IWLA, the Association for Logistics Outsourcing, is talking to a congressional committee in hopes of loosening the hours of service (HOS) rule. IWLA proposes an amendment be created to allow short haul drivers to operate under the old HOS rule.
IWLA’s request was made in a recent letter that was sent to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Subcommittee on Highways, Transit and Pipelines.
The rule is unfair to short-haul carriers, the warehouse and logistics outsourcing association said.
“This imposition of an inflexible, 14 consecutive hours on-duty limit gives no consideration as to how much of the on-duty time an operator may actually spend in non-driving activities,” said IWLA president & CEO Joel Hoiland.
The new rule, which reduces the maximum on-duty time of truck drivers from 15 to 14 hours per shift, is not practical because most of the driver’s time is spent waiting for loads to be taken on and off the truck, IWLA said.
IWLA warns that HOS will have a detrimental effect on drivers.
“Unfortunately, the new rules can have the opposite effect of turning what previously was a one-day trip into a multi-day journey,” Hoiland said.
