FMCSA to Revise Rule that Allows Truckers to Drive for 11 Straight Hours
Bowing to pressure from trucking safety groups and labor unions, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has taken a decision that New Jersey truck accident lawyers have been waiting for. The agency has agreed to revise the rule that extended the number of hours that a trucker can drive at a stretch, to 11 hours in a shift.
The Bush Administration in its last days, reinstated a rule allowing truckers to drive for 11 consecutive hours, increased from the earlier 10. That rule also cut down the number of rest hours that a trucker could expect, increasing the overall number of hours a trucker could spend driving each week, by 25 percent.
Trucking safety groups had opposed the rule and challenged it, because the administration failed to take into consideration the accident risks from allowing truckers to drive an extra hour per shift. Earlier this week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration finally reached an agreement with these groups. The agency has agreed to revise the rule within the next 9 months.
Reducing the number of hours that a trucker can drive is important not just for the health and safety of truckers, but also the safety of motorists who share the highways in New Jersey with these large trucks every day.
Every year, an approximate 5,000 lives are lost in trucking accidents, many of which involve fatigued drivers sleeping at the wheel. Ask trucking unions, and they will tell you how truckers these days are under tremendous pressure to drive more hours, which ultimately increases profits for the employer. A trucker who is tired and drowsy and not at his sharpest and most alert behind the wheel, is a danger not just to himself, but also to other motorists. As a New Jersey truck accident lawyer, I would like to applaud the efforts of Public Citizen, and the Teamsters union that were responsible for getting the FMCSA to agree to revise this dangerous rule.
