News items related to hours of service rules that came across the wire today:
FMCSA ends data collection phase, begins analysis in 34-hour restart study
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced Oct. 1 it has concluded the data collection phase of the Congressionally required study on 2013’s 34-hour restart rules. It has now begun the data analysis phase and says it hopes to produce a report by year’s end. The report must be sent to the DOT’s Office of Inspector General for review prior to its submission to Congress.
Congress last December suspended the 2013-implemented changes governing truck operators’ use of a weekly 34-hour HOS restart pending FMCSA’s study. The suspended rules include the requirement that a driver’s restart include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods and the once-per-week limit of the restart’s use. Those rules will stay suspended until the agency submits its report to Congress, which comes after the OIG has reviewed the study.
FMCSA collected data for five months on two groups of drivers: One abiding by pre-2013 rules and one following the 2013 requirements. The agency studied 220 drivers, it says, capturing more than 3,000 driver duty cycles.
The agency studied the drivers’ fatigue levels with alertness tests and by capturing critical event data such as crashes and near-crashes.
