Ask The Law™ - December 2006

Questions on HOS, Extending a 14-Hour Day
& the 36-Hour Reset Rule Answered by Law
Enforcement Officials (as of December 2006)

Brought to you as a public service by Alcoa Wheel Products, Ol’ Blue USA & 10-4. Submit your questions to www.askthelaw.org

OUT OF HOURS AT PU OR DELIVERY
Q: I live in Ohio but work out of Lowell, Arkansas. When you’re at a customer’s location and almost out of hours and the customer says you have to get off the property, what can you do? If you move, you’re in legal trouble with the Hours of Service. If you stay, the customer gets mad. What can you do? Brian – Ohio

A: (from Senior Trooper Monty Dial, Texas Highway Patrol, Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division, Garland, Texas) It seems that drivers are starting to recognize that the situation you are describing is becoming a huge problem. What you (and other drivers) need to start doing is; 1) Make sure you have done your planning so as to not get into a situation where you run out of hours while at the shipper/receiver. I know that you can do all the proper planning and things still go wrong, but at least you tried; and 2) If you realize that once you’ve made contact with the shipper/receiver you are going to run out of hours, I would recommend that you immediately contact your company/dispatcher and let them know that you are going to be out of hours or in violation if the shipper/receiver starts to load/unload you and then you have to leave the shipper’s/receiver’s property. This gives the company/dispatcher an opportunity to contact the shipper/receiver and see if something can be worked out by rescheduling your delivery/pickup or by allowing you to stay on their property without you having to violate the Hours of Service Rules if you have to leave. I would give these two situations a try and see if they work.

EXTENDING YOUR 14-HOUR DAY
Q: Is there a rule regarding extending your 14-hour day by one hour, once a week, to return to your home terminal? Laura – California

A: (from Officer Chris Sahagun, California Highway Patrol, Commercial Vehicle Section, Sacramento, California) The only rules which allow a driver to extend the 14-hour day are contained in Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, Sections 395.1(e)(2), which is for vehicles not requiring a commercial driver license, and 395.1(o) which states: “(o) Property-carrying driver. A property-carrying driver is exempt from the requirements of 395.3(a)(2) if: (o)(1) The driver has returned to the driver’s normal work reporting location and the carrier released the driver from duty at that location for the previous five duty tours the driver has worked; (o)(2) The driver has returned to the normal work reporting location and the carrier releases the driver from duty within 16 hours after coming on duty following 10 consecutive hours off duty; and (o)(3) The driver has not taken this exemption within the previous 6 consecutive days, except when the driver has begun a new 7- or 8-consecutive day period with the beginning of any off-duty period of 34 or more consecutive hours as allowed by 395.3(c).” Aside from the above rule, there is no exemption which allows an interstate driver to extend their day by one hour to return to their home terminal.

34-HOUR RESET RULE
Q: After delivering locally for almost 10 years, I recently started driving OTR again. With the new “34-Hour Reset” rule, I am not sure if I am logging properly. Example: I quit working at noon on Monday. 34 hours later would be 10 pm Tuesday night. So, I work 2 hours (10 pm to midnight) that Tuesday. Let’s say I worked 60 hours in the previous 8 days including time off. Should my total column on the right of the log say I worked 2 hours or 62 hours as of midnight on that log? I have reset my hours, but is it possible to work well over 100 hours in an 8-day span? Darren – Arizona

A: (from Sgt. Jim Brokaw, Nebraska State Patrol, Carrier Enforcement Division, Lincoln, Nebraska) The way the 34-hour reset works is after your 34-hour break, you start an entirely new 8-day period. So, in your example, at the end of your Tuesday you would have a total of 2 hours toward your 70-hour rule for the next 8 days including that Tuesday. You’re a little high on your estimate of well over 100 hours. If the 34-hour reset is done correctly (you made me get my calculator out for this one), you can have 98 hours in an 8-day period – five 14-hour days, a 34-hour reset starting on the 5th day through the 6th day, followed by two 14-hour days again, for a total of 98 hours. But really, does anyone have to work that hard? I wouldn’t want to!

~ The Ask The Law™ programs, which are provided as a public service by Alcoa Wheel Products™, are an ongoing educational effort between Ol’ Blue, USA™ and commercial law enforcement agencies. Founded in 1986, Ol’ Blue, USA is a non-profit organization dedicated to highway safety education and to improving relations between the motoring public, law enforcement and commercial drivers. “Ask The Law” is a registered trademark of Ol’ Blue, USA. This column is copyrighted by Ol’ Blue, USA. Warning: Laws are subject to change without notice. These interpretations were made in November of 2006.