Truckers get more hours
The U.S. Department of Transportation yesterday announced the first change to commercial truck operating rules in over six decades, extending the maximum number of consecutive hours truckers can spend behind the wheel from ten to eleven. The rule changes actually expand the maximum allowable workday to fourteen hours by allowing employers to require three hours of non-driving work from truckers, but expand the minimum duration of between-shift breaks from eight to ten hours. While the American Trucking Association has agreed with DOT claims that the changes will improve safety---reducing trucking-related deaths by almost 20 percent---the Teamsters union and other critics argue that longer driving times will increase fatigue and accidents.
See "Truckers get more hours", BRYAN A. KEOGH and AMY E. NEVALA, Chicago Tribune, April 24, 2003