New US trucker rules deemed unsafe

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recently issued new hours-of-service rules for commercial truck drivers to replace those that had been vacated by a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over a year ago and insurers claim these rules allow for too much time behind the wheel. Some of these old proposals are part of the new regulations, effective at the beginning of October. Insurers say the rule that allows truckers to drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty is risky. The court struck down last year’s proposed requirements and hours had subsequently been capped at 10 hours.”A major contributing factor to truck crashes is fatigue,” David Snyder, vp and assistant general counsel at the Washington-based American Insurance Assn., says. The rules now in place “wholly disregarded scientific research that clearly shows an increased crash risk associated with longer driving hours,” he said.The new rules do include a change that requires drivers using sleeper berths to spend more time there.