Long
before in-car DVD players, I-Pod’s, I-Pad’s, and PSP’s, there were
tractor-trailer trucks. Children of all
ages passed time on long road trips by making a fist and pulling it down above
their heads. The Goal? Get that tractor-trailer truck driver to
blast his horn as a salute to your request.
Let’s
face it, tractor-trailer trucks are fascinating machines of commerce. Much the same as huge cargo ships in the Port
of Savannah and the miles-long Norfolk Southern trains, tractor-trailer trucks
move American commerce from Point A to Point B.
The men and women that operate them are hard-working people that want to
do the best job possible for their companies.
However,
of late, accidents involving these machines have been highly-publicized. As one entertainment columnist wrote, “who
knew a truck crash would instantly put Tracy Morgan into the entertainment
spotlight.” Tractor-trailer operators
are sometimes put to unattainable task by those for whom they are pulling
loads. The pressure is simple………in most
instances, the operator doesn’t get paid unless he or she delivers.
Hence,
the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration lays out rules and regulations
whose purpose is to protect all persons on the road, including the truck
drivers. The rules pertaining to how
long a truck driver can be on the road are being talked about a lot on the news
channels; therefore, I thought it would be of interest to outline those rules
for the general public. (Hey, you never
know when this will be a Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit question!!!)
The
federal government mandates pertaining to hours of operation for product-carrying
truckers (i.e. not those carrying passengers commercially) are as follows:
- ----- A
trucker may drive 11 consecutive hours (only after 10 hours off duty);
- ----- A
trucker may not drive past the 14th hour being on-duty (only after
10 hours off duty);
- ----- A
trucker may drive only if 8 hours or less have passed since end of driver’s
last off-duty or sleeper berth period of at least 30 minutes;
- ----- 60/70-Hour
Limit – A trucker may not drive after 60/70 hours on duty in 7/8 consecutive
days. A driver may restart a 7/8 consecutive day period after taking 34 or more
consecutive hours off duty. Must include two periods from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. home
terminal time, and may only be used once per week, or 168 hours, measured from
the beginning of the previous restart;
- ----- Sleeper
Berth Provision - Drivers using the sleeper berth provision must take at least
8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth, plus a separate 2 consecutive hours
either in the sleeper berth, off duty, or any combination of the two.
As
you can see, the government puts restrictions on how many hours a trucker can
operate. Nevertheless, these regulations
are not followed by a small few in the industry. Those decisions usually end with tragic
consequences. If you or a loved one is
injured by a commercial vehicle, contact The Parian Law Firm, LLC to
investigate the accident and get the recovery you deserve.
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