You knew the Hours of Service rule change was coming, and now it’s almost here.  The new Hours of Service rules took effect on February 27, 2012 and the compliance date of selected provisions is July 1, 2013.  Even though trucking groups have petitioned the agency to hold off on implementing the HOS changes, it appears the FMCSA is moving full-steam ahead with its plan.

With all the recent changes to the CSA program, it’s hard to keep the facts straight.

What are the biggest changes?

• A Restart, or 34-hour restart, can only be used once a week (168 hours) and must include two full consecutive periods of rest between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. 

“The purpose of the rule change is to limit work to no more than 70 hours a week on average. Working long daily and weekly hours on a continuing basis is associated with chronic fatigue, a high risk of crashes, and a number of serious chronic health conditions in drivers,” the FMCSA states.

• Restart must include 2 night periods between 1:00-5:00 a.m, NOT two rest periods between midnight and 6:00 a.m. 

• A driver working 60 hours in 7 days and would not need a restart to start working again on the 8th day. The driver, therefore, would not need to use the restart provision.

 

• No driving if it has been more than 8 hours since your last break of 30 or more minutes.

Continued on next page.

• If you have spent more than 8 consecutive hours on duty since your last off-duty (or sleeper-berth) period of at least 30 minutes,  you must take an off-duty or sleeper berth break of at least 30 minutes before driving. 

The break does not have to be spent resting.   “The driver must be off duty for at least a half hour. Meal breaks or any other off-duty time of at least 30 minutes qualifies as a break. Drivers carrying certain explosives, who are required to attend the vehicle at all times, are allowed to count attendance time, which is on duty, toward the break if they do no other work during that time.

Any off-duty or sleeper-berth period of 30 minutes or more will meet the requirement.

• No changes were made to the basic rule of 11 hours of drive time.  However, with the requirement of the 30-minute break, the effective use of the 14-hour duty day has been reduced to 13.5 hours.

 

• Time spent waiting to be loaded or unloaded is on-duty time and COUNTS toward your 14-hour max. unless the driver has been released from all responsibility for the truck. Except for drivers attending loads of certain explosives, on-duty time cannot be considered as a break.

 

• The definition of on-duty time has changed.  It will no longer include “any time resting in a parked vehicle, or  up to 2 hours in the passenger seat of a moving property-carrying CMV, immediately before or after 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth.”

For team drivers: “this rule continues to require drivers to take 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth and allows them to take an additional 2 hours in the passenger seat when the vehicle is moving, without artificially confining them to the sleeper berth for the entire 10-hour period. This provides team drivers an opportunity to “keep the truck moving” as much as possible, by having driver A drive for 10 hours while driver B obtains a full daily rest period without having to stay in the sleeper berth for 10 straight hours.”