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Statement of Need: The motor carrier industry requires 24-hour activities to meet the operational demands of a healthy U.S. economy. Growth in long-haul, regional, overnight, local, for-hire and private carriage operations is increasing with the unprecedented growth of the U.S. economy. Therefore, night work, shift work, and irregular work schedules continue to be commonplace. The scientific knowledge about sleep, sleep disorders, circadian physiology, fatigue, and performance decrements has also grown. One of the purposes of this rulemaking is to incorporate as much of the scientific knowledge as possible into the applicable regulations.

Summary of the Legal Basis: Section 31136 of title 49, United States Code, authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to prescribe minimum safety standards for commercial motor vehicles (Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984, Pub. L. 98-554, Title II, October 30, 1984). Regulations prescribed under this section must ensure that: (1) commercial motor vehicles are operated safely; (2) the responsibilities imposed on operators of commercial motor vehicles do not impair their ability to operate the vehicle safely (3) the physical condition of operators of commercial motor vehicles is adequate to enable them to operate the vehicles safely; and (4) the operation of commercial motor vehicles does not have a deleterious effect on the physical condition of the operators. Section 31502 of Title 49, United States Code, authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to prescribe maximum hours-of-service and qualifications requirements for operators of motor carriers when needed to promote the safety of operations (Motor Carrier Act of 1935, Pub. L. 74-255, August 9, 1935; and Migrant Farm Workers-Regulation of Interstate Transportation Act, Public Law 84-939, August 3, 1956). Section 113 of the Hazardous Materials Transportation Authorization Act of 1994 (Pub. L. 103-311, August 26, 1994) requires the Secretary of Transportation to prescribe regulations amending part 395 to improve the compliance by commercial motor vehicle drivers and motor carriers with HOS requirements and the effectiveness and efficiency of Federal and State enforcement officers reviewing such compliance. Section 345 of the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-159, November 28, 1995) created four specific exemptions from the hours-of-service-of-drivers requirements of part 395. A fifth exemption applied only to commercial driver licensing-related requirements requiring testing of operators for alcohol and controlled substances. The Secretary of Transportation was authorized to conduct rulemaking, except for the water well drilling hours-of-service exemption, to negate or modify the exemptions upon a determination, after a rulemaking proceeding, that the exemption is not in the public interest and would have a significant adverse impact on the safety of commercial motor vehicles. Section 408 of the ICC Termination Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-88, December 29, 1995) requires the Federal Highway Administration (functions transferred to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration under Pub. L. 106-159) to issue a final rule dealing with a variety of fatigue-related issues pertaining to commercial motor vehicle safety (including 8 hours of continuous sleep after 10 hours of driving, loading and unloading operations, automated and tamper-proof recording devices, rest and recovery cycles, fatigue and stress in longer combination vehicles, fitness for duty, and other appropriate regulatory and enforcement countermeasures for reducing fatigue-related incidents and increasing driver-alertness).

Alternatives: The FMCSA proposes replacing the current rules with an alternative set of rules based upon scientific knowledge and submitted comments. The FMCSA is considering different regulations for different types of drivers and operations. The FMCSA will also consider modifying the information collection burdens that have been placed upon the motor carrier industry, including the following types of recordkeeping methods: (1) Reducing the required items on the record of duty status (log book); (2) adding electronic on-board recording devices to commercial motor vehicles; (3) eliminating all FMCSA hours-of-service record keeping requirements while relying exclusively on the duplicative hours-of-work record keeping system required by the U.S. Department of Labor under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended. The FMCSA is proposing a revision to the hours-of-service regulations to require motor carriers to provide their drivers with better opportunities to obtain sleep than the current rules, and thereby reduce the number of fatigue-related crashes involving these drivers. We estimate that 755 fatalities and 19,705 injuries occur each year on the Nation's roads because of drowsy, tired or fatigued CMV drivers. The proposed rules would make three major changes. First, and most importantly, the new rules would be science-based (related to sleep cycles) and put all drivers in a 24-hour daily cycle. Second, they would reduce the total number of hours behind the wheel in a given 24-hour cycle to no more than 12 hours. Under current rules, a driver can reach the 60-hour on-duty limit in 4 days and 4 hours, and the 70-hour limit in less than 5 days. Third, long-haul and regional drivers (who spend one or more nights away from their normal work reporting locations) would be required, eventually, to use electronic on-board recording devices (EOBRs). These proposed changes would abandon a one-size-fits-all approach to work-rest cycles and adopt different rest periods for different types of operations. The FMCSA has received more than 51,000 comments to date. As we are committed to fully exploring all issues and concerns of stakeholders, we held eight public hearings in may, June and July 2000, and followed up three public roundtable discussions in September and October 2000 on issues that attracted significant comment in the hearings. The roundtables drew broad public participation and elicited in-depth discussion and exchange of supporting data on critical issues, including issues surrounding the economic analyses and assumptions used by the agency. The discussions provided the agency with information requiring careful analysis. This will help the FMCSA identify any necessary changes to the proposal that would address stakeholders' divergent concerns and support the development of a successful rule. The FY 2001 Department of Transportation Appropriations Act, Pub. L. 106-346, includes language that prohibits the Department from adopting a final rule before October 1, 2001. This is consistent with the Department's pledge to carefully review and consider the extensive record that has been established on the rulemaking before deciding on the next appropriate step in the rulemaking process.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits: The FMCSA has placed a Preliminary Regulatory Evaluation (PRE) in the docket. The PRE evaluates five options, based on identified key parameters. The selected option, which divides the industry into different types of motor carrier operations, is projected to save 115 lives and 2,995 injuries per year with a total net benefit of almost $3.359 billion, assuming that 15 percent of CMV-involved crashes are fatigue-related. Readers are directed to the PRE and the preamble of the NPRM for additional information.

Risks: Fatigue is increasingly becoming the focus of possible causes following many crashes. Driver reports of being fatigued to the point of incapacity are not uncommon, and intuitively, it is reasonable, given the sheer volume of traffic, to expect fatigue to be a factor in future crashes if the regulations are not corrected. Fatigue was identified by the industry, public, and government as the highest priority safety issue at a 1995 Truck and Bus Safety Summit in Kansas City, MO. The FMCSA has established a goal to reduce by 50 percent over ten years the number of fatalities from crashes involving any commercial motor vehicle. The FMCSA anticipates its proposal will reduce fatigue-related crashes by at least 15 percent each year to assist in its efforts to meet its overall goal of 50 percent reduction in deaths.