The U.S. truck driver hours-of-service rules implemented in 2013 and suspended in 2015 will remain on-hold, an Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration explained.
The suspended HOS rules
The regulations were suspended as part of the 2015 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. The trucking industry was not fond of the HOS rules as a whole. They were developed in 2011 and implemented in 2013 for a short period of time before being placed on hold. The HOS rules placed new restrictions on truckers that were not in place from 2003 to 2013.
The suspended portions of the HOS restrictions state that all 34-hour restarts – an off duty stretch that “restarts” the work week – include two back-to-back periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. and that such restarts may only be used once per week. The moratorium on rules was intended to last until Sept. 30, 2015. Truckers were opposed to the rule, in part, because it made it tough to actually restart in 34 hours.
No plans to bring back HOS rules soon
The suspension is ongoing and there are not plans to to end it anytime soon, Larry Minor, associate administrator for policy at the FMCSA, explained at the SMC3 JumpStart 2016 conference, according to the Journal of Commerce (JOC). Minor added that there is no need for the trucking industry to worry about a sudden recall of the rule.
“In the event we ever get to the point where we’re going to reinstate those provisions, we will definitely give everybody a heads up and publish a notice in the Federal Register about how we’re going to go forward,” he said.
The HOS rule suspension included a provision requiring the FMCSA to study the safety impact of such regulations, the JOC reported. Once the research is concluded the agency will report its findings back to Congress. This required study is the reason why the suspension has held past the Sept. 30, 2015, deadline. The government is still reviewing the findings to determine whether the HOS rules should be put back in place. In addition, a second report is being finished up now. Once it does make a decision, the rules will not be implemented immediately, as Minor indicated, truck carriers will have time to adjust – that is if the choice is to end the suspension.