5 Things to Know About the Final Hours-of-Service Rule
1. Under the final rule, a driver’s work week is now limited to 70 hours. This is 12 fewer hours than the current rule of 82 hours per week.
2. Drivers are not permitted to drive after 8 hours without a break of at least 30 minutes. Drivers can take the 30-minute rest anytime during the 8-hour window.
3. The 34-hour reset can be used only once per week and must include two full consecutive periods of rest between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. This makes the reset time variable, with 34 hours being a minimum.
4. No changes were made to the basic rule of 11 hours of drive time. However, with the requirement of the 30-minute break, the effective use of the 14-hour duty day has been reduced to 13.5 hours.
5. Flexibility has been added to the “Off Duty” requirement of 10 hours to allow 2 hours of off-duty time to be spent in a moving vehicle as a co-driver before or after 8 hours of “Sleeper-Berth” status.
