HOS revamp * USA - Magazine reports a ‘deal’ to quell concerns over Ferro's confirmation

Washington,DC,USA -The Trucker -2 Nov 2009: — DC VELOCITY has reported that the agreement by the Department of Transportation to rewrite the Hours of Service rule within 21 months was a deal pushed by the White House to “quell concerns” by the Teamsters, safety advocacy groups and others “over the controversial nomination of Anne Ferro” to become the next administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration... The trucking executive cited in the magazine article noted that the full committee announced it had approved Ferro's nomination the day after news that FMCSA would revisit HOS was made public... Her confirmation by the full Senate seems assured, said the executive, who asked not to be named. He added that the trucking industry was not party to the agreement and was "totally surprised" by the announcement that HOS would be revisited... Teamsters spokeswoman Leigh Strope called any talk of a backroom deal to allay union concerns over Ferro's nomination a "ridiculous assertion," according to the article...


* USA - Abandoning the HOS Solution

Arlington,VA,USA -Transport Topics -2 Nov 2009: -- For the past three years under federal hours-of-service regulations, fatal crashes involving heavy trucks have declined, last year reaching the lowest level since the U.S. Department of Transportation began keeping the records... Yet, last week we learned that DOT has decided to abandon the current rules and restudy the complicated issues of driver work-and-rest cycles for another nine months, before submitting a new proposal to the White House... That will begin a process that the agency said will take another 21 months to complete... Let’s hope that DOT’s next new HOS rules don’t reduce safety on our nation’s roads or make it impossible for the trucking industry to efficiently deliver the goods... Meanwhile, trucking will continue to live by the rules DOT has set down, even if DOT doesn’t...