FMCSA Issues New Hours-of-Service (HOS) Rules

William Messerschmidt
Principal Technical Analyst
MSC

Before leaving on Christmas holiday, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a long awaited change to the Hours-of-Service (HOS) rules for commercial truck drivers. The new rules go into effect mid-year.

The updated regs keep the 11-hour driving time limit in place, rather than dropping it to 10 hours, and allow truck drivers to work a total of 14 hours per day.

One major change is that drivers will have a mandatory 30-minute rest break after eight consecutive hours on-duty (counting both driving and non-driving work time).

Another very significant change is that the 34-hour restart period must now include at least two nighttime periods of 1am to 5am and can only be used once every seven days. The 34-hour restart is the rest period after which a driver can begin his or her normal workweek. Under the new rules, this 34-hour rest period must include 1am to 5am on two consecutive nights.

The final change proposed by the FMCSA is a limit on the total number of hours a driver can work during a seven-day period. Under the previous rules, a driver could work 82 hours in a seven-day period. The new rules limit work time to 70 hours in seven days.

The new rules seem to have raised the ire of parties on all sides of the debate. Some safety advocates claim that the rules don’t go far enough to prevent fatigued driving. Independent trucker groups claim the new rules will place an unfair burden on owner-operators. Large trucking associations are predicting that the new regs will increase traffic during peak hours, and economists seem to disagree on whether the reduced hours will stimulate the economy by creating more jobs, or harm the economy by driving up the cost of goods.

The new rules go into effect on 30 June 2013. Learn more about the new HOS rules and see how they compare to the former rules.

See how various groups are responding to the changes to the HOS rules:
Owner Operators and Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA)
American Trucking Association (ATA)
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Press Release
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)
The Washington Post

Senators Pryor (D-AR) and Alexander (R-TN) Introduce New Electronic On-board Recorder (EOBR) Legislation

Benjamin Smith

Principal Technical Analyst

Messerschmidt Safety Consultants of Mississippi

US Senators Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced new legislation on March 31, 2011 that would require the installation of Electronic On-board Recorders (EOBRs) in commercial vehicles to document drivers' compliance with Hours-of-Service (HOS) rules.

The March 31 press release indicates that the Commercial Driver Compliance Improvement Act will require the EOBRs to be tamper-resistant, identify the vehicle's operator and record driving time, communicate with the Engine Control Module (ECM), provide real-time location recording, and allow for the data to be accessed by law enforcement in roadside inspections.

Senators Pryor and Alexander's new legislation aims at enforcing HOS rules more effectively and accurately. In the press release, Pryor said, "The trucking industry faces the constant balancing act of keeping fatigued drivers off the road while ensuring stores are full of merchandise. After several meetings with the trucking industry and Senate hearings on highway safety, I believe the most effective solution is to require the use of electronic on-board recorders."

FMCSA Sends Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on HOS to the White House

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sent its notice of proposed rulemaking regarding a new Hours-of-Service (HOS) rule to the White House on July 26th. From this point, the agency has until July 2011 to publish the proposed rule, receive comments on it, and issue a new final rule.

During the past five years the FMCSA’s HOS Regulation has been one of their most hotly contested regulations. Because of policy changes and legal challenges to the FMCSA, the HOS rules have been changed—and then changed back—several times.

The last amendment to the HOS rules, which increased the maximum number of hours a driver could drive (after coming back on duty) from 10 to 11 hours, went into effect in January 2004. That amendment prompted concerns about driver fatigue, as well as the current lawsuit and settlement requiring the FMCSA to pen a new HOS rule.

Based on the amount of time typically needed by the Office of Management and Budget for reviewing regulations like these, the Federal Register will likely publish the proposed rule in late October / early November of this year.

DOT Issues Rule Requiring Electronic On-Board Recorders for Serious Hours-of-Service Violations

Interstate commercial truck and bus companies with a minimum of 10 percent hours-of-service violations during a compliance review will be required to install electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) in all their vehicles. EOBRs are devices that record the number of hours drivers spend operating the vehicle.

The US Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) passed the rule on April 2, 2010 (scheduled to begin June 1, 2012) and estimates 5,700 interstate carriers will use EOBRs by July 2013. Learn more about the rule.

"We are committed to cracking down on carriers and drivers who put people on our roads and highways at risk," said Secretary Ray LaHood. "This rule gives us another tool to enforce hours-of-service restrictions on drivers who attempt to get around the rules."

FMCSA to Revise the HOS Rule

In response to challenges to the Hours of Service (HOS) rule, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has agreed to propose a revised HOS rule within the next nine months and publish a new final rule within the next 21 months. Advocacy groups want the revisions to address safety and health issues such as driver fatigue. Read more about the HOS regulation and rules that are currently in place. The HOS rule will remain in effect during the FMCSA's revision and rulemaking process.