After five years in flux, the final Hours of Service rule for truckers has been finalized.

Effective Jan. 29, 2009:

• truckers can drive up to 11 hours as part of a 14-hour window beginning with the start of the work day
• truckers must then be off-duty at least 10 consecutive hours, and
• drivers and motor carriers can re-start calculating weekly on-duty limitations once the driver has been off duty for at least 34 consecutive hours.

The Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued the final ruling in November, after the guidelines had been unofficially on the books for about five years.

Penalties for violations?

The FMCSA has proposed that repeat offenders be required to install electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) to monitor future behavior. The final rule on the recorders hasn’t yet been confirmed.

Limits were set according to what they knew about real-world functions of truckers and the cycle of their needs for sleep, officials said.

The rules earned praise from American Trucking Association, which pointed to improved safety stats since the rules were informally implemented.

For detailed information, including the give and take that’s occurred over the past five years, you can consult the Federal Register.

Tags: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, safety, truckers, trucking