Hours of Service

Larry W. Minor
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
January 5, 2010

[Federal Register: January 5, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 2)]
[Proposed Rules]               
[Page 285-286]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05ja10-21]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 395

[Docket No. FMCSA-2004-19608]
RIN 2126-AB26

 
Hours of Service

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of public listening sessions.

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SUMMARY: FMCSA announces that it will hold three public listening 
sessions to solicit comments and information on potential hours-of-
service (HOS) regulations. Specifically, the Agency wants to know what 
factors, issues, and data it should be aware of as it prepares to issue 
a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on HOS requirements for 
property-carrying commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers. The sessions 
will be held in the Washington, DC area, Los Angeles, and Dallas. The 
listening sessions will allow interested persons to present comments, 
views, and relevant research on revisions FMCSA should consider in its 
forthcoming rulemaking. All comments will be transcribed and placed in 
the rulemaking docket for the FMCSA's consideration.

DATES: The first listening session will be January 19, 2010, in 
Arlington, VA (near Washington, DC). Subsequent listening sessions will 
be January 22, 2010, in Dallas Fort Worth Airport, TX; and January 25, 
2010, in Los Angeles, CA. All listening sessions will begin at 9 a.m. 
local time and end at 5 p.m., or earlier, if all participants wishing 
to express their views have done so.

ADDRESSES: The January 19th meeting will be held at the Doubletree 
Hotel Crystal City National Airport (Commonwealth Ballroom), 300 Army 
Navy Drive, Arlington, VA 22202-2891 (1-703-416-4100).
    The January 22th meeting will be held in Dallas at the Hyatt 
Regency DFW, International Parkway, P.O. Box 619014, DFW Airport, 
Texas, USA 75261 (1-972-453-1234).
    The January 25th meeting will be held in Los Angeles at the 
Doubletree LAX (Pacific Ballroom), 1985 East Grand Ave., El Segundo, 
California, USA 90245-5015 (1-310-322-0999).
    You may submit comments bearing the Federal Docket Management 
System (FDMS) Docket ID FMCSA-2004-19608 using any of the following 
methods.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting 
comments.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building Ground 
Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building Ground Floor, Room 
W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. 
and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
    Each submission must include the Agency name and the docket number 
for this notice. Note that DOT posts all comments received without 
change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information included in a comment. Please see the Privacy Act heading 
below.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments, go to http://www.regulations.gov at any time or Room W12-140 
on the ground level of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays. The on-line Federal document management system 
is available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. If you want 
acknowledgment that we received your comments, please include a self-
addressed, stamped envelope or postcard or print the acknowledgement 
page that appears after submitting comments on-line.
    Privacy Act: Anyone may search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or of the person signing the comment, if 
submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). 
You may review DOT's Privacy Act Statement for the Federal Docket 
Management System published in the Federal Register on January 17, 2008 
(73 FR 3316), or you may visit http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/
E8-785.pdf.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For special accommodations for any of 
these HOS listening sessions, such as sign language interpretation, 
contact Mr. David Miller, Regulatory Development Division, (202) 366-
5370 or at FMCSAregs@dot.gov, by Monday, January 11, 2010, to allow us 
to arrange for such services. There is no guarantee that interpreter 
services requested on short notice can be provided.
    For information concerning the hours-of-service rules, contact Mr. 
Tom Yager, Chief, Driver and Carrier Operations Division, (202) 366-
4325, mcpsd@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    On October 26, 2009, Public Citizen, et al. (Petitioners) and FMCSA 
entered into a settlement agreement under which Petitioners' petition 
for judicial review of the November 19, 2008 Final Rule on drivers' 
hours of service will be held in abeyance pending the publication of an 
NPRM. The settlement agreement states that FMCSA will submit the draft 
NPRM to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) within nine months, 
and publish a Final Rule within 21 months, of the date of the

[[Page 286]]

settlement agreement. The current rule will remain in effect during the 
rulemaking proceedings.
    As described above, FMCSA is holding three public listening 
sessions across the country to solicit comments and information on 
potential revisions to the HOS rule. The Agency will provide further 
opportunity for public comment when the NPRM is published.

II. Meeting Participation

    The listening sessions are open to the public. Speakers' remarks 
will be limited to 10 minutes each. The public may submit material to 
the FMCSA staff at each session for inclusion in the public docket, 
FMCSA-2004-19608.

III. Questions for Discussion During the Listening Sessions

    In preparing their comments, meeting participants should consider 
the following questions about possible alternatives to the current HOS 
requirements. These scenarios are merely set forth for discussion; 
FMCSA will not necessarily include them in an NPRM but would request 
similar information and data in an NPRM. Answers to these questions 
should be based upon the experience of the participants and any data or 
information they can share with FMCSA.

A. Rest and On-Duty Time

    1. Would mandatory short rest periods during the work day improve 
driver alertness in the operation of a CMV? How long should these rest 
periods be? At what point in the duty cycle or drive-time would short 
rest periods provide the greatest benefit? What are the unintended 
consequences if these short rest periods are mandatory? Should the on-
duty period be extended to allow for mandatory rest periods?
    2. If rest or other breaks from driving improve alertness, could a 
driver who chooses to take specified minimum breaks be given scheduling 
flexibility--the ability to borrow an hour from another driving day 
once a week, for example--if that flexibility would not increase safety 
risks or adversely impact driver health?
    3. How many hours per day and per week would be safe and healthy 
for a truck driver to work?
    4. Would an hours-of-service rule that allows drivers to drive an 
hour less when driving overnight improve driver alertness and improve 
safety? Are there any adverse consequences that could arise from the 
implementation of a separate night time hours of service regulation?

B. Restart to the 60- and 70-Hour Rule

    1. Is a 34-consecutive-hour off-duty period long enough to provide 
restorative sleep regardless of the number of hours worked prior to the 
restart? Is the answer different for a driver working a night or 
irregular schedule?
    2. What would be the impact of mandating two overnight off-duty 
periods, e.g., from midnight to 6 a.m., as a component of a restart 
period? Would such a rule present additional enforcement challenges?
    3. How is the current restart provision being used by drivers? Do 
drivers restart their calculations after 34 consecutive hours or do 
drivers take longer periods of time for the restart?

C. Sleeper Berth Use

    1. If sleeper-berth time were split into two periods, what is the 
minimum time in each period necessary to provide restorative sleep?
    2. Could the 14-hour on-duty limitation be extended by the amount 
of some additional sleeper-berth time without detrimental effect on 
highway safety? What would be the appropriate length of such a limited 
sleeper-berth rest period?

D. Loading and Unloading Time

    1. What effect has the fixed 14-hour driving ``window'' had on the 
time drivers spend waiting to load or unload? Have shippers and 
receivers changed their practices to reduce the amount of time drivers 
spend waiting to load or unload?

E. General

    1. Are there aspects of the current rule that do not increase 
safety risks or adversely impact driver health and that should be 
preserved?

    Issued on: December 29, 2009.
Larry W. Minor,
Associate Administrator for Policy and Program Development.
[FR Doc. E9-31194 Filed 1-4-10; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P