Federal Hours of Service Rule Sees Thousands of Violations in 2014

There have already been over 120,000 violations of the federal HOS rules during the current fiscal period.

The new hours-of-service rules prohibit commercial truck drivers from driving any longer than eight hours without taking an off-duty break of at least 30 minutes. While there are other provisions of the policy, drivers violate the 30-minute rule more than any other.

Current Statistics

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) reported a total of 72,418 violations of the 30-minute rule during the current fiscal period which began on October 1, 2013, and will end on September 30, 2014. The rule became effective July 1 of last year, so the current fiscal period covers nine of a possible twelve months of enforcement since that time. On the other side of the spectrum, FMCSA reported 31,426 violations for driving longer than 14 hours on duty and 16,875 violations for driving longer than 11 consecutive hours.

There are 40 different types of violations the FMCSA tracks, but the 30-minute rule is number four on the list of those rules most frequently violated. At the top of the list with 106,000 violations were violations of the laws on vehicle registration or license plates with logbook violations (103,000) running a closed second and failing to operate a vehicle according to state and local laws next in line at 98,000.

Since the rules governing the 14-hour workday and 11-hour consecutive driving time were already in place, drivers already knew how to work within the guidelines of those rules. Projections are the number of violations of the 30-minute rule will hopefully decline as years go by and drivers become more familiar with the guidelines of the rule and the penalties for violating the rule.

Controversial Components

The hours-of-services rules include a couple of rather controversial components:

• Drivers must rest for 34 consecutive hours if they reach the 70-hour maximum before the end of the work week.
• During the 34 hour downtime they must be off duty from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.

There are many who have opposed the new rules because they didn’t believe they would have a huge impact on highway safety. Shippers and motor carriers believe the rules will reduce the productivity of the trucking industry as a whole and create serious disruptions within supply chains as a result of the reduction in hours from 82 to 70. These opinions are in direct contrast to the study released by the FMCSA earlier in the year that shows the new rules could prevent 1,400 truck accidents and ultimately save ~19 lives.

These rules were necessary in order to ensure the safety of everyone on the road. The reduction in hours is meant to help reduce the number of accidents and violations that result because drivers are operating on a lack of sleep.

Category: In The News