HOS DEBATES * USA - Researcher says FMCSA misrepresented findings

Washington,DC,USA -Truck News (Canada) -Mar 1, 2011: -- A leading researcher has accused the US Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) of misrepresenting his work to support its case to revamp driver hours-of-service rules... Dr. Francesco Cappuccio, a professor and researcher at Warwick Medical School in the U.K., reviewed 16 published studies on the effect of sleep duration on mortality. He also co-authored a 2007 study that the FMCSA, according to the American Trucking Associations, "leaned on most heavily to support its proposal" to rewrite hours-of-service legislation. The agency used Cappuccio's study to conclude that short projected increases in sleep could generate roughly US$690 million in annual health benefits for drivers... Cappuccio, however, has said the FMCSA cannot use his findings to quantify benefits to justify its proposed regulatory changes... He also said there is "no evidence to prove, that without additional measures, a simple reduction in work hours will result in increased sleep time" ... The ATA said Cappuccio's comments are further evidence that the FMCSA's proposed hours-of-service changes are flawed...