[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 40 (Tuesday, March 2, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 9376-9377]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-4293]


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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 session.

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SUMMARY: FMCSA announces that it will hold a fifth public listening 
session (in addition to the four sessions held in January 2010) 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. This session will be held in 
the Louisville, Kentucky area in conjunction with the Mid-America 
Trucking Show. The listening session 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: This listening session will be held on Friday, March 26, 2010, 
in Louisville, Kentucky. It will begin at 10 a.m. local time and end at 
6 p.m., or earlier, if all participants wishing to express their views 
have done so.

ADDRESSES: The listening session will be held at the Mid-America 
Trucking Show at the Kentucky Exposition Center, South Wing Room B101, 
937 Phillips Lane, Louisville, Kentucky 40209-1331. The Kentucky 
Exposition Center may be contacted at (502) 367-5000 for directions. 
Each person attending may attend the trucking show and the listening 
session free of charge, if they pre-register online with the Mid-
America Trucking Show organizer at http://truckingshow.com/attendee/attendee-registration. Attendees pre-registering must print out their 
confirmation page after registering and present it at the Kentucky 
Exposition Center door to be admitted free. Otherwise, admission to the 
trucking show on March 26 will be $5.00.
    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 to 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 FDMS 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 information concerning the hours-
of-service rules, contact Mr. Tom Yager, Chief, Driver and Carrier 
Operations

[[Page 9377]]

Division, (202) 366-4325, [email protected].
    For sign language interpretation services, contact the Regulatory 
Development Division at (202) 366-5370 or [email protected], by March 
17, 2010, to allow us to arrange for such services. There is no 
guarantee that interpreter services requested on short notice can be 
provided.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    On October 26, 2009, Public Citizen, et al. (Petitioners) and FMCSA 
entered into a settlement agreement under which the parties agreed to 
seek to hold Petitioners' petition for judicial review of the November 
19, 2008 Final Rule on drivers' hours of service 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 settlement agreement. The current rule will remain in 
effect during the rulemaking proceedings.
    On January 5, 2010, FMCSA announced its plans to hold three public 
listening sessions concerning the HOS rulemaking (75 FR 285). On 
January 15, 2010, FMCSA announced its plans to hold a fourth public 
listening session (75 FR 2467). FMCSA now announces a fifth public 
listening session to solicit additional written and/or oral 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

    This listening session is 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 nighttime 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: February 24, 2010.
Larry W. Minor,
Associate Administrator for Policy and Program Development.
[FR Doc. 2010-4293 Filed 3-1-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P