On January 19, 2009, the final version of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on hours of service rules for commercial drivers’ went into effect. The FMCSA’s stated purpose for these rules was to ensure truck driver had more opportunity for sleep than under the pre-2003 rule.
The most significant change in the new HOS Rules is the extension of a driver’s maximum time at the wheel from 10 to 11 hours in a 14-hour, non-extendable window from the start of the workday. In addition, the new HOS Rules also allow motor carriers and drivers to restart calculations of the weekly on-duty time limits after the driver has at least 34 consecutive hours off duty.
The new rules also require drivers who use sleeper berths to take eight (8) consecutive hours in the berth and another 2 hours off duty or in the berth, as the driver chooses. This provision replaces the prior rule that allowed drivers to split their sleeper-berth time into two periods, neither shorter than two hours.
The new rules had been bogged down for the past several years in litigation throughout the Federal Court system. The rules were originally promulgated by the FMCSA in 2004 and were immediately challenged in Court. The court challenges were based, in large part, upon the assertion that the FMCSA did not provide “adequate rationalization” for the rule changes.
In 2008, the FMCSA re-opened public comment on the proposed HOS Rule changes. After extensive analysis and research the FMCSA made numerous findings regarding the changes in the new rules. Most telling was the conclusion that the motor carrier industry is using both the 11th hour and 34 hour re-start provision, not to maximize driving and on-duty time, but for “operational flexibility”, which is exactly its intended purpose.
Now that the court challenges are over – the 2004 changes are now in effect. For more information on any of the new HOS provisions, please contact one of our Transportation Practice Group Leaders or log onto www.reminger.com for detailed updates and links to pertinent informational websites.