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May 1, 2002 12:00 PM

New driver hours-of-service (HOS) rules may be issued sooner than expected, according to information from Intermodal Insights, a publication of the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA).

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) may attempt to split the rule into parts, issuing less-controversial parts first and leaving the rest for later. Some portion of a new rule could be issued sometime this year, according to IANA. This differs from past indications that the agency was at least a year away from issuing any new HOS regulation.

FMCSA recently hired a consulting firm (ICF Consulting) to assess the costs and benefits of several options; however the firm has not yet been told by the agency what those options are. The agency now appears ready to move forward with some portion of an HOS rule before the cost-benefit study has been completed, according to IANA.

Meanwhile, a number of trucking organizations have issued a request under the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to internal FMCSA documents related to its HOS deliberations.