News items from the Institutes

Today the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced it will stick to rules governing truckers’ driving hours, even though the rules have been struck down by a US Court of Appeals. The agency will keep allowing truckers to drive 11 hours at a stretch and up to 88 hours in an 8-day period. Institute president Adrian Lund points out that the agency “still believes the way to address the problem of fatigued drivers behind the wheels of big truck rigs is to allow them to drive even more hours than past rules allowed. This is contrary to what the appeals court told the agency, not once but twice, and it’s contrary to what’s rational.” The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck down the work rules in 2004, calling them “arbitrary and capricious” and chastising the agency for “questionable rationality.” Again in 2007 the court rebuked the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, saying it had “failed to provide an explanation for critical elements” of its rule. The court explicitly refused to “supply a reasoned basis for the agency’s actions that the agency itself has not given.”

For more about truck driver fatigue, see Research Topics — large trucks

Recent news reports, including a story in PARADE magazine on August 12, have included statements by some who advocate lowering the minimum purchasing age laws for alcohol. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety conducted the main research that led to reinstatement of the minimum purchasing age of 21 in all 50 states by 1988.

"Minimum purchasing age laws have reduced drinking and driving among teens and saved lives," says Adrian Lund, president of the Institute. "Statements made by the main source in the news articles reflect ignorance about the years of research comprising the scientific justification for these laws. Study after study has found that when the drinking age was lowered, nighttime fatal crashes for young drivers went up. When the drinking age was raised, crashes went down almost 30 percent. It's irresponsible to assert that untested educational programs could alter these results. If we allow states to lower the drinking age again, more teens will drink and drive and more will die."

For more about teens and alcohol, see Q&A: Teenagers — underage drinking

Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned two key aspects of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's policy on truck drivers' hours of service, telling the agency to go back and try again on its rules that increase driving hours from 10 to 11 and permit even longer hours via a loophole called the "restart" provision (see Status Report, Vol. 38, No. 6, June 16, 2003). The court said the agency failed to give an opportunity to comment on the methodology of the crash-risk model used to justify the increase in the maximum number of daily and weekly hours truckers may drive and work. The court also said the agency "failed to provide an adequate explanation for its decision to adopt the 11-hour daily driving limit and the 34-hour restart provision."

The court told the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to go back to work, either reinstating the previous rules or fixing its fatigue-risk model and providing more opportunity to comment on its new methodology. In doing this, the court sided with both Public Citizen, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, and others (see Status Report, Vol. 39, No. 7, August 1, 2004). The court also told the agency it must show that the corrected model justifies the longer driving hours.