FMCSA Retains 11-Hour Daily Drive Limit

Final Rule Decided On Hours Of Service

(Alexandria, Va.) - In a notice published in today's Federal Register, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is retaining the 11-hour daily drive limit and 34-hour restart provisions of its Dec. 17, 2007, interim final rule (IFR) on hours of service (HOS) as its final rule.  

Effective Jan. 19, 2009, this HOS final rule will maintain the status quo, allowing drivers to drive for 11 hours within a 14-hour time frame and restart their weekly accumulations of hours after spending at least 34 consecutive hours off-duty.  This HOS final rule reflects the same regulations put forward in both the December 2007 IFR and the 2005 HOS final rule; there are no changes to the HOS regulations currently in place.

This final rule is the result of a July 2007 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit that vacated the 11-hour daily drive limit and the 34-hour restart provisions of the 2005 HOS final rule.  These provisions were vacated on largely administrative grounds, which FMCSA believes it has remedied through the publication and subsequent comment period of the December IFR.

The final rule is available at http://www.federalregister.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2008-27437_PI.pdf. For additional information, contact TCA at (703) 838-1950.