Claiming a victory for small businesses and the trucking industry, U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) announced last week that the controversial Hours of Service rule will no longer be enforced.
The rule, also known as the 34-hour restart rule, was part of legislation imposed on the trucking industry by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in July 2013. The rule placed firm restrictions on the number of hours commercial truck drivers could spend on the road. It was expected to cost the industry up to $376 million annually.
“I stood here about a year ago and talked about how this rule did not make sense and would not work for our truckers,” Hanna said. “I’m pleased to be back here today and report that this 34-hour restart rule is gone.”
In addition to the direct effect on the carrier industry, the rule also negatively impacted the bottom lines of many small businesses, lawmakers argued, since these companies depend heavily on trucking for delivery of food, retail and construction products.
“I firmly believe that this rule has made our roads less safe, putting the traveling public in harm’s way and hurting our small businesses,” Hanna added. “We should not be imposing arbitrary and capricious regulations on our trucking industry, which impacts almost every sector of the American economy, without first studying the effectiveness of any proposed rule.”