The New Hours Rule Has Been Released
Posted on December 23, 2011
Filed Under HORROR STORIES, HOURS OF SERVICE, IN THE NEWS, POLITICS
It is found here. The 11 hour rule remains. They drastically cut the number of hours you can work a week. You must take a 30 minute off-duty or sleeper break for every 8 hours of driving. They added a provision which says if you exceed the 11 hour driving limit by 3 hours or more, they can fine the motor carrier up to $11,000, and the driver up to $2,750 per occurence. Most of these rules go into effect on July 1, 2013. The increased penalty amounts go into effect in 60 days.
ATA’s comments on this are here. They view the rule as a disaster. They are correct. It is a disaster. Of course, we all knew it was coming. The main change is the 70 hour rule. At present, you can take a 34 hour off-duty break, which resets your 70 hour clock to zero. Easy, simple, effective.
Under the new rule, your 34 hour break, must encompass two periods covering 1:00am to 5:00am in order to count. In other words, if you start your 34 hour break at 2:00am on Saturday morning, in order to reset your clock to zero, it will have to last until 5:00 am Monday. Presently, you could start your week at noon Sunday, with a fresh 70 hours, in this example.
Also, you are only allowed to use the 34 hour reset provision once every 168 hours, ie once every 7 days. So, if you work 14 hours a day, for 5 days, then take your 34 hour reset on the weekend, you can start back at zero when the 34 hour break is over, but you cannot start another 34 hour reset until 168 hours have passed. Basically, this serves the purpose of limiting a driver to no more than 70 hours in any 7 days, whereas under the current rule, I could get over 80 hours, if I have reset included in the 7 days. I haven’t worked at all the details of exactly how that works, but it will definitely limit the hours a driver can work.
So now what? Well, hopefully, the ATA or OOIDA will sue the agency. The “safety” groups have already indicated they intend to sue based on the fact that the 11 hour driving rule was retained. They are suing to make the rules even more restrictive. So, there is a chance that relief from this idiocy will be granted in the courts since FMCSA has no scientific or statistical basis for these changes. However, I wouldn’t count on that. The other, more effective way, of ridding ourselves of these new rules is to rid ourselves of Barack Obama and Ray LaHood on November 6, 2012. There’s no guarantee a new President will halt this rulemaking, although I would say it is more likely than not. One thing is certain: 4 more years of Barack Obama guarantees these rules will go into effect in 2013.
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I am a company driver and this is SOOO crazy, when will they ever leve us alone? If this companies: Swift, Crst, Martin, etc……. would put students with trainers for a minimum of 6 months, b4 soloing them. Insurance and fatalities would go down tremendous.
Angie: They will never leave you alone. Ever.