DC Court Rejects FMCSA’s 11 Hour Driving Limit in HOS Rule
July 24 2007

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today issued a long anticipated opinion that may have a significant impact on federal hours-of-service rules for drivers of commercial motor vehicles. For decades, truckers could drive for 10 hours at a time. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has long attempted to change the rule to allow truckers another hour of driving time. FMCSA decided to increase the driving time in 2003, but the D.C. appeals court struck it down in 2004. Congress put the rule back later that year and it went into effect in 2005. Today the D.C. court again vacated the additional drive hour and as a provision that allows an off-duty time of 34 hours to start the weekly on-duty limits. The Court indicated that it felt that FMCSA did not appropriately justify its rationale for the rules.

The three-judge panel stated that FMCSA failed to provide an opportunity for the public to comment on a statistical model the agency used to determine the risks connected to driver fatigue. That model was used as the basis for adopting the 11-hour rule and 34-hour weekly restart rule.

In releasing its ruling, the court granted a petition from the safety advocacy group Public Citizen whose attorneys argued that the model failed to take into account the cumulative fatigue caused by increased weekly driving and working hours allowed by the 34-hour restart. Using the restart option, a driver could have gained an extra 17 hours of driving time in a seven-day work week.

The decision today effectively repealed the 2005 rule and will take effect Sept. 14 unless FMCSA gets another hearing.  FMCSA has 45 days to request a rehearing before any changes take effect. If the agency does not request such a hearing, the court will issue a final order within 7 days after that. In the meantime, the existing hours-of-service rules remain in effect.

FMCSA issued a statement saying, "We are analyzing the decision issued [July 24] to understand the court's findings as well as determine the agency's next steps to prevent driver fatigue, ensure safe and efficient motor carrier operations and save lives."