Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/85420
Rest in The new hours of service rule further complicates off-duty requirements in ways that could hurt productivity, though some flexibility is added. BY TODD DILLS Carrier Safety Administration raises questions about operational efficiency and adds more complexity in certain situations. Perhaps the most controversial T change, and one that could limit productivity the most, has to do with restrictions on the 34-hour restart. The final rule restricts use of the restart to once per week, and it must include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods. FMCSA acknowledges this is an attempt to reduce fatigue by pushing schedules more toward conformity 20 OVERDRIVE FEBRUARY 2012 he release of the new hours of service final rule by the Federal Motor with circadian body rhythms. Under the current rule, the restart can be used as often as desired, and the 34 hours can begin at any time. The new rule requires a 30-minute off-duty break after any eight-hour driving period. The agency kept the 11th hour of driving. That surprised some, as FMCSA had indicated it favored a reduction to 10 hours. Among changes mostly favorable to owner-operators were minor adjustments to the definition of on-duty time, which provide clarity for team drivers and daycab operators resting in parked trucks. The new regs make it legal to log two hours of off-duty time in the passenger seat before or after eight hours in the sleeper. It is now also legal to rest off-duty in a parked truck and log it as such, whether you're in a sleeper berth or not. Ruan Transport driver Shawn Hubbard sees the imposition of the restart's mandatory early morning rest periods as costing him a potential $200 a week. He has a six-night- a-week graveyard shift schedule, driving usually within a 100-mile radius of his home in Southern California. To continue the six-day schedule, he notes, he'd have to take two days Overnight parking at truck stops could get more crowded after July 1, 2013, when 34-hour restarts must include two 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. periods.