Welcome to the Truck Safety Coalition

To view all of the content on this site you will need to download the newest Macromedia Flash Player

HOURS OF SERVICE / FATIGUE

Safety Groups and Truck Drivers Oppose Two U.S. DOT “Technical Amendments” to Reauthorization Bill

   1    Amends 20-Year Law Protecting Health of Truck & Bus Drivers

   2    Legislates Longer Driving Hours and Less Time off Duty

More Driving +Less Time Off +No PROTECTION OF Driver Health = Unsafe Truck Operations

The “New” Hours of Service Rule Means More Work, More Fatigue, Less Safety

   •    The hours of service rule that went into effect January, 2004 is not supported by scientific research and the facts but forces truck drivers to operate trucks longer hours:

   •    Up to 88 hours in 8 days instead of the maximum 70 under the old rule;

   •    Up to 77 hours in 7 days instead of the maximum 60 under the old rule;

   •    Gives drivers only 34 hours off before putting commercial drivers back behind the wheel for another 77 or 88 hours of driving;

   •    Truck drivers do not receive overtime pay because they are exempt under the 1930s Fair Labor Standards Act;

Compare U.S.DOT Hours of Service of Truck Drivers and Airline Pilots

   •    Airline Pilots – Under FAA rules commercial pilots fly a maximum of 30 hours a week, 100 hours a month, and 1,000 hours a year.   In the past three years, 34 people have died in commercial airplane crashes.

   •    Truck Drivers – Under the new hours of service rule truck drivers can drive for 77 hours a week, 330 hours a month, and 4,000 hours a year. In the past three years, nearly 15,000 people have died in truck crashes.

U.S. Court of Appeals Overturned the Hours of Service Rule in Every Respect

   •    In a unanimous decision a 3-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the new hours of service rule on July 16, 2004 stating that major aspects of the rule are not based on scientific evidence and that DOT’s own findings of fact contradict important parts of the rule.

   •    DOT recently began a new public rulemaking to reevaluate the new rules.

   •    DOT wants Congress to short-circuit the rulemaking and public input, overrule the Court of Appeals decision, and write the unsafe new rule into law even though it pushes truck drivers to the breaking point from physical exhaustion, sleep deprivation, with more driving hours and less time off than ever before.

DOT Wants to Gut 20-Year Old Law Protecting the Health Of Truck & Bus Drivers

   •    According to government data, truck driving is the occupation with the highest fatality risk of any profession, and a higher rate of serious diseases.

   •    The Court of Appeals ruled that DOT broke the law when it ignored the effect of longer driving hours and less time off-duty on the health and physical condition of truck drivers.

   •    Although protection of truck driver health has been the law of the land for over 20 years, DOT wants Congress to eliminate the driver health protection responsibility DOT has under current law.