The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has rejected almost the entirety of an appeal put forward by the ATA asking for the new HOS rules that went into effect on July 1st to be repealed. The only section that the court agreed with was appealing the mandatory 30-minute breaks, but only for short-haul drivers. Short-haulers are defined as drivers who haul within a 150 mile radius of their dispatch base.

The ATA’s Dave Osiecki said that the agency is “disappointed the court chose to give unlimited deference to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s agenda-driving rulemaking,” but went on to say that the court’s decision to remove the need for the 30-minute break for short haulers was an “important victory.”





Despite the court’s ruling that slightly changed their new HOS requirements, the FMCSA seemed happy with the decision as a whole. “The ruling recognizes the sensible data-driven approach that was taken in crafting this important regulation to increase safety and reduce driver fatigue – a leading factor in truck crashes,” a statement from the FMCSA said. “The ruling also provides added certainty for all affected, moving forward.”

Even though the FMCSA is expecting “certainty for all affected,” it doesn’t sound like they’ll be seeing an end to the calls for the repealing of their HOS rules. This is a small victory for the opponents of the new changes, and they will absolutely be coming back for more.

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Source: overdrive

Image: lifehacker