But our trucking friends north of the border have hammered out their own new HOS standard. And it’s one that—surprise, surprise!— government officials, industry lobbyists and union leaders there have all agreed to support.

Could Canada have the answer to HOS reform?

The Canadian measure would restrict drivers to 14 hours on duty (13 hours driving) followed by 10 hours off during a 24-hour period. At least eight of the off-duty hours would have to be taken consecutively, with the additional two hours taken in increments of no less than half an hour.

Other proposed changes include eliminating the option to reduce the off-duty time from eight to four hours; increasing the minimum rest for co-drivers using a sleeper berth from two to four consecutive hours; allowing the averaging of on-duty and off-duty time over a 48-hour period; cutting the number of available work/rest cycles from three to two; and setting a maximum 70-hour cycle over 7 days and a maximum 120-hour cycle over 14 days.

CLOCK SETTINGS
Drivers who want to reset or switch cycles would need to take at least 36 consecutive hours off duty before resetting the clock to zero for the 70-hour cycle, and at least 72 consecutive hours off for the 120-hour cycle. At least once every 14 days, all drivers would be required to take at least 24 hours off.

The goal for Canadian provinces (which enforce the country’s HOS rules) is to have the new regs take effect sometime this fall.

Maybe it would bode well for the U.S. government and the trucking lobby here to take a good, long hard look at what Canada has cooked up. Maybe their solution would work here, too.

But we won’t get our hopes up. Even several months after word officially leaked out about this astonishing development, the silence from U.S. trucking interests—governmental, private and even union—in response remains deafening.

The only U.S. group that we are aware of having taken any notice whatsoever is the Truckload Carriers Assn, which first relayed the facts in its newsletter way back in October.

Even if our HOS rules end up somewhat different, Canada has the right idea. It’s high time to throw out worn-out rules and get with the times. For everyone’s sake.