The Hours of Service of Drivers Final Rule [Download PDF Version] will be 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:
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The table below [Download PDF Version] summarizes the differences between the current HOS Rule and the new HOS Final Rule published in December 2011:
| PROVISION | CURRENT 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 | CURRENT 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 CMV. 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. Also applies to passenger-carrying drivers. |
| Penalties | “Egregious” hours of service violations not specifically defined. | Driving (or allowing a driver to drive) 3 or more 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.” |