On July 16, a U.S. appeals court threw out the new hours of service rule, vacating the rule in its entirety and sending the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration back to the drawing board.

In a 3-0 decision, the justices concluded: “We agree with petitioners that the rulemaking was arbitrary and capricious, because the FMCSA failed to take account of a statutory limit on its authority,” the court ruled. “We therefore grant the petition for review and vacate the rule.”

The court then remanded the rule back to the agency.

Imposed in December, the rule, the first for truckers in 60 years, allowed drivers to work up to 11 straight hours, one more hour than previously allowed, and to log a maximum of 77 hours over seven days, 17 more than before, while also requiring drivers to take at least 10 hours off between shifts, two more than before, and reducing the maximum work day from 15 non-consecutive hours to 14 consecutive.

In addition, the new rule retained the exception whereby single and team drivers could split their sleeper berth rest periods into two blocks, neither of which could be less than two hours and together must total 10 hours.

Further, the FMCSA refused to require the use of electronic onboard recorders to monitor driver compliance with the rule.

The Transportation Department estimated the changes would reduce deaths resulting from truck driver fatigue from 440 to 335 a year.

Safety groups and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said that allowing a trucker an extra hour behind the wheel would cause more accidents, not fewer.

The court acted on a suit brought by Public Citizen, along with Parents Against Tired Truckers and Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highway. The American Trucking Associations joined the FMCSA in arguing for the new rule.

Commenting on her victory, Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, said, “Finally the court said the statute requires the protection of the public highways and drivers’ health.”

“Under the court’s rules of procedure, FMCSA has 45 days to review the decision and decide whether to seek other legal remedies,” FMCSA Administrator Annette Sandburg said in a prepared statement. “During that period of time, the current hours-of-service rule, announced in April 2003, remains in effect.” The agency can also appeal for an extension of 90 days.

Although the court threw out the rule on the ground that the government “didn’t consider drivers’ health in the slightest as required by law,” Judge David B. Sentelle, commenting on the “troubling nature of other facets of the rule making,” wrote that he doubted other parts of the rule would survive scrutiny because of the government’s “questionable rationality.”

Claybrook noted that the ruling found “deficiencies of the rule” other than drivers’ health.

Increasing driver time from 10 to 11 hours a day: The FMCSA justified increasing maximum driving time by citing the rule’s overall decrease in overall daily hours. It also said the increase in mandatory off-duty time justified the increase in daily driving time in light of the cost-benefit analysis it had conducted.

“We have our doubts about whether these two justifications are legally sufficient,” the court said.

Retaining the sleeper-berth exception: Justification for keeping the sleeper-berth exception “was not rational,” the ruling stated. “We have grave doubts about whether the agency’s explanation for retaining the sleeper-berth exception would survive review.”

Not requiring electronic onboard recorders: The court questioned the FMCSA’s decision to not include in the final rule the proposal of requiring EOBRs to monitor driver compliance. The court stated that it could not fathom why the agency hadn’t tested the devices.

Including a 34-hour restart provision: The court stated that FMCSA’s explanation seems sound, but “it does not even acknowledge, much less justify, that the rule dramatically increases the maximum permissible hours drivers may work each week.”

A.G. Edwards analyst Donald Broughton interprets the decision to mean that truckers will have to use electronic onboard recorders that ensure they’re following the rule.

Of immediate concern to truck drivers across the nation is what rule governs them now.

John Keller, safety coordinator at Pottle’s Transportation, immediately sent out a message to all his drivers (including this one) instructing them to continue under the new rule until further notice. In a telephone conversation on July 17, Keller said that he understood the FMCSA had ordered everyone to remain under the existing rule for now. In the immediate future, however, the agency may order everyone back to the old rule, keep part of the new rules or institute other options.

This writer agrees that the vacated rules had serious flaws. However, it was a far better rule than the old.

Last year, legal action from safety advocates successfully prodded the government into formulating a much-needed new rule. Now, only time will tell whether it will successfully bring about a stronger rule.

Whatever the outcome, professional drivers and the general motoring public owe a debt of thanks to the plaintiffs for their tireless efforts in making the nation’s highways a safer environment for everyone.

Guy Bourrie has been hauling on the highways for 20 years. He lives in Washington, Maine, and can be reached at redhaven@pivot.net.