Hours of Service for Truck Drivers
According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, all property-carrying or passenger-carrying drivers are required to follow hours of service regulations. When you work with Safer CDL, we make sure to monitor your ELDs to ensure that you aren’t violating FMCSA rules. We also educate you on working hour regulation changes, violations and how to correct them.
Daily Monitoring of Electronic Logbook Devices (ELD)
An Electronic Logging Device use is required for commercial drivers to monitor and limit the number of hours that they can drive without breaks and off time. You must certify and register your ELDs with FMCSA. Safer CDL will closely monitor your logbooks to ensure FMCSA compliance and deliver safety and productivity to your fleet.
The hours of service regulations for property-carrying drives are:
- 11-hour driving limit: You can drive a max of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty.
- 14-hour limit: You cannot drive past 14 consecutive hours following 10 consecutive hours off duty.
- 30-minute driving break: You must take a 30-minute break if you’ve been driving for 8 consecutive hours without interruption.
- 60/70 hour limit: You cannot drive after 60/70 hours on duty in 7/8 consecutive days. To restart the 7/8 consecutive day period, you must take 34+ hours off duty.
Daily Check of Logs for Falsification
False logging has been a common issue among many commercial drivers, resulting in drivers being placed out of service and freight being stranded. If your drivers are falsifying their daily logs, it could end badly for you and others on the road. Falsifying electronic logs means violating FMCSA code and putting drivers at risk. This negligence could cause a fatal accident, which may come with the loss of a commercial driver's license. It could even result in fines and jail time. With newer electronic tracking, it is much harder to falsify records but still possible. Safer CDL will check your driver logs daily to ensure that falsification is not possible. We aim for your company to follow hours of service regulations for the safest roads possible.
Violations caused by lack of knowledge
Sometimes hours of service violations happen from lack of knowledge. Safer CDL will educate your drivers on all the EDL rules they must follow to avoid penalties. Since regulations change periodically, we also brief you on the observance of regulations on working hours, as needed. If you do violate HOS regulations, fines can range from $1,000 to $16,000 depending on the severity.
Correction of Violations
Safer CDL will help your transportation or logistics company learn how to correct hours of service violations to keep your drivers safely on the road. The best ways to fix common driver violations are to:
- Stop form and manner violations: Use electronic logbooks to fix tiny mistakes
- Stop not current violations: Forgetting to update your duty status is fixed with electronic logbooks that detect when the vehicle is in motion, automatically changing duty status
- Stop driving beyond time violations: Electronic logbooks tell drivers how much time they have left and alert them when they’re running low
- Stop false record violations: Electronic logbooks add the location when duty status changes
- Stop failing to record duty status: Electronic logbooks help drivers be more diligent with their logs
Some violations you may not be aware of include: