Business Driver Safety: Final Hours-of-Service

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, (FMCSA), allows truck drivers to continue to spend as many as 11 hours a day on the road under a final hours-of-service rule they issued in December.  They had proposed shortening the daily allowable driving time, but said “compelling scientific evidence” is needed to support the move.

FMCSA determined that the economic benefits of the current 11-hour maximum trumped the safety gains associated with limiting truckers to 10 hours on the road. Fleet driver training programs have preached for years that a rested driver is a safer driver.