In November 2008, just weeks before President Obama took office, the Bush Administration finalized a rule increasing the amount of time truck drivers can spend behind the wheel—creating a possible public health and safety hazard. The rule allows truck drivers to drive for 11 hours, one more hour than they were allowed before 2003, and allows them to drive as many as 77 hours in seven days or 88 hours in eight days, over 25 percent more than previously allowed by federal law.
In March 2009, the Public Citizen and several other groups filed suit in federal appeals court in the District of Columbia challenging the regulation. Two previous versions of the rule were thrown out by the court. In 2004, the appeals court held the rule flawed because it failed to take into consideration the serious health impact of its rule on the regulated drivers.
Policy Integrity has joined together with the Center for Science in the Public Interest, OMB Watch, the Society for Occupational and Environmental Health, and the Union of Concerned Scientists to participate as amici curiae in the litigation.