The Trump administration eased rules Thursday that limit working hours for truck drivers, and the changes brought immediate protests from labor and safety groups.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration extended the maximum working day for short-haul drivers from 12 hours to 14 hours and expanded how far they can drive in a day. The agency said this will let truckers make more deliveries.
For long-haul drivers, the regulator will let work other than driving – such as loading or unloading, filling out paperwork, or communicating with an employer or customer – count toward a mandatory 30-minute break after eight hours of driving. Currently drivers must go off-duty during breaks.
The current limit of 11 hours of driving time in a work day was unchanged.
The agency said the new rules will save trucking companies more than $2.8 billion over 10 years. The agency’s acting administrator, Jim Mullen, said the changes “will improve safety on America’s roadways and strengthen the nation’s motor carrier industry.”