Work Hour Restrictions

Work-hour restrictions for truck drivers are intended to prevent drowsy driving collisions. Truck drivers are expected to keep logs of the time spent on duty and to limit their hours to the maximums permitted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

Unfortunately, sometimes truckers violate work-hour restrictions and sometimes trucking companies pressure them to do so. When this occurs, the risk of a drowsy driving collision significantly increases. Truck accident victims can take legal action if a trucker violated the work-hour rules and a serious or fatal collisions results.

Associates and Bruce L. Schreiner, Attorneys for the Injured helps victims of trucking crashes to determine if truckers violated hours-of-service restrictions. Our Southwest Florida trucking accidents lawyers have more than four decades of experience representing people who have been hurt in collisions. Let us help you and your family. Call today at 800-646-1210 for a free consultation.

FMCSA Work Hour Restrictions

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently updated the maximum hours-of-service rules. According to FMCSA regulations, truck drivers:

• May drive for a maximum of 11 hours per day after 10 consecutive hours off-duty.
• Must complete their full 11 hours of permitted daily driving within 14 hours of coming on duty following 10 hours of off-duty time.
• May drive for eight hours maximum before taking a 30-minute rest break. This regulation does not apply to short-haul drivers.
• May drive for a maximum of 60 hours over a seven-day period or 70 hours over an eight-day period. After this much drive time, truckers must take a rest break of 34 consecutive hours. At least two periods during the rest break must occur between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.
• Must take at least eight consecutive hours in the sleeper berth if utilizing the sleeper berth. In addition, drivers using the sleeper berth must take two consecutive hours either in the berth, off duty or any combination.

These work-hour restrictions aim to prevent truckers from driving when too fatigued to be safe. A fatigued driver has a delayed reaction time and impaired judgment and his crash risk may be similar to the risk faced by a person who has consumed too much alcohol.

The FMCSA reports that more than 10 percent of 130,000 track crashes each year involve a drowsy driver. Preventing collisions caused by fatigued truckers needs to be a top priority and truckers should obey work-hour restrictions. The FMCSA has proposed electronic monitoring as a method of ensuring that drivers follow the rules but no such regulation has passed on the federal level.

SWFL Trucking Collisions and Hours-of-Service Compliance

If work-hour violations occur, a truck driver may be presumed negligent if he causes a crash. The rule violation makes it easier for victims to make a claim for compensation since they do not have to prove the driver was unreasonably careless. The safety violation means carelessness is assumed.

Associates and Bruce L. Schreiner, Attorneys for the Injured can help victims to obtain on-duty logs, driving records, expert testimony and other evidence to prove a truck accident claim. Call 800-646-1210 today to schedule a free consultation with a trucking accidents attorney.