FMCSA Issues New Truck Driver Hour Limits

On Thursday, December 22, 2011 the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released its latest revision to the truck driver hours of service regulations. The rules are effective on July 1, 2013, except for the change to the definition of on-duty time which becomes effective February 21, 2012. The major provisions in the new rules that impact commercial motor vehicle drivers in the construction industry are as follows:

• Daily driving time limit of 11 hours is maintained (FMCSA had proposed reducing this time to 10 hours).
• The 60- and 70-hour weekly driving limits are also unchanged.
• Consecutive hours of driving are limited to 8 hours following an off-duty break of at least 30 minutes.
• Maximum on-duty time will remain at 14 hours.
• Construction industry drivers transporting construction materials and equipment to and from an active construction site within a 50-air-mile radius of the driver’s normal work reporting location are allowed to restart the on-duty counting period following any off-duty period of 24 or more successive hours.
• Drivers that do not meet the construction driver definition can restart the weekly on-duty clock following a 34-hour off duty period that includes at least two periods between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.
• The rule limits the use of the “34-hour restart” to once a week thus limiting restarts to one every 168 hours.
• The practical effect of new on-duty limits result in weekly driving time being reduced from 82 to 70 hours during a seven consecutive day driving period.

A summary of the rule and the rule is available here. AGC commented twice on the proposed rule change recommending that FMCSA: maintain the construction exemption but increase the distance coverage to a 100-air-mile radius, continue to allow 11 hours of driving time in each driving window, continue to allow the existing 14 hours maximum on-duty time within driving window, “on duty” time for construction drivers should not include waiting time to deliver product. AGC was successful in having the construction exemption included in statute in 1993. AGC’s comments also addressed new studies that FMCSA placed in the public docket to support its effort to change the rules. AGC commented that, “these studies demonstrate the very substantial differences between the driving patterns in various industries and different factors that impact different driver fatigue and crashes. AGC believes that these studies highlight the fact that a one size fits all rule is not the best way to approach the issue of driver fatigue. AGC continues to support the current portion of the HOS rule that is specific to construction. Furthermore AGC believes that the findings in these new studies do not support altering the 11 hour driving and 14 hour on-duty times as contained in the current rules.” For more information, please contact Brian Deery at (703) 837-5319 or deeryb@agc.org.