The new federal rules updating 60-year-old regulations governing the number of hours commercial drivers can operate their trucks each day will save hundreds of lives, safeguard billions of dollars in commerce and improve the safety of our highways for years to come.

The new “hours of service” rules make good safety and economic sense, despite concerns raised in the article, “New truck-driving rules get mixed reviews” (BDN, Jan. 5). The true cause of driver fatigue is the length of a driver’s workday, not just the amount of time he or she spends on the road. That’s why the U.S. Department of Transportation’s new rules reduce a driver’s workday by an hour, while allowing more of that time to be spent on the road where most drivers earn their living.

The science behind the new rule is strong. Drivers’ schedules are no longer based on a 1930s-era concept of what a workday should be. Instead, scientific evaluations of the body’s natural sleep cycle, known as circadian rhythms, has been combined with years of analysis of real-world working conditions for the benefit of the nation’s 11 million commercial drivers and the safety of everyone on our nation’s roads and highways.

This rule strikes the right balance between protecting truck drivers and other motorists, and providing operators the flexibility they need to keep America moving. As a result, 75 lives will be saved and 8,226 fatigue-related crashes will be prevented every year, numbers that add up to safer highways for all of us and a $628 million-a-year savings for our economy.

Robert R. Johnson Jr.

Assistant to the Secretary

Department of Transportation

Washington, D.C.