Hours of Service Case Reaches Settlement, Obama Administration Agrees to Reexamine Rule to Rid America's Roads of Tired Truckers

ARLINGTON, VA (November 10, 2009) – The Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) have agreed to conduct a new round of rulemaking that could result in reducing the current unsafe hours of service rule for truck drivers issued by the Bush administration in 2003.

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Before the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security
Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation - United States Senate - December 19, 2007

Good morning, my name is Daphne Izer and I am the founder of Parents Against Tired Truckers (P.A.T.T.).  P.A.T.T. is a member of the Truck Safety Coalition and my testimony reflects the views and position of our coalition.  I would like to begin by thanking Senator Lautenberg, Ranking Member Smith and the other Members of the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security for inviting me to participate in this critical hearing on the issue of truck driver fatigue and the Hours of Service (HOS) rule.

A federal appeals court today struck down for the second time a Bush administration regulation that increased the number of hours that truck drivers are permitted to drive without rest.

By LISE FISHER - Sun staff writer / February 19. 2006 6:01AM

A truck driver carrying a gym bag heads for the showers at the Pilot Travel Center in Ocala Thursday evening. Richard Darley has been driving rigs since 1970 and he knows something about driver fatigue.

Turning Back the Clock on Truck Safety: Major Unsafe Features of the 2005 Hours of Service (HOS) Rule

• Longer Driving Shifts:

The final rule allows commercial drivers to drive a maximum of 11 consecutive hours, instead of 10 consecutive hours under the prior HOS rules, before a required rest period.
After 8 hours of consecutive driving, crashes increase dramatically, and even more steeply in the 10th and 11th hours of consecutive driving.

11/18/2005 — The crash risk for truck drivers in the last hour of a now legal 11-hour day behind the wheel is more than three times higher than during the first hour, a Penn State research team has found.

For 60 years, federal rules limited truckers to driving 10 consecutive hours. However, in January 2004, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration raised the limit to 11 hours and reaffirmed the change in October this year.

By: Max BakerStar-Telegram Staff Writer

FORT WORTH — In what one attorney says is an indication of a “disturbing pattern of dangerous activity” by the nation’s trucking industry, a Fort Worth waste-disposal company became the second local trucking firm this month to be hit with a multimillion-dollar payout after one of its vehicles was involved in a fatal crash.

CRASH and P.A.T.T. win Court Ruling -- new hours-of-service BLOCKED -- but remain in place until new FMCSA ruling
July 16, 2004

Washington, D.C. – In a major victory for the safety of motorists and truck drivers, a federal court on July 16, 2004 unanimously struck down a Bush administration regulation that increased both the consecutive hours and the weekly hours that truck drivers are permitted to drive without rest.

1. Do trucks pose a significant safety problem?

Yes. More than 5,000 people have been killed annually in truck-related crashes for the past several years. Large trucks are severely over represented in annual crash figures. Although they are only 3 percent of the registered vehicles, they are responsible for 12 to 13 percent of passenger vehicle occupant deaths each year Ð about 4,000 fatalities.

Tue Mar 8, 3:38 PM ET By LESLIE MILLER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Wal-Mart and other retailers are lobbying Congress to extend the workday for truckers to 16 hours, something labor unions and safety advocates say would make roadways more dangerous for all drivers.

Fatigue Is A Killer: Operator fatigue and sleep deprivation are serious, worldwide safety problems in all transportation modes. Operator fatigue has been identified by national governments and the European Union as a major contributor to air, maritime, railroad, and passenger vehicle crashes. In the United States, the Department of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board have cited fatigue as a major factor in truck crash causation. These crashes lead to losses of life – nearly 5,000 deaths annually in the U.S. – and the infliction of severe injuries.