Court stays hours change until Dec. 27
10/1/07
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided late Sept. 28 to hold the current hours-of-service regulations in place until Dec. 27 to give the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration time to consider changes in the rule in light of the court's July 24 decision.

In its July opinion, the court voided the 11 hours of driving and the 34-hour restart on the grounds that the public didn't have adequate notice of FMCSA's methodology for analyzing crash risk.

The American Trucking Associations had asked the court for an eight-month stay of the decision. FMCSA, in strongly supporting ATA's request, asked that the stay remain in place for 12 months.

In other action, the court rejected the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association's request for a rehearing on its challenge to various aspects of the current regulations, including the restrictions on split rest in sleeper berths.
http://www.etrucker.com/apps/news/article.asp?id=63585

OK let me see if I get this straight.

We're going from:
11 drive, 10 off consecutive and a 34 hour restart.
The restart resets the 70 hour clock.

The new rules will be.
10 Drive 10 off and 10 hours are given back at midnight?

I am confused.
Help me out here.

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God Bless America and her Heroes. And thank You for the privilege to serve.

That certainly is a unique day to change things. Why not Dec 31, that would make more sense.

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I agree what?

So, what are going to be the rules? Wasn't the new policy, the most effective at preventing accidents?

ATA satisfied with court motion for a partial stay on HOS ruling
10/1/07
ARLINGTON, Va.—The American Trucking Associations (ATA) said today it is pleased that the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Court has granted in part it motion for a stay of the mandate to eliminate the 11-hour daily driving limit and 34-hour restart provisions from the truck driver hours-of-service (HOS) regulations.
The ATA said in a statement it is now waiting on a decision by the Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) on how they plan to move forward during the 90-day stay granted by the appeals court.
The ATA statement added that the organization “is confident the Court has provided the Agency sufficient time to issue an Interim Final Rule that retains the 11 hour driving limit and 34 hour restart.” And it added that it will continue to urge the Agency to proceed to a Final rule in a timely manner.
http://www.logisticsmgmt.com/article/CA6485894.html

It depends on which day clock you are running, 6 or 7 but you get the hours back from the 7th or 8th preceding day at midnight. If your total still adds up to 60 or 70 hours early on that next day, you can only drive up until that total is reached. If you get back 1/4 hour, that's all you can legally drive until you get the hours back from the next day at midnight. The 34 hour restart allowed you to work as much as possible and restart your clock, in theory, and in practice, for someone very well disciplined, it was possible to drive over 100 hours in 8 days. The 10 hour rule will make some runs unfeasible if it takes over that to make the run. it won't make that much difference to someone running across country, they will have to stop an hour sooner but will also be able to leave an hour sooner, they will still run out of hours on the 60 or 70 without the 34 hour restart.

This example illustrates what happens when you shorten the drive time from 11 to 10 hours. Let's say you are running from Waterloo, Ia to Sheboygan Falls, WI. It takes about 5.25 hours, then you drop down to St. Francis, WI(just north of the Milwaukee airport). You drop and hook and pull a load bound back to Waterloo, IA. It could just be done under the 11 hours drive time, now it will leave you at Dyersville, IA, about an hour short of Waterloo. I have made this run in the past.

I'm still confused as well, the job will be accomplished using short distance drivers meeting other drivers, exchanging trailers and allowing runs to be made in the time given, but it still increases costs to the companies and headaches to the drivers, this is called relaying. I have no idea how it will work when we have to do live hauls in 10 hours instead of 11.

Grrrrrrrrrreeeeeeaaaaaaaaaatttt
Well My company, Central Refrigerated, loves to drop and hook.
This will prolly increase that.

__________________


God Bless America and her Heroes. And thank You for the privilege to serve.

Holy Cow, I am still lost. I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel but I think I hear the train.

Okay, so we:
-Lose the 34-hr restart completely?
-Gain hours the same way (the "oldest" day drops off when the new day rolls around?)
-11 hours of drive time instead of 10?
-What happens to the 14 hour "workday" limit that "encloses" the 10/11 hour "driving"+"on-duty not driving"?

Thanks Cybergal for keeping us up on the trucking news; it is so invaluable!
And thanks to you "old-timers" for your experience, wisdom and your willingness to share it
(and "old-timer" does not mean "old" it means experience, and I meant it as a compliment - when I grow up, I want to be an "old-timer" too LOL!!

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All good things come to those who wait;
The Secret of Happiness is to wait Successfully.

It ain't all it's cracked up to be. But it is a good goal.

So, we are now better off lying about what we're driving!