July 2013 New Hours of Service Rules

Who Must Comply HOS Final Rule

Most drivers must follow the HOS Regulations if they drive a commercial motor vehicle, or CMV.

In general, a CMV is a vehicle that is used as part of a business and is involved in interstate commerce and fits any of these descriptions:

• Weighs 10,001 pounds or more
• Has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross combination weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more
• Is designed or used to transport 16 or more passengers (including the driver) not for compensation
• Is designed or used to transport 9 or more passengers (including the driver) for compensation
• A vehicle that is involved in Interstate or intrastate commerce and is transporting hazardous materials in a quantity requiring placards is also considered a CMV

The Hours of Service of Drivers Final Rule [Download PDF Version] was published in the Federal Register on December 27, 2011. The effective date of the Final Rule is February 27, 2012, and the compliance date of selected provisions is July 1, 2013. The links below provide more details regarding the HOS Final Rule:

Summary of Changes of HOS Final Rule Published in December 2011

The table below [Download PDF Version] summarizes the differences between the prior HOS Rule and the new HOS Final Rule published in December 2011:

PROVISION	PRIOR RULE	FINAL RULE - COMPLIANCE DATE JULY 1, 2013
Limitations on minimum "34-hour restarts"	None	(1) Must include two periods between 1 a.m.- 5 a.m. home terminal time. (2) May only be used once per week.
Rest breaks	None except as limited by other rule provisions	May drive only if 8 hours or less have passed since end of driver's last off-duty period of at least 30 minutes. [HM 397.5 mandatory "in attendance" time may be included in break if no other duties performed]
PROVISION	PRIOR RULE	FINAL RULE - COMPLIANCE DATE FEBRUARY 27, 2012
On-duty time	Includes any time in CMV except sleeper-berth.	Does not include any time resting in a parked vehicle (also applies to passenger-carrying drivers). In a moving property-carrying CMV, does not include up to 2 hours in passenger seat immediately before or after 8 consecutive hours in sleeper-berth.
Penalties	"Egregious" hours of service violations not specifically defined.	Driving (or allowing a driver to drive) more than 3 hours beyond the driving-time limit may be considered an egregious violation and subject to the maximum civil penalties. Also applies to passenger-carrying drivers.
Oilfield exemption	"Waiting time" for certain drivers at oilfields (which is off-duty but does extend 14-hour duty period) must be recorded and available to FMCSA, but no method or details are specified for the recordkeeping.	"Waiting time" for certain drivers at oilfields must be shown on logbook or electronic equivalent as off duty and identified by annotations in "remarks" or a separate line added to "grid."

Summary of HOS Regulations

The following table [Download PDF Version] summarizes the HOS regulations for property-carrying and passenger-carrying CMV drivers.

HOURS-OF-SERVICE RULES
Property-Carrying CMV Drivers (Valid Until July 1, 2013)	Passenger-Carrying CMV Drivers
11-Hour Driving Limit May drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty.	10-Hour Driving Limit May drive a maximum of 10 hours after 8 consecutive hours off duty.
14-Hour Limit May not drive beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty, following 10 consecutive hours off duty. Off-duty time does not extend the 14-hour period.	15-Hour On-Duty Limit May not drive after having been on duty for 15 hours, following 8 consecutive hours off duty. Off-duty time is not included in the 15-hour period.
60/70-Hour On-Duty Limit May not drive after 60/70 hours on duty in 7/8 consecutive days. A driver may restart a 7/8 consecutive day period after taking 34 or more consecutive hours off duty.	60/70-Hour On-Duty Limit May not drive after 60/70 hours on duty in 7/8 consecutive days.
Sleeper Berth Provision Drivers using the sleeper berth provision must take at least 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth, plus a separate 2 consecutive hours either in the sleeper berth, off duty, or any combination of the two.	Sleeper Berth Provision Drivers using a sleeper berth must take at least 8 hours in the sleeper berth, and may split the sleeper-berth time into two periods provided neither is less than 2 hours.

References

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration:
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/topics/hos/index.htm

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