Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) on March 15 filed a motion to intervene with the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in litigation challenging the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) recently published hours-of-service (HOS) regulations. The suit that TCA seeks to join was initiated by American Trucking Associations against the FMCSA on February 14, 2012.
“Since the 2004 hours-of-service rule went into effect, we have experienced a year-over-year decline in crashes and fatalities involving commercial vehicles on our nation’s highways,” says Chris Burruss, TCA’s president. “Safety is paramount to the trucking industry and while we remain committed to continuing to reduce accidents, we believe the new rule will take us backward, not forward. We have an obligation to protect our drivers and the motoring public, and we believe this rulemaking stands in conflict with that obligation.”
TCA’s Executive Committee decided on March 14 to file the motion in the interest of developing a rule that is based on sound science, advances public safety, and meets the operational needs of its members. “TCA feels passionately about this issue and is participating as a party to litigate for the benefit of the association and its members,” says R Eddie Wayland, TCA’s general counsel and a partner at King & Ballow.