FMCSA Announces changes to the Hours-Of-Service (HOS) Rules

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced on April 24, 2003, the first substantial change to the hours-of-service (HOS) rules since 1939. Unlike previous rule changes the FMCSA will not allow provisions for a grace period. All drivers will be required to comply with the revised HOS rules on January 4, 2004. The FMCSA estimates that the new rule will save up to 75 lives and prevent as many as 1,326 fatigue-related crashes annually. With past attempts re-writing the rules, the FMCSA suggested that on-board recording devices would be a requirement under the new law. The FMCSA has backed away from this and plans to continue its evaluation and research of on-board recording devices.

The new rule will require at least 10 consecutive hours off-duty prior to driving in interstate commerce. The driver may accumulate his/her 10 hours by utilizing the following scenarios:

10 consecutive hours off-duty.
10 consecutive hours in the sleeper birth.
10 consecutive hours combining both off-duty & sleeper birth.
10 hours split sleeper birth.

To further explain, a driver combining both off-duty and sleeper berth time may accumulate 10 hours in any sequence of “off-duty” and/or “Sleeper” as long as at the point the 10-hour period begins the driver does not log “Driving” (line 3) and/or “On-Duty Not Driving” (line 4). A driver may accumulate 3 hrs. in the sleeper then go directly to off-duty and log 7 hrs., accumulate 5 hrs. on-duty and go directly to sleeper and log 5 hrs. or log 1 hr. sleeper and then 9 hrs. off-duty. Any combination of “off-duty” & “Sleeper” time accumulated is legal. But, if that 10 hour period is broken for even 15 minutes, a driver may not continue to accumulate 10 hours.

The new split sleeper birth rule operates exactly as the previous rule. Driver is allowed to use two separate periods, both periods must total 10 hours, and neither of the rest periods may be less than 2 hours. Thus, the available sleeper berth options are: 8 hrs. coupled with 2 hrs., 7 hrs. coupled with 3 hrs., 6 hrs. coupled with 4 hrs., and 5 hrs. coupled with another 5 hrs.

The new rules allow drivers to drive 11 hours after an accumulation of 10 Consecutive/Sleeper berth hours off-duty. Drivers may not drive beyond the 14th hour after coming on-duty. The 14 hour rule cannot be extended with a rest or break period. If a driver begins his/her day at 7:00 am “Driving” or “On-duty not driving” regardless of the events that took place during the day such as lunch, dinner, loading or unloading 14 hours later, 9:00 pm, the driver would be required to shut down and accumulate 10 hours rest. If, after the 14 hr. period began, the driver accumulates 10 hrs. in the sleeper berth, the driver upon completion of the second period will be eligible for a new 14 hr. period.

This will be a three part series, additional information concerning the HOS rules will be published in the next Herald.

Pet Update – Pet Kennels at ATS Shops

The ATS shops at Gary, Indiana and St Cloud, Minnesota recently purchased pet kennels which can be used to lodge pets at the shop facilities while the truck is being worked on. The ATS Pet Policy calls for pets to remain outside the ATS buildings and to be on a leash at all times. All pets in trucks are to be under 40 pounds in weight. Due to the size of these dogs and cats, and the fact that they are “house pets”, drivers were concerned about their pet’s well being while left outdoors during extreme weather conditions. These kennels will provide a safe, temperature controlled place for the pet while the truck is being worked on. The animals will be placed in the kennel by the owner, and then the closed kennel will be placed in the owner’s truck for safe keeping while the truck is being worked on, or the owner is at another location. If you wish to use these kennels, please mention it while checking in at the Gary or St Cloud shops.