Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety v. FMCSA (driver training)

This lawsuit, in which Public Citizen represented Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, challenged a final rule issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) on minimum training standards for entry-level drivers of commercial motor vehicles, including heavy trucks and buses. Instead of requiring entry-level truck and bus drivers to receive training in topics such as backing up, shifting, changing lanes, parking, controlling skids, and driving on mountainous roads — the operational skills and knowledge necessary to safely operate a commercial motor vehicle — the final rule required drivers to receive training just in the four tangential areas of driver qualifications: hours of service requirements, driver wellness, and whistleblower protection. On December 2, 2005, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that the agency’s final rule was arbitrary and capricious and remanded to the agency for further rule-making.