William B. Cassidy | Feb 17, 2011 10:05AM EST
Truckers will have a last chance to make their case against proposed changes to truck driver hours of service rules Thursday as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hosts an all-day listening session on its proposal in Arlington, Va.
The proposed rules, released in December, would shorten the time truckers could work each day and week by at least an hour and possibly more, which could put a crimp in truck capacity and raise transportation costs.
The FMCSA is holding its listening session at the Crowne Plaza Washington National Airport Hotel in Northern Virginia. The listening session will be webcast live via the Internet from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST to enable participation across the country.
In addition, FMCSA will host an online comment and question forum for the public starting at 12 noon and running until midnight EST. All comments posted in the online forum will be included in the official hours of service rulemaking docket, the agency said.
The proposed hours of service rule is one of three initiatives under way at the Department of Transportation that could reshape trucking, cutting into capacity by shrinking the pool of qualified available drivers and tightening safety enforcement.
The other two are the Compliance, Safety and Accountability program and a proposed rule that would require truckers to install electronic onboard recorders, replacing paper driver logs used to prove compliance with HOS rules with electronic data.
For more information on how to participate in the Feb. 17 listening session via the Internet and how to comment on the proposed rules, visit FMCSA's Web site.
-- Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com.