Re: Railroad groups seek changes to hours of service mandate
Author: George Andrews
Date: 11-07-2019 - 19:48
The current Federal Hours of Service limit a Commercial Truck Driver to 11 Hours Driving during a maximum 14 Hour On - Duty period. After reaching either one, the driver must have 10 consecutive Hours Off - Duty, before being allowed to drive again. Note that this does not prevent the driver from performing more On - Duty / Not Driving duties.
With the recent Federal mandate requiring Electronic Logging Devices ( ELD ) that interface with both the driver(s) AND the truck they are driving, it has become much more difficult to fudge on Hours of Service. The ELD I use at work will automatically change my duty status from On - Duty Not Driving, to Driving even if I only move the truck up in line at the Port, unless I only drive the truck less than 4 miles an hour. The ELD mandate also now applies to " local " drivers, who in the past did not have to keep a log book provided they went on - duty & off - duty at the same home domecile, did not drive over 105 air miles from home domecile, and did not exceed 12 hours total on - duty time.
Many different factions of the U.S. trucking industry have petitioned the Feds for exemptions to the current Hours of Service; everything from livestock haulers to oil field rigs, to bus drivers & now the railroads too. It is still a work in progress.