Under federal laws and regulations, over-the-road truckers must maintain logs that document how much time they spend behind the wheel. Federal regulations require truck drivers to take regular breaks, and limit the amount of time they can be on the road over given periods of time. Unfortunately, many truckers and their employers circumvent the regulations, with some actually maintaining bogus logs to submit to federal enforcement agencies.
In an effort to reduce the incidence of driver log violations, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration imposes fines and penalties on drivers who infringe upon the rules. In 2015, the agency made a number of changes, with the specific purpose of increasing the costs of non-compliance with “on-the-road” regulations. Here’s an overview of the changes made two years ago:
- Recordkeeping violations—Any failure to keep records as required by the FMCSR (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations) will subject the offender to a $1,100 per day fine, up to $11,000. That’s a daily increase of $100 and a total increase of $1,000.
- Egregious hours of service violation—A trucker found to engage in “egregious” violation of the “hours on the road” requirements can face a maximum fine of $16,000, up from $11,000.
- Violation of 24 hour out-of-service requirement—A trucker who fails to stay off the road for the mandatory 24-hour period set forth in the regulations can be fined up to $4,125 per violation, up from $3, 750 per incident.
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