Hours of Service Violations and Their Role in Truck Accidents

Commercial truck drivers can’t afford to be tired. A fully loaded semi-truck can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, and when a fatigued driver causes a crash, the consequences can be catastrophic. Hours of Service (HOS) regulations exist to keep overtired drivers off the road by limiting the hours they can operate a vehicle without proper rest. If a driver exceeded these legally mandated limits and caused your truck accident, you have the right to hold them accountable for the harm you suffered.

What Are the FMCSA Hours of Service Regulations?

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) enforces HOS rules to prevent fatigued driving among commercial motor vehicle operators. According to the current regulations:

• A truck driver may operate the vehicle for no more than 11 hours following a full 10-hour off-duty period.
• Once a driver has been on duty for 14 consecutive hours after coming off a rest period, driving must stop, regardless of whether breaks were taken during that stretch.
• Any driver who has accumulated eight hours of driving time without a pause must take a break of at least 30 consecutive minutes before continuing.
• Drivers are restricted to 60 or 70 total on-duty hours within a rolling seven- or eight-day period. A full reset of that cycle requires at least 34 consecutive hours off duty.

How Driver Fatigue Contributes to Serious Truck Accidents

According to the Large Truck Crash Causation Study conducted by the FMCSA, roughly 13% of commercial truck drivers involved in crashes were found to be fatigued at the time of the collision. When a truck driver has been on the road too long without adequate rest, the body’s need for sleep becomes difficult to override.

A fatigued driver may experience microsleeps—brief, involuntary lapses in consciousness lasting just a few seconds—during which the truck continues traveling at full speed with no one in control. Even without falling asleep entirely, an exhausted driver is slower to brake, less aware of surrounding traffic, and more likely to drift out of their lane. At highway speeds, even a momentary lapse can lead to a severe collision.

Who Can Be Held Liable for an HOS Violation?

When an HOS violation leads to a truck accident, you have the right to pursue legal action against the party responsible. The driver is often at fault, but multiple parties may share liability:

• The Truck Driver: If a driver chooses to exceed mandated driving limits or falsify log records to conceal violations, they can be held directly liable for the resulting crash.

• The Trucking Company: Carriers that pressure drivers to meet unrealistic delivery schedules, fail to monitor HOS compliance, or turn a blind eye to violations share responsibility for accidents caused by fatigued drivers.

• Freight Brokers or Shippers: Third parties that impose dangerously tight deadlines on deliveries can contribute to an environment where drivers feel compelled to skip required rest periods in order to meet those expectations.

Contact a Truck Accident Attorney to Investigate HOS Violations

Proving an HOS violation requires prompt action to preserve evidence, subpoena records, and analyze complex federal regulations. A Utah truck accident attorney knows how to gather the necessary evidence and build a compelling case that connects the driver’s fatigue to the cause of your crash. If you suspect that driver fatigue played a role in your accident, contact a truck accident lawyer as soon as possible and begin the investigation process.