Hours of service - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The hours of service are regulations issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration , established January 1, 2000, regulates the trucking industry in the United States. FMCSA is headquartered in Washington, DC and employs more than 1,000 people in all 50 States and the District of Columbia...

(FMCSA) governing the working hours of anyone operating a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

for the purpose of "interstate commerce"— moving commercial goods from one U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

to another. This includes truck driver

Truck driver

A truck driver , is a person who earns a living as the driver of a truck, usually a semi truck, box truck, or dump truck.Truck drivers provide an essential service to...

s and bus driver

Bus driver

A bus driver, bus operator or omnibus driver is a person who drives buses professionally. Bus drivers typically drive their vehicles between bus stations or stops. They often drop off and pick up passengers on a predetermined route schedule. In British English a different term, coach drivers, is...

s who operate CMVs for motor carriers (their employers). These rules limit the number of daily and weekly hours spent driving and working, and regulate the minimum amount of time drivers must spend resting between driving shifts. For intrastate commerce, the respective state's regulations apply.

The FMCSA is a division of the United States Department of Transportation

United States Department of Transportation

The United States Department of Transportation is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation. It was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, and began operation on April 1, 1967...

(DOT), which is generally responsible for enforcement of FMCSA regulations. The driver of a CMV is required to keep a record of working hours using a log book, outlining the total number of hours spent driving and resting, as well as the time at which the change of duty status occurred. In lieu of a log book, a motor carrier

Motor carrier

Motor carrier may refer to:* A company which employs large semi-truck and bus drivers. See Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration .* Motor Carrier an English automobile....

may keep track of a driver's hours using an electronic on-board recorder

Electronic on-board recorder

An electronic on-board recorder is an electronic device attached to a commercial motor vehicle, which is used to record the amount of time a vehicle is being driven...

(EOBR), which automatically records the amount of time spent driving the vehicle.

The HOS's main purpose is to prevent accidents caused by driver fatigue. This is accomplished by limiting the number of driving hours per day, and the number of driving and working hours per week. Fatigue is also prevented by keeping drivers on a 21- to 24-hour schedule, maintaining a natural sleep/wake cycle (or circadian rhythm

Circadian rhythm

A circadian rhythm, popularly referred to as body clock, is an endogenously driven , roughly 24-hour cycle in biochemical, physiological, or behavioural processes. Circadian rhythms have been widely observed in plants, animals, fungi and cyanobacteria...

). Drivers are required to take a daily minimum period of rest, and are allowed longer "weekend" rest periods to combat cumulative fatigue effects that accrue on a weekly basis.

Enforcement of the HOS is generally handled by DOT officers of each state, and are sometimes checked when CMVs pass through weigh station

Weigh station

A weigh station is a checkpoint along a highway to inspect vehicular weights. Usually, trucks and commercial vehicles are subject to the inspection....

s. Drivers found to be in violation of the HOS can be forced to stop driving for a certain period of time, which may negatively affect the motor carrier's safety rating

Motor carrier safety rating

The motor carrier safety rating is an evaluation given to an interstate commercial motor carrier by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ....

. Requests to change the HOS are a source of contentious debate, and many surveys indicate some drivers get away with routinely violating the HOS. These facts have started another debate on whether motor carriers should be required to use EOBRs in their vehicles, instead of relying on paper-based log books.

Purpose

Drivers subject to the HOS include any driver of a vehicle which has a gross vehicle weight of 10001 pounds (4,536.4 kg) or more; which is designed or used to transport more than 8 passengers (including the driver) for compensation; which is designed or used to transport more than 15 passengers (including the driver) and is not used to transport passengers for compensation; or which is used to transport hazardous materials in quantities requiring the vehicle to be marked or placard

Placard

A placard is a notice installed in a public place, like a small card, sign, or plaque. It can be attached to or hung from a vehicle or building to indicate information about the vehicle operator or contents of a vehicle or building.- Buildings :...

ed under the hazardous materials regulations.

The purpose of the HOS is to reduce accidents caused by driver fatigue. As the graph to the right illustrates, the number of hours spent driving has a strong correlation to the number of fatigue-related accidents. According to numerous studies, the risk of fatigue is also greatest between the hours of midnight and six in the morning, and increases with the total length of the driver's trip.

The FMCSA identifies three main factors in driver fatigue: Circadian rhythm

Circadian rhythm

effects, sleep deprivation

Sleep deprivation

Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function. Few studies have compared the...

and cumulative fatigue effects, and industrial or "time-on-task" fatigue.

Circadian rhythm effects describe the tendency for humans to experience a normal cycle in attentiveness and sleepiness through the 24-hour day. Those with a conventional sleep pattern (sleeping for seven or eight hours at night) experience periods of maximum fatigue in the early hours of the morning and a lesser period in the early afternoon. During the low points of this cycle, one experiences reduced attentiveness. During the high points, it is difficult to sleep soundly. The cycle is anchored in part by ambient lighting (darkness causes a person's body to release the hormone melatonin

Melatonin

Melatonin , also known chemically as N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine, is a naturally occurring compound found in animals, plants, and microbes...

, which induces sleep), and by a person's imposed pattern of regular sleeping and waking times. The influence of the day-night cycle is never fully displaced (standard artificial lighting is not strong enough to inhibit the release of melatonin), and the performance of night shift workers usually suffers. Circadian rhythms are persistent, and can only be shifted by one to two hours forward or backward per day. Changing the starting time of a work shift by more than these amounts will reduce attentiveness, which is common after the first night shift following a "weekend" break during which conventional sleep times were followed.

Sleep deprivation and cumulative fatigue effects describe how individuals who fail to have an adequate period of sleep (7–8 hours in 24 hours) or who have been awake longer than the conventional 16–17 hours will suffer sleep deprivation. A sleep deficit accumulates with successive sleep-deprived days, and additional fatigue may be caused by breaking daily sleep into two shorter periods in place of a single unbroken period of sleep. A sleep deficit is not instantly reduced by one night's sleep; it may take two or three conventional sleep cycles for an individual to return to unimpaired performance.

Industrial or "time-on-task" fatigue describes fatigue that is accumulated during the working period, and affects performance at different times during the shift. Performance declines the longer a person is engaged in a task, gradually during the first few hours and more steeply toward the end of a long period at work. Reduced performance has also been observed in the first hour of work as an individual adjusts to the working environment.

Definition of terms

Parts of a driver's work day are defined in four terms: On-duty time, off-duty time, driving time, and sleeper berth

Berth (sleeping)

The word berth was originally used to describe beds and sleeping accommodation on boats and ships and has now been extended to refer to similar facilities on trains, aircraft and buses.-Beds in boats or ships:...

time.

FMCSA regulation §395.2 states:

On-duty time is all time from when a driver begins to work or is required to be in readiness to work until the driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work.

On-duty time includes:

All time at a plant, terminal, facility, or other property of a motor carrier or shipper, or on any public property, waiting to be dispatched, unless the driver has been relieved from duty by the motor carrier.
All time inspecting, servicing, or conditioning any CMV at any time.
All driving time as defined in the term "driving time".
All time, other than driving time, in or upon any CMV except time spent resting in a sleeper berth.
All time loading or unloading a CMV, supervising, or assisting in the loading or unloading, attending a CMV being loaded or unloaded, remaining in readiness to operate the CMV, or in giving or receiving receipts for shipments loaded or unloaded.
All time repairing, obtaining assistance, or remaining in attendance upon a disabled CMV.
All time spent providing a breath sample or urine specimen, including travel time to and from the collection site, to comply with the random, reasonable suspicion, post-accident, or follow-up drug test
Drug test
A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen – for example urine, hair, blood, sweat, or oral fluid / saliva – to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites...

ing.
Performing any other work in the capacity, employ, or service of a motor carrier.
Performing any compensated work for a person who is not a motor carrier. (This rule does not explicitly forbid a driver from obtaining a second or part-time job. It simply prevents a driver switching from a non-driving job to a driving job without the required 10 hours of rest.)

Driving time is all time spent at the driving controls of a CMV.

Sleeper berth time is any amount of time spent inside the sleeper berth (e.g., resting or sleeping). FMCSA regulation §393.76 gives the minimum requirements for a space to be defined as a sleeper berth. The simple definition is an area separate from (usually immediately behind) the driving controls that includes a bed. The rules do not explicitly require that a driver must sleep, only that a driver must take a period of "rest" within the sleeper berth or off-duty (i.e., home). A statement made by the ICC in 1937 gives the reason: "We have no control over the manner in which a driver may spend his time off-duty, although some of his spare time activities may tire him as much as any work would do. We can only emphasize, by this comment, the responsibility which is the driver’s own to assure himself of adequate rest and sleep, in the time available for this purpose, to insure safety of his driving, and likewise the employer’s responsibility to see that his drivers report for work in fit condition."

Off-duty time is any time not spent on-duty, driving, or in the sleeper berth.

History

Summary of changes to the hours of service
Year Enforced	Driving Hours	On-Duty Hours	Off-Duty Hours	Minimum Duty Cycle
1938	12	15	9	24
1939	10	None	8	24
1962	10	15	8	18
2003¹	11	14	10	21
¹ Applies to property-carrying vehicles only.

In 1938, the now-abolished Interstate Commerce Commission

Interstate Commerce Commission

The Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory body in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads to ensure fair rates, to eliminate rate discrimination, and to regulate other aspects of common carriers, including...

(ICC) enforced the first HOS rules. Drivers were limited to 12 hours of work within a 15-hour period. Work was defined as ‘‘loading, unloading, driving, handling freight, preparing reports, preparing vehicles for service, or performing any other duty pertaining to the transportation of passengers or property.’’ The ICC intended the 3-hour difference between 15 hours on-duty and 12 hours of work to be used for meals and rest breaks. The weekly maximum was limited to 60 hours over 7 days (non-daily drivers), or 70 hours over 8 days (daily drivers). These rules allowed for 12 hours of work within a 15-hour period, 9 hours of rest, with 3 hours for breaks within a 24-hour day.

Within a short time, however, representatives of organized labor (including the American Federation of Labor

American Federation of Labor

The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...

, the Teamsters

Teamsters

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of several local and regional locals of teamsters, the union now represents a diverse membership of blue-collar and professional workers in both the public and private sectors....

, and the International Association of Machinists) petitioned for a stay of the original regulations. A few motor carriers made a similar request. The ICC agreed, and oral arguments were heard again. Labor wanted HOS limits of 8 hours per day and 48 hours per week. The ICC commented "there was no statistical or other information which would enable [them] to say definitely how long a driver can safely work."
Within six months of the original ruling, the ICC ultimately decided to change the 12-hour work limit in 24 hours to a 10-hour driving limit in 24 hours, and the 15-hour on-duty limit was rescinded. Motor carriers were required to give drivers 8, rather than 9, consecutive hours off-duty each day. These rules allowed for 10 hours of driving and 8 hours of rest within a 24-hour day.

In 1962, for reasons it never clearly explained, the ICC eliminated the 24-hour cycle rule, and reinstated the 15-hour on-duty limit. With 10 hours of driving and 8 hours of sleep, drivers were allowed to maintain an 18-hour cycle, disrupting the driver's natural 24-hour circadian rhythm. This change allowed up to 16 hours of driving per day, allowing the driver to exhaust their weekly limits in as little as five days. Later, an added exception for trucks equipped with sleeper berths meant drivers were allowed to "split" their 8-hour off-duty time into two parts. With the new splitting provision, a driver could take two 4-hour periods of rest. Using one of these short rest periods would effectively "stop the on-duty clock", allowing the driver to split the 15-hour on-duty time limit into two parts as well. These rules allowed for 10 hours of work within a 15-hour time limit, and 8 hours of rest within an 18-hour day.

Between 1962 and 2003, there were numerous proposals to change the HOS again, but none were ever finalized. By this time, the ICC had been abolished, and regulations were now issued by the FMCSA. The 2003 changes applied only to property-carrying drivers (i.e., truck drivers). These rules allowed 11 hours of driving within a 14-hour period, and required 10 hours of rest. These changes would allow drivers (using the entire 14-hour on-duty period) to maintain a natural 24-hour cycle, with a bare minimum 21-hour cycle (11 hours driving, 10 hours rest). However, the retention of the split sleeper berth provision would allow drivers to maintain irregular, short-burst sleeping schedules.

The most notable change of 2003 was the introduction of the "34-hour restart." Before the change, drivers could only gain more weekly driving hours with the passing of each day (which reduced their 70-hour total by the number of hours driven on the earliest day of the weekly cycle). After the change, drivers were allowed to "reset" their weekly 70-hour limit to zero, by taking 34 consecutive hours off-duty. This provision was introduced to combat the cumulative fatigue effects that accrue on a weekly basis, and to allow for two full nights of rest (e.g., during a weekend break).

In 2005, the FMCSA changed the rules again, practically eliminating the split sleeper berth provision. Drivers are now required to take a full 8 hours of rest, with 2 hours allowed for off-duty periods, for a total of 10 hours off-duty. This provision forced drivers to take one longer uninterrupted period of rest, but eliminated the flexibility of allowing drivers to take naps during the day without jeopardizing their driving time. Today's rule still allows them to "split" the sleeper berth period, but one of the splits must be 8 hours long and the remaining 2 hours do not stop the 14-hour on-duty period. This rule is confusing and impractical for most drivers, resulting in the majority of drivers taking the full 10-hour break.

In the years since 2005, groups such as Public Citizen Litigation Group

Public Citizen Litigation Group

Public Citizen Litigation Group is a nationally prominent public interest law firm known for its Supreme Court and appellate practice. The group is the litigating arm of the non-profit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen...

, Parents Against Tired Truckers (PATT), Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association

Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association

The Owner–Operator Independent Drivers Association is an international trade organization dedicated to the interests of truck drivers. Founded in 1973, the organization represents professional drivers and actively works to affect state and federal legislation regarding the trucking industry...

(OOIDA), Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways (CRASH, which has merged with PATT), and the American Trucking Associations

American Trucking Associations

The American Trucking Associations , founded in 1933, is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of other trucking groups, industry-related conferences, and its 50 affiliated state trucking associations, ATA represents more than 37,000 members covering...

(ATA), have been working to change the HOS again. Each group has their own ideas about what should be changed, and different agendas on why the rules should be changed.

Property-carrying vehicles

FMCSA rules prohibit driving a property-carrying CMV (e.g., trucks) more than 11 hours or to drive after having been on-duty for 14 hours. The 3-hour difference between the 11-hour driving limit and the 14-hour on-duty limit gives drivers the opportunity to take care of non-driving working duties such as loading and unloading cargo, fueling the vehicle, and required vehicle inspections, as well as non-working duties such as meal and rest breaks. After completing a 11- to 14-hour on-duty period, the driver must be allowed 10 hours off-duty.

FMCSA rules prohibit drivers from operating a CMV after having been on-duty 60 hours in 7 consecutive days (if the motor carrier does not operate CMVs every day of the week), or after having been on-duty 70 hours in 8 consecutive days (if the motor carrier operates CMVs every day of the week).

After accumulating, for example, 70 hours of driving and on-duty time within a period of 8 days, a driver's daily driving limit may be reduced (70 / 8 = 8.75 driving hours per day). A driver may be allowed (but not required) to take 34 hours off-duty to reset the weekly total back to zero (also known as a "34-hour restart").

Passenger-carrying vehicles

FMCSA rules prohibit driving a passenger-carrying CMV (e.g., buses and passenger van

Van

A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or groups of people.In British English usage, it can be either specially designed or based on a saloon or sedan car, the latter type often including derivatives with open backs...

s) for more than 10 hours, or to drive after having been on-duty for 15 hours. The 5-hour difference between the 10-hour driving limit and the 15-hour on-duty limit gives drivers the opportunity to take care of non-driving work-related duties such as loading and unloading of passengers and luggage, and fueling the vehicle, as well as non-working duties such as meal and rest breaks. After completing a 10 to 15-hour on-duty period, the driver must be allowed 8 hours off-duty.

The FMCSA weekly hours limitations for passenger-carrying vehicles are identical to those for property-carrying vehicles.

After accumulating, for example, 60 hours of driving and on-duty time within a period of 7 days, a driver's daily driving limit may be reduced (60 / 7 = 8.57 driving hours per day). The driver of a passenger-carrying vehicle may not use the 34-hour restart provision.

Log book

Every driver of a CMV is required to keep track of his/her time with a log book or an EOBR. A log book is simply a notebook with a grid pattern on every page, dividing the 24-hour day into 15-minute (1/4-hour) segments. Drivers are required to make carbon copies of each page, so one page may be kept with the driver (to be produced upon inspection by DOT officers), and so the other copy may be sent to the driver's employer.

An electronic on-board recorder

Electronic on-board recorder

An electronic on-board recorder is an electronic device attached to a commercial motor vehicle, which is used to record the amount of time a vehicle is being driven...

can be thought of as an automated electronic log book. An EOBR records the same information as a manual paper log book, and requires less input from the driver. The EOBR automatically records driving time and location, leaving the driver responsible only for reporting on-duty and off-duty time. In these respects, the EOBR is less susceptible to forgery than a paper log book.

FMCSA rules require that a log book (or EOBR) must record for each change of duty status (e.g., the place of reporting for work, or starting to drive), the name of the city

City

A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...

, town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

or village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

, with state abbreviation. If a change of duty status occurs at a location other than a city, the highway number and nearest milepost or the nearest two intersecting roadways followed by the name of the nearest city must be recorded. In addition to the time grid, a log book must record the date, total miles driven for the day, truck and trailer number, name of carrier, bill of lading

Bill of lading

A bill of lading is a document issued by a carrier to a shipper, acknowledging that specified goods have been received on board as cargo for conveyance to a named place for delivery to the consignee who is usually identified...

number, and the driver's signature. The driver is required to retain a copy of each log page for the previous seven consecutive days which must be in his/her possession and available for inspection while on-duty.

Exceptions

There are numerous exceptions to these rules, some of these include but are not limited to:

During adverse weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...

or emergency driving conditions, drivers are permitted to exceed the 11 hour maximum daily driving time. However, drivers may not extend the 14 hour on duty time.
Drivers who venture less than a 100 air-mile radius from the work reporting location are not required to maintain log books (but are not exempt from limits on driving time), provided their employers maintain accurate records of their driving time.
Drivers who start and stop their work day at the same location for at least the previous 5 work days may drive past the 14 hour mark, for an extra 2 hours, if 11 driving hours are not exceeded. The 16 hour rule extends the work day by two hours, but does not extend the allowable driving hours. The 16 hour rule may be invoked once per 34 hour reset, if the 5 day pattern has been established. The driver must be relieved from work after the 16th hour.
Drivers for oilfield operations in the petroleum industry
Petroleum industry
The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transporting , and marketing petroleum products. The largest volume products of the industry are fuel oil and gasoline...

, groundwater
Groundwater
Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock...

drilling
Drilling rig
A drilling rig is a machine which creates holes or shafts in the ground. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to drill water wells, oil wells, or natural gas extraction wells, or they can be small enough to be moved manually by one person...

operations, construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...

materials, and utility
Public utility
A public utility is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service . Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to state-wide government monopolies...

service vehicles are permitted to take a 24-hour restart.
Retail
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...

store drivers who venture less than a 100 air-mile radius are allowed to exceed daily driving limits to make store deliveries from December 10 to December 25, due to the demands of the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

shopping season.
Drivers in Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

can drive up to 15 hours within a 20-hour period.
Drivers in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

are not required to maintain log books, provided their employer keeps an accurate record of their driving time.
Drivers for theatrical or television motion picture productions are exempt if the driver operates within a 100 air-mile radius of the location where the driver reports to and is released from work. These drivers may take an 8 hour break, and are allowed 15 hours on duty.

Enforcement

The HOS are issued, among other industry-related regulations, by the FMCSA. In this instance, federal regulations apply only to interstate commerce. Commerce which does not involve the crossing of state lines is considered intrastate, and is under the jurisdiction of the respective state's laws. However, most states have adopted intrastate regulations which are identical or very similar to the federal HOS regulations.

Enforcement of the HOS rules is generally handled by DOT officers of their respective states, although any ordinary police officer may inspect a driver's log book. States are responsible for maintaining weigh station

Weigh station

A weigh station is a checkpoint along a highway to inspect vehicular weights. Usually, trucks and commercial vehicles are subject to the inspection....

s commonly located at the borders between states, where drivers are pulled in for random vehicle inspections (although some of the inspections are based on the motor carrier's safety rating

Motor carrier safety rating

The motor carrier safety rating is an evaluation given to an interstate commercial motor carrier by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ....

). Otherwise, a driver may be pulled over for random checks by police officers or DOT officials at any time. Drivers are required to maintain their log books to current status, and if inspections reveal any sort of discrepancy, drivers may be put "out of service" until the driver has accumulated enough off-duty time to be back in compliance. Being put out of service means a driver may not drive his/her truck during the prescribed limit under risk of further penalty. Repeated violations can result in fines from $1,000 to $11,000 and a downgrade in the motor carrier's safety rating.

Long-haul drivers are normally paid by the mile, not by the hour. Legally, truck drivers are not required to receive overtime pay for hours worked in excess of the standard 40-hour work week. Some drivers may choose to violate the HOS to earn more money. Being paid by the mile, any work performed that is not actual driving is of no value to the driver, providing incentive to falsify the amount of time spent performing non-driving duties. Drivers who falsify their log books often under-report their non-driving duties (such as waiting to be loaded and unloaded) which they are not paid for, and under-report their driving time or total miles. Many drivers who receive mileage pay are not paid by logged miles or actual miles, instead, motor carriers use computer mapping software (such as PC Miler) or published mileage guides (such as the Rand McNally

Rand McNally

Rand McNally is an American publisher of maps, atlases, textbooks, and globes for travel, reference, commercial, and educational uses. It also provides online consumer street maps and directions, as well as commercial transportation routing software and mileage data...

Household Goods Carriers' Bureau Mileage Guide). PATT suggests that paying all drivers by the hour would reduce HOS violations by removing the incentive to "cheat the system" by driving more miles than are being logged. Surveys by OOIDA report 80% of drivers are not paid for waiting times while loading and unloading, and the majority of those drivers log these times as off-duty (while regulations require they be logged as on-duty). These same drivers reported they would log these times as on-duty if they were paid reasonably for such delays.

Drivers can get away with this rule-breaking due to their paper-based log books. As a driver records their time spent behind the wheel, there is very little to stop them from forging their log books. There is very superficial oversight and some drivers take advantage of this fact. Surveys indicate that between 25% and 75% of drivers violate the HOS. Other drivers maintain more than one log book, showing falsified versions to enforcement officers.

Trucking companies (motor carriers) can also play a role in HOS violations. Certain carriers may choose to knowingly ignore HOS violations made by their drivers, or even encourage their drivers to do so. Allowing drivers to violate the HOS is an effective cost-cutting measure used mostly by non-union, long haul carriers. Permitting HOS violations allows a carrier to hire fewer drivers, and run on fewer trucks than a company which follows the rules. To comply with the HOS, these companies would have to hire more drivers (possibly driving up wages) and purchase additional trucks and trailers. Making a change to comply with the law is complicated by competition with carriers that already comply with HOS regulations. Due to this competition, carriers who choose to switch from non-compliance could not pass on all of their increased costs associated with HOS compliance to their customers.

In 1999, two trucking company officials were sentenced to federal prison

Federal prison

Federal prisons are run by national governments in countries where subdivisions of the country also operate prisons.In the United States federal prisons are operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. In Canada the Correctional Service of Canada operates federal prisons. Prison sentences in these...

for violating hours of service regulations. Charles Georgoulakos Jr. and his brother, James Georgoulakos were sentenced to four months in prison, eight months in home confinement, and one year of supervised release. Their company, C&J Trucking Company of Londonderry, New Hampshire

Londonderry, New Hampshire

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 23,236 people, 7,623 households, and 6,319 families residing in the town. The population density was 555.8 people per square mile . There were 7,718 housing units at an average density of 184.6 per square mile...

, was placed on two years probation and fined $25,000 (the maximum amount). The sentences were the result of an investigation which began when one of the trucking company's drivers was involved in a collision on Interstate 93

Interstate 93

Interstate 93 is an Interstate Highway in the New England section of the United States. Its southern terminus is in Canton, Massachusetts, in the Boston metropolitan area, at Interstate 95; its northern terminus is near St. Johnsbury, Vermont, at Interstate 91...

in Londonderry on Aug. 2, 1995, in which four individuals were killed.
Several private and public motor carriers such as Frito-Lay

Frito-Lay

Frito-Lay North America is the division of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets and sells corn chips, potato chips and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavored snacks, Doritos and Tostitos tortilla chips,...

, United Parcel Service

United Parcel Service

United Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the...

, and Werner Enterprises

Werner Enterprises

Werner Enterprises, Inc. was founded in 1956 by Clarence L. Werner. It is a transportation and logistics company, headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It ships to the USA, Canada, Mexico, Asia, Europe and South America. Werner has regional offices throughout North America, in China...

, have voluntarily implemented electronic on-board recorders to ensure drivers are in compliance with the federal regulations, to reduce the errors and hassles associated with paper log books, and to improve driver retention and recruitment. EOBRs automatically record the driving time and cannot be easily forged. Any violation of the HOS will automatically be recorded and reported to the company. The FMCSA is considering making EOBRs mandatory for all motor carriers.

Rewriting the Hours of Service in 2010

As part of a legal settlement between the FMCSA and several safety groups (including CRASH, Public Citizen, and the Teamsters) the FMCSA agreed to review the hours of service rules. On December 23, 2010 the proposed rules were released. There were no major changes to them, but there are some highlighted below.

There is no change to the 14 hour rule, except drivers will be limited to 13 consecutive hours on duty before having to take a 1 hour break.
The FMCSA is still contemplating whether the 11 hour driving time should be reduced to 10 hours. As of now, there is no announcement as to what the daily driving limit will be. However, drivers will be limited to 7 hours of continuous driving before requiring at least a 30 minute break.
The 34 hour restart provision will still be in effect. However, drivers will only be allowed 1 restart per week and it must include 2 periods between midnight and 6:00 AM.
Drivers will be allowed to log up to 2 hours per day "Off Duty" while physically inside the CMV.

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