The American Trucking Associations (ATA) has announced that it endorses the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's reaffirmation of the Hours of Service (HOS) rules that have been in place since January 2004.

While operating under these rules for the last five years, the trucking industry’s safety performance has been shown to dramatically improve, according to a statement from the ATA. Large truck crash, injury and fatality rates have reached the lowest point since the US Department of Transportation began recording the statistics, said the ATA, in a release. The rules had been challenged by special interest groups that claimed they were unsafe.

The HOS rules were designed in 2003 to apply the latest scientific research on human fatigue and alertness. The ATA indicates that the rules increase the minimum number of hours available for driver rest, reduce the number of hours in a driver’s work day, increase the driving time within the reduced work day, and better promote a 24-hour work-rest schedule in harmony with the body’s natural circadian rhythm.

The trucking association further states that substantive provisions of these hours of service have never been overturned by any court, and dire predictions of fatigue and accidents made by labor union advocates have never come to pass.