The battle for highway safety continued to rage today in the wake of a lawsuit filed by the Truck Safety Coalition, Public Citizen, and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.
The suit aims to prevent the U.S. Transportation Department from keeping rules which put an 11 hour maximum driving time on truckers. Detractors of the 11 hour driving time rule say that such a rule does not properly deal with driver fatigue.
This is the second time this month that the rule has faced a suit. American Trucking Associations sought to block the rules with a suit filed on February 14.
Originally, it seemed as if the Transportation Department was going to set a cap of 10 hours for a trucker’s driving time. However, Republicans asked that that time limit be amended because they thought it would cost around $1 billion.
The new rule was released in December in the wake of a settlement between the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the same groups mentioned above. They had successfully challenged a prior version of the rule.
As a San Bernardino car accident lawyer, I’m well-versed in the various laws that govern motor vehicles on the highway. I pay close attention to any developments that occur, because any piece of legislation could end up affecting a personal injury lawyer in San Bernardino like myself.