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The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposed a rule that would allow truckers to drive a consecutive number of hours, which the Public Citizen consumer group calls “a disappointment.” The agency’s proposal was in response to a July 2004 court ruling finding that an April 2003 rule issued by the agency failed to consider the health of truck drivers, as was required by law.
According to Public Citizen’s President Joan Claybrook, the proposed rule is barely changed from a 2003 rule the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down last year because the court found the agency did not consider the health of drivers when writing its rule. Based on data from the Bush administration, fatalities as a result of large truck crashes is up 3.1 percent from 2003 to 2004.
Claybrook says the new proposed rule makes permanent a dramatic increase in the allowable weekly driving time and on-duty hours for truckers, reducing weekly off-duty time for the most exhausted drivers and significantly weakens safety requirements for short-haul drivers. The consumer group said it supports the part of the rule that no longer allows drivers to split the time they spend in sleeping berths, but the increased driving and working time does not consider existing scientific literature regarding fatigue and driver safety.
Claybrook issued a statement and said the group hopes the agency reconsidered the issue and redrafts the rule accordingly in upcoming weeks.
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