FMCSA Cancels Long-planned “Flexible Sleeper Berth Pilot Program”
November 13, 2018

In late October 2018, an FMCSA official announced the Agency’s recent decision to cancel its flexible sleeper berth pilot program. This pilot program was formally initiated by FMCSA in June 2017 and was intended to examine whether regulatory flexibility related to the sleeper berth provision could be used to improve driver rest and alertness. FMCSA was recently recruiting at least 240 drivers for the study. In remarks in late October explaining the decision to cancel the pilot, FMCSA Chief Counsel Jim Mullen stated the Agency has already collected a fair amount of data and research on this topic. Interestingly, one of the four HOS provisions FMCSA has teed up for potential change in its HOS rulemaking is the ‘split sleeper berth’ rule.