New FMCSA HOS Rules Enforcement Looms

If you are a property carrying CDL driver in the US you might have already heard about the new Hours of Service Rules set to start July 1, 2013. Despite pleas by the ATA and others to delay HOS enforcement due to pending legal challenges it looks like drivers need to brush up now on what will be required of them come July 1, 2013.

Hours of Service Rules are changing are you ready?

The two biggest HOS changes are; limits to the 34-hour restart and rest breaks.

34-hour restart

Previously there were no real rules about the restart as long as it was 34 hours. After July 1 there will be some rules drivers should pay attention to:

(1) Must include two periods from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., home terminal time.
(2) May only be used once per week, 168 hours, measured from the beginning of the previous restart.

Rest Breaks

Previously there were no real rules for most drivers, now drivers need to pay attention to:

“May drive only if 8 hours or less have passed since end of driver’s last off-duty or sleeper berth period of at least 30 minutes. [49 CFR 397.5 mandatory “in attendance” time for hazardous materials may be included in break if no other duties performed]”

What this means is simple, you can’t drive for 10 hours straight you have to take at least a 30 minute break within the first 8 hours of driving, or there can’t be more than 8 hours since your last break if your driving. The good news is all you need to be is off duty for 30 minutes to keep in compliance, this is a great time to grab a bite to eat, take a shower or just catch a few winks.

Take time and have lunch it counts against your rest time.

Some other HOS changes to take note of are:

Off Duty Definition Change

On February 27, 2012 there was a change in the definition of off duty that was a bonus to many drivers especially teams.

-Parked drivers could now legally mark themselves off duty even if they were not in their sleeper berth, this is a bonus for short-haul drivers without a sleeper berth.

-Team drivers are now allowed to be off duty even if they are in the passenger seat of a moving CMV. They are only allowed up to 2 hours. No longer will non driving team members be sneaking in the back before they hit a scale.

Oilfield Exemption

The new rules brought in a clarification in the language used for waiting time. It now reads:

“Waiting time” for certain drivers at oilfields must be shown on logbook or electronic equivalent as off duty and identified by annotations in “remarks” or a separate line added to “grid.”

The wait time HOS exemption does not change, just how drivers note this if they want to claim the wait time exemption.

Definition of Egregious violation

The FMCSA has now defined egregious violation in regards to over hours violations. If you drive or cause someone to drive more than 3 or more hours over their limits you could be charged as an egregious violation of the hours of service rules. This would mean you could face maximum civil penalties.

Canadian and Mexico based carriers are also required to comply with these HOS changes.