Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 12/28/11

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has issued a revised hours-of-service rule for commercial truck drivers.

FMSCSA’s new rule revises a 34-hour restart provision in an earlier version of the legislation opposed by the poultry and egg industry, according to the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association. The earlier version stipulated that following a maximum work week of 60 hours in seven days or 70 hours in eight days, a driver must have had 34 consecutive hours off duty.

Effective July 1, 2013, the revised law requires that the 34-hour restart period include two 1 a.m.-to-5 a.m. periods because FMSCA asserts that nighttime rest is more restorative than daytime rest. The original proposal required two 12 a.m.-to-6 a.m. rest periods but could have required as few as 34 hours or as much as 48 hours off duty.

“Since the current hours of service regulations were introduced in 2003, truck related fatalities have dropped 33 percent to the lowest levels ever recorded, said Paul Pressley, USPOULTRY’s executive vice president of industry programs, in a news release. “The poultry industry remains committed to safely operating its truck fleet and have organized their schedules and routes around the existing regulations. The new rule will restrict the on-duty hours available for many drivers and increase the number of trucks and drivers necessary to deliver our products without any demonstrated improvement in highway safety.”

Effective Feb. 27, 2012, the new rule specifies that driving (or allowing a driver to drive) three or more hours beyond the driving-time limit may be considered an egregious violation and subject to maximum civil penalties of $11,000 per offense for the trucking company and up to $2,750 for each offense for the driver.

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