| Do
Laws Regulate The Amount of Time a Trucker Spends on the Road?
Yes.
In 1939, the Federal Government passed regulations to limit
the hours of service (HOS), that truck drivers could operated
their commercial motor vehicles. Although much has happened
with U.S. highways since, 1939, those HOS regulations remained
the same.
In 1995 Congress directed the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA) to study the effect of fatigue of commercial
motor vehicle crashes and to reform those HOS regulations.
In response, FMCSA conducted scientific research, reviewed
tens of thousands of comments to the rule making process and
employed experts to review the issues.
In April 2003, FMCSA made the first meaningful revision to
the HOS regulations in more than 60 years. The new regulations
go into effect on January 4, 2004. These new rules have attempted
to balance the increased opportunity for drivers to obtain
nessary rest with the realities of operation by commercial
motor vehicle carriers.
The new rules allow drivers to drive 11 hours after 10 consecutive
hours of off-duty. Also, drivers may not drive after being
on duty for 60 hours in a seven consecutive day period or
70 hours in an eight consecutive day period. Drivers may not
drive beyond the 14th hour after coming on-duty following
10 hours off duty.
Short haul drivers are allowed to be on-duty for a period
of 16 hours once during any seven consecutive day period.
The old rule allowed 10 hours of driving after an 8 hour
period of off-duty time. Drivers were also not allowed to
drive after their 15th hour on duty in a workday or after
60 hours on duty time in seven consecutive days or 70 hours
in on duty eight consecutive days.
Although the new rules purportedly appease truck driver's
who argue that better equipment and roads should translate
into more driving time, in reality the difference is a net
loss of HOS per 24 hours. The new rules allow a driver to
drive 14 of 24 hours. The old rules allowed 15 of 24 hours
of driving time.
The HOS rules govern drivers who transport freight through
interstate commerce whose vehicle has a gross weight rating
of 10,001 pounds. Drivers of buses involved in interstate
transportation will continue to use the old HOS regulations. |
