The new HOS Rules starting on July 1st

The company I drive for did a video series on the new hours of service and they were able to clarify a few things.

The first one I will talk about is the 30 minute rest period.  This one is pretty easy.  The FMCSA regulation states : ) Rest breaks. After June 30, 2013,
driving is not permitted if more than 8
hours have passed since the end of the
driver’s last off-duty or sleeper-berth
period of at least 30 minutes.

This one is pretty easy to do.  Heck anyone that drives usually stops at least one every 4 hours or so just for a bathroom break.  That alone can take 15 minutes so you just have to rest, relax, stretch etc for another 15 minutes then hit the road again.  Now some companies are putting out policies when they want their drivers to take breaks and these can be more restrictive.  I honestly think it should be up to the driver and be done with it there.

The second one deals with the 34 hour restart provision.  There are two changes they made to this.  The first is that you have to have TWO rest periods between 1 am and 5 am.  Here is part of the provision: any period of 8 consecutive days may end with the beginning of an off-duty period of 34 or more consecutive hours that includes two periods from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.  This one is going to affect team drivers, and those drivers that like to drive at night the hardest.  They in essence will be taking up to a 48 hour or more break to reset.

The second change is that you have to have a 168 hour period from the BEGINNING of your last reset to the time before you take your next one.  Another wards you have to take 7 days from the beginning of your last reset before you can take your next one limiting you to one per week.  Here is the text from FMCSA:
After June 30, 2013, a driver may not take an off-duty period allowed by paragraph (c) of this section to restart the calculation of 60 hours in 7 consecutive days or 70 hours in 8 consecutive days until 168 or more
consecutive hours have passed since the beginning of the last such off-duty period.

All of my information came from the PDF that the FMCSA put out.  Here is a link to it.  Be warned, its a pretty long read showing all of the comments and responses in it.  The actual new rules are on the last page that were published.

I hope this helps a few so they can re adjust their operation if they need to before these rules kick in at the beginning of July.
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