What are the major reforms of the HOS rule that the safety community thinks are necessary?
· Specific Driving Time Limits – The proposed rule allows all of the 12 consecutive hours of work time per day for the drivers in long haul and regional operations to be spent in driving. This is simply too long a protracted period of continuous driving. Numerous studies, most of them not yet reviewed or misrepresented by the FMCSA in the preamble of the new rulemaking proposal, show that driving or working more than the 10 consecutive hours permitted under the current HOS rule dramatically increases the risk of a crash for a commercial driver. Consecutive driving time should be limited, at most, to the current 10 hours maximum. · Distinguish Between Driving and Non-Driving Duty Time – The failure of the proposed rule to distinguish between driving and non-driving time on duty encourages many commercial drivers to spend as much time as possible driving during the 12 hours per day allowed by the proposal and then perform the additional duties involving waiting or freight handling during
