HOURS OFSERVICE
THE NEW RULES, MAKING THE SWITCH
January 4 Is fast approaching. Are you and your drivers ready?
Patricia Smith
Senior Editor
Barring a last-minute court order, it appears that Jan. 4, 2004 is the day trucking companies and their drivers will have to switch to new hours of service rules. That's not much time to get drivers up to speed, and the schedule is especially tight if you haven't already acquainted dispatchers, supervisors, customer service representatives and customers themselves with the new rules.
Following are the basics, plus a list of resources for more information and training assistance.
Who Must Comply
The new rules apply to all employers and drivers of commercial vehicles transporting property in interstate commerce. Bus drivers will continue to work under existing rules. A commercial vehicle is defined as one with a gross vehicle weight, gross vehicle weight rating, gross combination weight or gross combination weight rating of more than 10,000 lbs. It can also be any vehicle that transports hazardous materials of a type and quantity requiring placards.
Mexican- and Canadian-based drivers must comply with the rules while operating in the U.S. and must maintain a current record of duty status for the previous seven days (if the carrier doesn't operate every day of the week) or eight consecutive days.
The federal government holds drivers and employers responsible for compliance. Carriers are required to instruct drivers and other employees on the regulations and are prohibited from permitting or requiring a driver to break the rules.
Penalties And Fines
Drivers who violate the HOS rules may be placed out of service at roadside until they accumulate enough off-duty hours to be back in compliance. State and local law enforcement officials may also assess fines. FMCSA may levy civil penalties on drivers or carriers from $550 to $11,000 per violation, depending on severity.
In addition to fines and lost productivity of drivers and vehicles placed out of service, violations of driving and on-duty restrictions can adversely affect a carrier's safety rating and can affect insurance premiums. Federal criminal penalties can be brought against carrier executives who willfully and knowingly allow or require drivers to break the rules.
Effective Date
As noted, the new rules become effective Jan. 4 — and not before. Drivers are required to comply with current regulations through Jan. 3. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration says that drivers who start a trip under the old rules may continue under those rules until the end of the trip or 11:59 p.m. Jan. 4, whichever comes first.
New Limits
The rules impose three basic limits.
• Maximum driving time is 11 hours. After 11 hours behind the wheel, the driver must have 10 hours of rest.
• Maximum on-duty time is 14 hours. After 14 hours on duty (which may or may not include up to 11 hours of driving) the driver cannot operate a commercial vehicle until he has had 10 hours of rest. The 14-hour clock starts when a driver comes on duty and can only be stopped with a minimum two-hour break in the sleeper.
• Maximum 60 hours on duty in any seven consecutive days. If the company operates every day of the week, the maximum is 70 hours in any eight consecutive days. Drivers may restart the 7/8 day period with 34 hours or more off duty.
On-duty defined
The 14-hour on-duty clock starts when a driver reports to work "or is required to be in readiness for work" until the time he is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work. Meals and rest stops are logged as off-duty but counted in the 14 on-duty maximum. Time logged as off-duty isn't counted in 60/70 hour on-duty maximum.
Time that must be logged as on-duty includes time inspecting, servicing or repairing a commercial vehicle; any time spent in a commercial vehicle except time spent resting in the sleeper berth (more on that later); time spent actually loading and unloading or even observing either process; time spent obtaining assistance for a disabled vehicle or attending a disabled vehicle; and time spent providing a breath sample or urine specimen for mandated drug and alcohol testing — including time spent traveling to and from the test or collection site.
Time spent at a terminal, plant or other property of a motor carrier or shipper waiting to be dispatched, or time spent on public property waiting to be dispatched, is logged as on-duty unless the driver has been relieved of duty by the motor carrier. In a recent clarification, FMCSA said that a driver who is on call during that 34-hour restart period, but not actually called to work, may count that time as off-duty.
Unless there's a 10-hour off-duty period after reaching the destination, a driver who is traveling under directions from the carrier must count it as on-duty time, even if he's not driving or otherwise doing "work" for the carrier. Any work done for compensation counts as on-duty time, even if the work is not related to trucking.
Sleeper Berth Option
Drivers may take their mandated 10 hours off duty in a sleeper berth that meets federal safety standards (393.76). They can even split the 10 hours into two periods in the sleeper as long as they comply with the following:
• The 10-hour accumulation can not be done in more than two periods and each period must be at least two hours.
• Driving time before and after each sleeper rest period can't exceed 11 hours when added together.
• Total on-duty time immediately before and after each rest period, when added together, can't include driving after the 14th hour.
In a clarification to the new rules, published in September, FMCSA stressed that non-sleeper berth off-duty time, sleeper berth time of less than two hours, and sleeper berth time of two hours or more that isn't used to accumulate 10 hours off-duty all count toward the 14-hour on-duty limit.
The agency offered the following example: After 10 consecutive hours off-duty, the driver drives for four hours, takes two hours in the sleeper, drives 3 hours, takes three hours in the sleeper, drives five hours and takes seven hours in the sleeper. The first and second periods in the sleeper (two hours plus three hours) don't meet the split sleeper requirement because they don't add up to 10 hours. The second and third periods in the sleeper berth (three hours plus seven hours) meet the new rule since they add up to 10 or more hours and each was more than two hours long. In this case, then, the first period in the sleeper would be counted in the on-duty tally.
The agency also said that sleeper time can be combined with off-duty time to meet the 10-hour rest rule, but the periods must be consecutive. Drivers can use the sleeper for all or part of the 34-hour restart, but sleeper and off-duty time can't be broken by on-duty time. The objective, says FMCSA, is to give the driver two periods of sleep and still enable him to start the next shift at about the same time as he started before.
Exemptions
The new rules include many of the existing exemptions and one new one.
Short-haul exemption. To ease the impact the new rules would have on short-haul or local operations, FMCSA allows drivers to be on duty up to 16 hours instead of 14 if they meet the following conditions:
• They are released from duty at the normal reporting location for the previous five duty tours.
• They return to the normal work reporting location and are released from duty within 16 hours.
• They have not used the exception in the previous six days unless it follows a 34-hour restart.
Adverse driving conditions. If a driver encounters adverse driving conditions and cannot safely complete the run within the maximum 11 hours driving time, FMCSA permits another two hours to either complete the run or reach someplace that is safe for vehicle, driver and cargo. But the 14-hour on-duty limit still applies. Adverse driving conditions include snow, sleet, fog and other adverse weather, or unusual road or traffic conditions. If any of these were apparent at the time the run started, the exception doesn't apply.
Agriculture exemption. Agricultural operations continue to be exempt from HOS rules during planting and harvesting seasons as determined by each state. Exempt driving is still limited to a 100-mile air radius.
Alaska exemption. Alaska truckers can continue to drive up to 15 hours following 10 hours off-duty and can be on-duty up to 20 hours after 10 off. They can be on-duty up to 70 hours in seven days or 80 hours in eight.
Oil, well drilling, construction, utility service. Drivers of specially constructed oil well servicing rigs at natural gas or oil well locations, vehicles used to transport or support ground water well drilling rigs, vehicles used to transport construction materials and equipment with a 50-mile radius, or utility service vehicles still have the option to restart the 7/8 day period after 24 consecutive hours of rest.
100 air-mile radius. Drivers who operate within a 100 mile air-radius of their normal work reporting location and who return to the reporting location and are released from work within 12 consecutive hours are still subject to hours of service rules, but are not required to maintain logs. The driver's employer must retain time records for the previous six months, including time the driver reported to duty each day, time released from duty, total hours worked each day and the preceding day.
Retail store deliveries. Drivers making deliveries from retail stores to consumers are exempt from HOS rules Dec.10 through 25, if they stay within the 100-mile radius of the work reporting location.
Resources
FMCSA provides a wealth of information and training aids at its web site, www.fmcsa.dot.com. At any time, safety regulations can be found in the site's "rules and regulations" section. For hours of service rules, look for Part 395. Since publishing the revisions, that agency has maintained a link at the web site's home page. There you'll find the new rules and technical amendments, a brochure and a pocket guide for drivers, a Power Point presentation, and answers to frequently asked questions.
Printed versions of the new rules are available from J.J. Keller & Assoc., (800) 327-6868 or TransProducts, (800) 367-9100. These companies, plus many state trucking associations, offer training seminars and other aids.
Also check with national trucking organizations including the American Trucking Assns.', www.truckline.com; the National Private Truck Council, www.nptc.org, and the Truckload Carriers Assn., www.truckload.org.
New Rules continued...
