30 minutes, at a time of their choosing, sometime within the previous 8 hours. The rule did not include a change to the current daily driving limit of 11 hours, or the 60- and 70-hour limits. In addition, the sleeper-berths rules did not change.
This final rule took effect on February 27, 2012, but compliance with a number of provisions is delayed until July 1, 2013. (See ITT's Online Archives 11122322 for summary of the HOS final rule and 12030913 for summary of the provisions that took effect February 27, 2012.)
(On February 14, 2012, ATA announced it filed a lawsuit against FMCSA's December 2011 HOS final rule. See ITT's Online Archives 12021420 for summary.
See ITT's Online Archives 12021323 for summary of FMCSA's interest in a supplemental proposed rule that would make the use of electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) mandatory for motor carriers required to maintain Records of Duty Status (RODS).
See ITT's Online Archives 11032520 for summary of the over 25,000 comments submitted on the HOS proposed rule, many of which were in opposition to the proposal.)
ATA's Statement of Issues is available here.