The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has announced that the public comment period on the commercial motor vehicle drivers' hours-of-service interim final rule has been extended until March 17, 2008, according to FMCSA information posted on its Web site.
The extension is to provide interested parties an opportunity to provide further comment and supporting data, FMCSA stated. FMCSA published the interim rule December 17, 2007, asking for comments. It was issued in response to a July 2007 decision of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The interim rule retains the federal motor carrier regulations allowing commercial motor vehicle drivers up to 11 hours of driving time within a 14-hour, non-extendable window from the start of the workday, following 10 consecutive hours off duty (11-hour limit). This interim rule also allows motor carriers and drivers to restart calculations of the weekly on-duty time limits after the driver has at least 34 consecutive hours off duty (34-hour restart).