Mexico Trucker Online

American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves Wednesday asked Transportation Secretary Mary Peters to work to convince a federal appeals court to reverse its decision overturning driver hours-of-service rules.

Graves sent a letter to Peters requesting DOT to file a motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals requesting the court to stay the decision or to remand the issue to FMCSA without vacating the rule’s 11-hour driving or the 34-hour restart provisions.

“FMCSA’s policy decisions on these issues were sound, both from a safety standpoint and a trucking operations perspective,” Graves said. “There is no compelling safety reason for these two elements of the rule to be vacated.”

ATA said it also is requesting that Peters encourage and support FMCSA in reissuing an expedited rulemaking notice focusing specifically on the procedural issues identified by the court.

“Just a week ago, [DOT] issued its final truck-involved fatality figures for 2006 — the first full year of the industry operating under these new HOS rules — and fatalities declined by 4.7%, the largest drop in 14 years. This fact speaks volumes,” Graves said.