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On Janurary 4th, 2004 the new HOS rules will go into effect. Here's
some info on how those new rules will work, and links to a few other
relevant articles on this topic. Please note these comments relate
primarily to OTR drivers.
The current rules allow you to drive 10 hours in a 15 hour work day.
The new rules now allow you to drive 11 hours in a 14 hour work day,
so you've gained another hour driving time, but have lost an hour of
OnDuty time. Another important change is that once you report for duty
the 14 hour clock starts. It then runs continously except for sleeper
berth time - and even that counts towards the 14 hours if you take
more than 2 sleeper berth sessions to make your 10 hours break. The
last significant change is that after 34 hours off duty your 70 or 60
hour clock will reset.
In order to comply with the new rules and make the most of your time
you are going to need to make a few changes in the way you do things,
but by working "smart" you can take advantage of these new rules and
actually run a few more miles every day.
The first thing to remember is to get breakfast and your
morning chores out of the way BEFORE you report for duty (do your pre-trip or
make any other entries in your log relating to work). Once you start your day by
doing your Pre-Trip inspection your 14 hour clock is running. You can stop the clock
once during your 14 hour shift by going to the sleeper berth for a minimum
of 2 hours. Just remember this only applies to one sleeper berth session and
it MUST be followed by another sleeper berth period which when combined
with the first one total 10 or more hours. If you go Off Duty
for your 10 hour break any sleeper periods will count towards your 14
hours On Duty. .
Here's an example:
Assume that you went to bed (sleeper) at 9pm the night before.
You get up at 6am and go into the truck stop for breakfast.
At 7am you do your PreTrip, then at 7:15 you start driving.
At 10am you get to the Delivery and deliver your load. You log
On Duty Not Driving for the unload time which takes an hour.
At 11am you again drive, 15 minutes to get to the next shipper.
It's a no touch load, so you back into the door and then go to the
sleeper.
If it takes more than 2 hours to get loaded and you stay in the sleeper
for the entire time this does not count against your 14 hours.
If it takes less than 2 hours the time counts against your 14 hours
even though you were in the sleeper.
Let's assume it took 3 hours to get loaded and you spent the time in
the sleeper. So at 2:15 you go back On Duty Not Driving and show loading
for 15 minutes while you lockup and sign your papers.
At 2:30 you go back to driving.
It's now 7.5 hours since you came on duty and you've driven 3 hours
and been on duty for 1.5 hours, so you have 8 hours left to drive,
and 9.5 hours left to be on duty.
So you drive now until 6pm and then stop for fuel and dinner.
Fueling is 15 min and then you go Off Duty for 45 minutes for dinner.
You've now driven 6.5 hours and been on duty for
8.25 hours, you have 4.5 hours left to drive, and 5.75 hours left to be
on duty.
It's now 7pm -
In order to start you next day at 6am
you will need to have an additional 7 hours in the sleeper (you already have 3
from when you were loading) so you will need to stop driving and go to the
sleeper no later than 11pm. So you can drive another 4 hours if you want today.
Here's what it would look like on your log -
Log created using
The Truckers Helper Log Master. It is now legal to
keep your logs in your computer if you comply with the
FMCSA Rules on this.
Here's a few mistakes to avoid -
According to DOT you are no longer required to have
"consecutive" sleeper berth periods. The new rule is to be enforced by using the "mostfavorable" sleeper berth periods to the driver.
Keep your logs as accurate as possible, but showing sleeper periods when you take
them and remember you can only take ONE SLEEPER period that will not count towards
your 14 hours On Duty. Any other Sleeper or Off Duty periods will count towards
your 14 hours.
Don't try to
combine Sleeper & Off Duty to make up 10 hour split shifts.
You can only
combine Sleeper and Off Duty if they are part of a continous break that totals 10 hours
or more. You cannot use any Off Duty in the combination when you are
using a split break.
Don't go on duty and then back off duty first thing in the morning. If you
have things to do, do them BEFORE you go on duty in the morning.
Don't forget that OFF DUTY TIME COUNTS towards your 14
hours.
Comment or questions on the new HOS are welcome. Post your questions in
the FORUM and we'll answer
then as quickly as we can. We are also receiving additional questions on this
and will post the answers and more clarification there.
OTHER ARTICLES AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The Log Master log book checking program and Split Shifts
The Online Help
has complete instructions on setting up the Log Master in The Truckers Helper to comply with the new rules.
Using Split Shifts
a discussion of the requirements for using split shifts in the Log Master
Download Help.exe. to your desktop and then run it to install the
lastest HELP file.
The HELP file is not part downloaded with the regular Online
Update.
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