Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/114712
LOGBOOK Agency denies hours-of-service delay request whose final form will not be certain until the court issues its decisions." Osiecki said ATA, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, the National Industrial Transportation League and manufacturers all would have benefited from getting a full three months after the court decisions to prepare for the changes. — Jill Dunn and James Jaillet Text INFO to 205-289-3555 or visit www.ovdinfo.com The American Trucking Associations last month sent a letter to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration asking it to reschedule the July 1 implementation of the new hours of service rule, but those hopes were dashed when the agency responded with its own letter denying the request. ATA President Bill Graves' letter to FMCSA had asked that the compliance date be pushed back to at least three months after the District of Columbia appellate court issued a ruling in the association's case against the rule. The agency said that ATA did not "demonstrate good cause to delay" the rule's effective date. ATA will present oral arguments March 15 before a three-judge panel. If the panel's ruling alters the final rule, a delay in implementing the new rule would have avoided unnecessary training without measurably impacting safety, Graves wrote. However, FMCSA Chief Counsel Scott Darling said in his letter that uncertainty over the outcome of the case did not constitute a situation in which the industry would "suffer harm" due to time and money lost to training. Dave Osiecki, ATA's senior vice president of policy and regulatory affairs, responded that any delay would have been short given that the court date is set for March 15. Moreover, Osiecki said, carriers, shippers and enforcement agencies will "have to spend time and money on training and adapting systems to a rule March 2013 | Overdrive | 93 Logbook_0313.indd 93 2/27/13 10:38 PM