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Truckers gain full night’s sleep with HOS rules change
By Shelia Watson
Contributing Writer
A revision to the Hours of Service rules will require truckers who use sleeper berths to rest for a minimum of eight hours during off-duty time.
The sleeper berth provision, issued Aug. 19 by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, is one of several changes made by the agency in an attempt to increase highway safety.
After extensive research, the FMCSA concluded that the new rules will reduce the nearly 6% of fatal truck crashes caused by driver fatigue.
The revision updates the HOS rules issued in 2003, which determine the length of time commercial drivers can operate trucks before taking a break.
Under the new rules, drivers using the sleeper berth option may split the 10-hour off-duty requirement into two separate periods—one a minimum of eight consecutive hours in the bunk and the other a minimum of two consecutive hours off duty. The two hours may be spent outside the bunk. The rules apply to both single-driver and team-driver operations.
Most of the 2003 HOS rules remain unchanged, including maximum drive time and minimum rest limits. As with the 2003 rules, the new regulations prohibit commercial drivers from operating the truck more than 11 hours consecutively, working 14 hours on a shift and driving more than 60 hours over a seven-day period or 70 hours over an eight-day period. The working hours include time spent waiting at port terminals for cargo containers.
In calculating the 14-hour window of maximum service time, only the eight-hour sleeper berth period can stop the clock. This will have an impact on those carriers that have established work routines based on the more flexible split-time rules, which in most cases involves team-driver operations.
The revised rules also create a separate provision for short-haul drivers, such as delivery drivers, who are not required to have a commercial drivers license. Under the new rules, non-CDL drivers operating within a 150-mile radius may work more than 14 hours per day, but no more than 16 hours per day, two days a week. This revision is an increase from the previous rule of working 14 hours or more only one day per week. In addition, non-CDL drivers will no longer be required to maintain logbooks.
John Totuszynski, a recruiter in the safety department at Bulldog Hiway Express, said the revision will have little impact on his drivers.
“It won’t be much of a change for us. We’re fortunate in that we’re already operating on a schedule where the day revolves around 10 hours of sleep for the drivers. But some companies might have a harder time adjusting if their drivers are used to doing the split-sleeper berth.”
The new rules go into effect Oct. 1, with a three-month transition period to allow states and carriers to reconfigure driving schedules, update materials and train employees. The full text of the FMCSA’s new HOS rules can be accessed at www.fmcsa.dot.gov.
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