Industry wins latest round in tug of war over large truck driving restrictions

There are approximately 4,000 yearly fatal car crashes involving large tracks.  To decrease the number of these accidents, there have been efforts by the federal government led by the US Department of Transportation to control the number of hours truckers spend on the road. 

One such effort was dealt a severe blow recently when Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) included a deregulatory rider in the final budget that passed a couple of weeks ago.  The USDOT supported rules required drivers to work 70-hour work weeks with a 34-hour rest stop that covers two periods between 1am and 5am.  Sen. Collins' rider raised the allowed hours for truckers back to the 82-hours decreased by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in 2013. 

These rules have been the subject of litigation for years now, with the trucking industry arguing that they are too strong and safety advocates like Public Citizen and The Teamsters labor uninon, which represents a fraction of drivers, insisting that they're not strong enough.  USDOT vehemently opposed the rule weakening brandishing studies that show truckers who push themselves are less attentive to the road, frequently unable to assess their own levels of fatigue.  

Truckers opposed the rules also citing safety arguments: They say the early morning hours when the government wants them asleep are actually the quietest on the roads, which reduces accidents.  Their industry wants further studies that examine the law's unintended consequences.  The rule rollback initiated by Sen. Collins expires Sept. 2015, giving the Department of Transportation some time to reintroduce the rollback.

Source: The Washington Post