On Monday, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration signed an agreement to review its current Hours-of-Service rules. The FMCSA is committed to submitting its review to the White House within the next 9 months, and changes could be issued to the current rules within the next 21 months.
Current HOS rules permit truckers to be on-duty for 14-hours a day, including up to 11 hours of driving. A 34-hour rest allows drivers to reset their weekly on-duty allotment. Some special interest groups, such as Public Citizen, believe that the current rules increase occurrences of driver fatigue and lead to more accidents. The American Trucking Association supports leaving the current HOS rules unchanged, and cites them as a factor in decreasing trucking-related fatalities.
It is not yet clear which rules are being considered for change, though the controversial 34-hour reset is a likely target, and the FMCSA’s agreement to reconsider the current regulation does not guarantee that any changes will be made.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
i should know after thirty years in the trucking industry, that owner operator associations, and trucking companies have no back bones. i really thought this time they would stand up and say enough is enough, but i was wrong. Ontario passed a law that forces every truck that runs throw there province to install a speed limiter on there trucks. they set the maximum speed a truck can travel at 105 kl.(65 mph ) witch is 5kl. ( 3 mph ) to 15 kl. ( 9 mph ) faster than the highest speed allowed on Ontario highways. this means that the trucks can maintain the posted speed limit, while they are in Ontario, causing little problems in Ontario it self. of course the problems o cures when you leave Ontario, ware the posted speed limits are greater than 105 kl, ( 65 mph ). just one example of many is taxes, ware the the posted speed limit on two lane roads are 110 kl. ( 70 mph ). and there are many more province and states, not just taxes that the legal posted speed limit exceeds 105 kl. now you have traffic being held up by trucks, people getting upset and making bad decisions and passing when its unsafe. you also have truck trying to pass, and taking excessive amount of time to get past slow moving motorists placing them selves and other motorists in danger.
these kind of bad laws, and regulations are being placed on the trucking industry and we just sit back and do nothing, so i guess we get what we deserve. like i said no back bone!!!
[Reply]
oye………….enough with these idiots ,low pay and GPS tracking up the rear, whats next cameras in and outside the cab?
[Reply]
The current rules are fine. How can anyone say that 34 hours off duty isn’t enough?!!!
[Reply]
We all know that they can change the laws to improve safety all they want but we all know how to get around the logbook. Thus the reason we call it a comic book. It’s the only way we can make money is to violate the laws they put up and until we get paid a mileage wage we can live on this will continue.
[Reply]
I haven’t driven in two years because of an operation, they gave me a pengion, from everthing I read thats going on I think I will not return.
[Reply]
I have been off the road since 5/09,i had to have neck surgery and after seeing how the company dropped me like a hot potato after getting hurt on their trailer,and hearing on the trucker channel on sirius radio about all the stupid rules that will be in force sooner than most people know,i have decided that if i can work after being released from the doctor,it will not be in a truck,or trucking period! i have been in this profession since 1974,and back then we all ran like fools,but we had less traffic and therefor less accidents.back then i was proud to be a trucker,but now i,m ashamed to tell people what i do.i,v been to all 48 states and all of canada.no accident,a few tickets over the years but my record is clean now.we could be the biggest union or organization in the world,if only we had a back bone.so when you are sitting at truckstop on the cb telling everybody that will listen,what needs to be done ,just remember that it,s just words that has no meaning unless it has an action to back it up.all of the drivers that have been driving since the 70s know that the equipment we have today is something we couldn,t even dream about back then.nice equipment now,but no RESPECT…just think about it,PLEASE……drag-n-fly
[Reply]
It would really be nice if the American and Canadian governments could get together and work on one set of rules and regulations that would cover all jurisdictions.
I deal mainly with Ontario and it is a bother to keep the regulations straight. The U.S. has the 34 hour reset, whereas Ontario has a 36 hour reset. Ontario requires that you declare 70 hours in 7 days or 140 hours in 14 days on your logbook. You can drive up to 13 hours in Ontario vs. 11 hours in all of the U.S.
I believe split berthing is an option in Ontario, but since that is such a useless option in the States, I don’t even bother to use it. It sure would help to have a working split-berthing regulation available (i.e. 5 hours driving, 4 hours sleeper berth, 5 hours driving, 4 hours sleeper berth, etc).
Make one set of rules that covers North America to truly make transparent borders a reality for truckers.
[Reply]
Lets give the driver a liveable wage ,if you pay them by the mile of corse we are going to run as fast and as hard as possable, pay them for there time out, for what they do. Quick taxing
the hell out of us, lets making driving fun again, Its become to much like work. It use to be simple untill big brother got involved.
[Reply]
The American Trucking Association supports leaving the current HOS rules unchanged, and cites them as a factor in decreasing trucking-related fatalities. Total mouth full of B.S.
The only reason for a decrease of all acidents is less people on the road because of higher gas prices. Earth to ATA! Earth to ATA!
[Reply]