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."

Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) in Support of Legislation and Regs Mandating the Use of Electronic Logging Devices

Benjamin Smith

Principal Technical Analyst

Messerschmidt Safety Consultants of Mississippi

The Board of Directors of the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) voted to support government legislation and regulations mandating the use of electronic logging devices (ELDs), which are used by fleets to ensure compliance with hours of service (HOS) regulations and reduce inefficiencies in paperwork. This vote took place on March 13, 2011, at the Association's annual convention.

In addition to voting to support the mandatory use of ELDs, the TCA’s new policy also includes seven areas the TCA believes should be addressed when developing legislation or regulations mandating ELD use. These areas include relieving motor carriers who use compliant ELDs of the burden of retaining supporting documents for verification of driving time, as well as tax incentives as a method for helping facilitate the adoption and use of ELD systems.

Read the TCA’s press release.