Truckers can continue using both the 11th hour of driving and the optional 34-hour restart provision thanks to an interim final rule released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
According to information posted to the Docket Management Service the agency is leaving the current hours-of-service regulations as is – with no changes to the sleeper-berth provision.
Agency officials decided to keep the current rules rather than create confusion within the trucking industry and the enforcement community by issuing revisions to the rule.
“This proposal keeps in place hours-of-service limits that improve highway safety by ensuring that drivers are rested and ready to work,” FMCSA Administrator John H. Hill said in a press release.
Those sentiments were echoed strongly in the interim final rule.
“Uncertainty is the enemy of enforcement and compliance; it can only impair highway safety,” FMCSA officials wrote in the interim final rule. “This (interim final rule) will ensure that a familiar, uniform set of national rules govern motor carrier transportation, while FMCSA gather additional public comments on all aspects of this interim final rule.”
“By re-adopting the 11-hour limit and the 34-hour restart, the agency’s intent is to allow motor carriers and drivers to combine work-rest schedules that follow the optimal 24-hour circadian cycle (10 hours off duty and 14 hours on duty) while maintaining highway safety with operational flexibility,” officials wrote.
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Hours Of Service to stay the same, for now 
