HOS: New 34 Hr Restart Rule ?

Found a website (keeptrucking.com) & they're saying as of this year (2016) the 34 hr rule has changed.

Old Rule: Must include 2 periods between 1 & 5AM and cant use this rule but once every 168 hrs

New Rule: The 168 hr limit no longer applies, no longer need to have the 2 periods between 1 & 5AM and drivers can use the restart rule at any time.

Has anyone else hear about this ?

Yes.. this is how Ive always known it to be and I began driving February 3rd.

The rule has not been changed, however the 1-5 AM and 168 hour provisions are no longer being enforced.

Found a website (keeptrucking.com) & they're saying as of this year (2016) the 34 hr rule has changed.

Old Rule: Must include 2 periods between 1 & 5AM and cant use this rule but once every 168 hrs

New Rule: The 168 hr limit no longer applies, no longer need to have the 2 periods between 1 & 5AM and drivers can use the restart rule at any time.

Has anyone else hear about this ?

Actually - the "old rule" was suspended in the 2015 appropriations bill, pending the results of a study into whether or not those two provisions actually enhanced safety and reduced fatigue (they don't). Those two provisions were added to the 34 hour restart rules in 2013.

So the rules for 34 hour restarts we are currently using - are the ORIGINAL ONES - which happened to work JUST FINE all these years until they screwed with them in 2013.

34 hours is 34 hours - OTR drivers don't really have "set hours" for the most part - so forcing a reset between two periods of 1-5AM to reset the drivers circadian rhythm is actually HAZARDOUS for drivers that tend to drive mainly at night - because the body thinks it's sleepy time.

As far as the "one reset a week". 34 hours is (again) 34 hours. No one WANTS to site for 34 hours twice in one week - but if it ENDS UP HAPPENING - there's no reason NOT TO RESET - instead of waiting for those days to fall off the following week to get the hours back. That one is more a "six of one: 1/2 dozen of the other" for the most part. If you're coming off a recent reset - and stay off duty for 24/34 hours - you're still not burning into your 70 - so you won't be running into recaps right away anyways.

For those who try to get a reset in weekly - it's no big deal either way. For those that are constantly running on re-caps (and not getting fulls days on their clocks because of this) - grabbing another reset because you are "down" anyways can be helpful.

It's a lot less complicated than it seems - as complicated as it looks like from the outside...

Rick