Hours-of-Service

UPDATE: Hours of Service Compromise

The hours-of-service proposal by the Department of Transportation was stopped dead in its tracks this week. The Senate and House of Representatives met in conference to decide whether funding should be allocated for the HOS proposal. The final result to come out of the conference committee was a compromise agreement that reflects a major victory for ASET members and the general public.

According to the agreement, Congress will not appropriate any funds for the DOT to finalize their current HOS proposal. However, the DOT is allowed to spend time, energy, and resources on both collecting comments and formulating a different proposal. This allows for a new possibility that the DOT will work with the trucking and related industries to find a solution to the HOS situation. The original HOS plan would have cost motor carriers and shippers billions of dollars annually while simultaneously causing more accidents on our nation's highways.

ASET will work closely with the American Trucking Associations and our other members to formulate a pro-active position on hours-of-service. ASET believes that HOS reform is needed but should not be implemented if the results will mean more daytime accidents involving passenger cars. We encourage anyone who wants to learn more about this issue to contact Jake Jacoby at jjacoby@aset-safety.org.