The National Pork Producers Council is pleased with Senate legislation introduced last week to study the Electronic Logging Device Rules and federal Hours of Service for truckers. Nebraska Pork Producers Association President Darin Uhler says the Modernizing Agricultural Transportation Act is a positive measure that makes the rules more flexible for drivers hauling livestock.
He says the bill calls for the Secretary of Transportation to establish a working group to look at the Hours of Service and ELD regulations within 120 days to identify the obstacles to the safe, humane and market efficient transport of livestock. Uhler says that came about after pork producers met with the Secretary.
Uhler says the key issue is the Hours of Service livestock haulers have to adhere to are unworkable.
The current Hours of Service rules limit commercial truckers to 11 hours of driving time and 14 consecutive hours of on duty time in any 24 our period. Once drivers reach that limit they must pull over and wait ten hours before driving again.
