Washington – On Feb. 24, three safety advocacy organizations and two truck drivers filed a joint lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia over the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s final rule (.pdf file) on hours of service issued last December.
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Public Citizen and the Truck Safety Coalition claim in the lawsuit that the final rule “fails to make needed improvements to protect the public from tired truckers,” according to an Advocates press release.
The associations take issue with the rule’s continuance of a 34-hour restart provision that allows drivers to reset their weekly driving limit, claiming it encourages drivers to operate their vehicles while experiencing cumulative fatigue. They also argue that the rule should have reduced the maximum weekly driving hours from to 10 hours from 11.
Certain provisions of the final rule, including the 34-restart provisions, go into effect July 1, 2013.
