The Trump-appointed head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has indicated that he is open to “tweaking” Hours of Service Regulations put in place to reduce the risk of deadly fatigue-related truck crashes.
FMCSA Head Promises a More Industry-Friendly Stance
Among other things, the current Hours of Service Regulations require truck drivers to take a 10-hour break once they have driven 11 consecutive hours.
But in a recent interview with Overdrive, a trucking industry publication, FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez indicated that his agency could soon allow truck drivers to split the required 10-hour off-duty period into segments.
The FMCSA may also reconsider a requirement that mandates a 30-minute break once a truck driver has been on-duty for 8 consecutive hours.
In the course of the interview, Martinez made it clear that trucking companies – one of the very industries the FMCSA is supposed to regulate – have his ear.
“I’d like to be able to say a year from now that the industry has noted a difference in posture from the previous three years or five years from this agency,” he told Overdrive. “That we are more receptive to new ideas. That we listen better.”
FMCSA Has Already Abandoned Mandatory Sleep Apnea Screening for Commercial Drivers
It wouldn’t be the first time the FMCSA has sided with the trucking industry should it make good on Martinez’s promises.
In fact, shortly after President Trump took office, the FMCSA abandoned a proposed regulation that would have required commercial drivers to undergo medical screening for Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
The condition, which is believed to affect up to 22 million Americans, greatly increases the risk that a driver will fall asleep at the wheel.
The Obama Administration proposed the sleep apnea screening rule in 2016, after a deadly fatigue-related crash involving a tour bus and an 18-wheeler killed 13 people outside of Palm Springs, California.
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