Will New HOS Restart Rules Be Suspended?

A new amendment proposed by Senator Susan Collins of Maine is attempting to postpone the restart provision laid out in the motor carrier Hours-of-Service regulations for a period of one year. The restart provision, which began in July 2013, requires truckers who work the maximum amount of hours per week to rest for at least two nights per week from 1 AM-5 AM. The truckers are allowed to "restart" their workweek hours after 34 consecutive off-duty hours, but are only allowed to utilize the provision once every seven days.

Senator Collins' amendment to postpone the restart provision was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee this week on a 21-9 vote; the goal of the one year postponement is to allow the FMCSA to perform a study of the provision's effect on driver safety and productivity. The restart provision has been in effect since July 2013 and has drawn the ire of much of the trucking industry, with opponents of the provision citing a loss of productivity due to an "unnecessary" and "unwarranted" regulation.

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) supported the measure proposed by Senator Collins, stating that the restart provision is "unsupported by science" and has caused negative side effects not only for the trucking industry, but for the economy as a whole. The ATA is not the only stakeholder celebrating the passing of the amendment-- groups and businesses such as UPS, FedEx, and a host of other supporters submitted a petition letter regarding their displeasure with the regulation prior to the amendment passing the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The letter was written to explain the ATA's position on the restart provision; it outlined the challenges the trucking industry faces due to the regulation, such as reduced driver wages and increased traffic on roads during the daytime due to time restrictions on drivers. In its letter the ATA refuted the FMCSA's claim that the restart provision would only impact a small number of drivers who were already driving excessive hours by presenting data from logging devices that illustrated the indirect negative impact of the restrictions while pointing out that drivers have received no additional safety/health benefit from the regulation.

A 2013 study by the ATA revealed that though the FMCSA predicted a net benefit of $133 million as a result of the restart provision, the net annual cost of the provision could be as high as $376 million.