March 14, 2016

Well rested and alert drivers need to be the priority in trucking

By John Tittel – Hot Freight International

You’re in the car with your family following a big transport truck as it enters the on ramp of a six lane highway. You trust that the tractor and trailer are both in good operating order and have had recent maintenance and trouble-shooting preventative maintenance performed.  And you wonder, how long has the driver of the truck in front of my family and I been on duty.  Is the driver well rested and in a good state of mind?

Operating a large piece of equipment like a loaded tractor trailer is serious business and there are laws and regulations in place in Canada and the United States to make our roads as safe as possible and make sure our drivers aren’t fatigued.

So what are these regulations? We’ve all heard of Hours of Service regulations for drivers but there is a lot of confusion as to what exactly those rules are.  Here is a summary of the regulations governing how many hours drivers can work.

IN CANADA

  • No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after the driver has accumulated 13 hours of driving time in a day.
  • No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after the driver has accumulated 14 hours of on-duty time in a day.
  • No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after the driver has accumulated 13 hours of driving time unless the driver takes at least 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time before driving again.
  • No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after the driver has accumulated 14 hours of on-duty time unless the driver takes at least 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time before driving again.
  • No motor carrier shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive after 16 hours of time have elapsed between the conclusion of the most recent period of 8 or more consecutive hours of off-duty time and the beginning of the next period of 8 or more consecutive hours of off-duty time.
  • A motor carrier shall ensure that a driver takes and the driver shall take at least 10 hours of off-duty time in a day.
  • Off-duty time other than the mandatory 8 consecutive hours may be distributed throughout the day in blocks of no less than 30 minutes each.
  • The off-duty time shall be at least two hours and may be added to the mandatory eight consecutive hours of off-duty time but cannot form part of it.
  • A driver may defer a maximum of 2 hours of the daily off-duty time to the following day if;
    • the off-duty time deferred is not part of the mandatory 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time;
    • the total off-duty time taken in the 2 days is at least 20 hours;
    • the off-duty time deferred is added to the 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time taken in the second day;
    • the total driving time in the 2 days does not exceed 26 hours; and
    • there is a declaration in the “Remarks” section of the daily log that states that the driver is deferring off-duty time under this section and that clearly indicates whether the driver is driving under day one or day two of that time.
  • An operator shall require that each driver follows either a 7-day or a 14-day cycle, as designated by the operator for the driver.
  • A driver who is following a 14-day cycle shall not drive again in that cycle after accumulating 120 hours of on-duty time during any period of 14 days or during the period beginning on the day on which the cycle was reset.
  • A driver who is following a 7-day cycle shall not drive again in that cycle after accumulating 70 hours of on-duty time during any period of seven days or during the period beginning on the day on which the cycle was reset.

IN UNITED STATES

  • Drivers may drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty.
  • A Driver may not drive beyond the 14th hour after coming on duty, following 10 consecutive hours off duty.
  • A driver may not drive after 60/70 hours on duty in 7/8 consecutive days.
  • A driver may restart a 7/8 consecutive day period after taking 34 or more consecutive hours off duty.
  • CMV (commercial motor vehicle) drivers using the sleeper berth provision must take at least 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth, plus 2 consecutive hours either in the sleeper berth, off duty, or any combination of the two.

Those are the regulations which seem complicated but are in place for a very good reason. Just like the trust you have in the pilot when you board a plane, you need to have the same trust in the driver piloting an 80,000 pound plus tractor trailer that is next to you and your family on the highway.

 Good Hours of Service Resources: