Overturn Truck Driver Hours of Service

In the petition, the groups asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to overturn the hours-of-service rule issued Nov. 13, 2008.

The Bush hours-of-service rule increased the number of daily and weekly hours truckers can drive to 11 consecutive hours (instead of 10) each shift, and up to 17 hours more driving (77 hours instead of 60) each week. The rule dramatically expands driving and work hours by cutting the off-duty rest and recovery time at the end of the week from a full weekend of 50 or more hours off duty to as little as only 34 hours off-duty.

In addition, the Bush administration failed to consider the health and medical consequences of letting truckers drive and work substantially more hours. In the current case, even though the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) agrees that drivers may pay a cost in

terms of their health and well-being, FMCSA rejected consideration of this serious problem in the benefit-cost analysis.

The groups have previously won unanimous decisions from two separate panels of the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., in 2004 and 2007, only to have the Bush administration defiantly impose the same rule each time. The Court of Appeals, in each decision, lambasted the FMCSA for its lack of reasoning and failure to provide essential information to the public.