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Final
"Hours of Service" Regs Released
On
April 28, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration released
its final rule on the "Hours of Service" that truck drivers may be
allowed to be "on duty" and to drive each day. The rule is in effect
now but will not be enforced until January 4, 2004. Here are the key
provisions:
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No truck driver may drive following 14 consecutive on-duty hours
(the previous rule stipulated 15 on-duty hours). The driver must
be off-duty for 10 consecutive hours (previously 8) before reporting
for duty.
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A driver may drive up to 11 hours (previously 10 hours) during any
14-hour on-duty period.
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As
in the prior rule, a trucker may not drive after being on duty for
60 hours in a seven-consecutive-day period, or 70 hours in an eight-consecutive-day
period.
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Any
off-duty period totaling 34 consecutive hours or more can "restart"
a driver's seven- or eight-day week.
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Short-haul
truck drivers -- those who routinely return home after each on-duty
period -- may have a single increased on-duty period of 16
hours during any seven-consecutive-day period. (The 11-hour driving
limit still applies in this exception.)
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The
new HOS rule retains all 14 existing exemptions, including the provision
allowing individual states to exempt drivers transporting agricultural
commodities from HOS requirements if such transportation is within
a hundred-mile radius of the source of the commodities and it is
during planting or harvesting seasons.
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Rules
for the "driver's daily log" remain unchanged. Those drivers operating
within a hundred-mile (air) radius of the driver's normal work locations;
who return to that location; and who are released from duty within
12 hours will keep time cards as allowed under the prior rule.
In
summary, we think the new rule seems to be based on sound science
and common sense and should permit the safe and efficient transportation
of raw wood products from the forest to the mill. To review the entire,
62-page rule, as printed in the April 28, 2003 Federal Register,
please click here (Adobe® Acrobat® Reader,
available at no charge from Adobe, is required).
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Inc. (FRA)
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Rockville, MD 20852
FRA National office telephone: 301/838-9385
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