An 18-wheeler on I-20 or I-55 near Jackson does not follow the same clock as a family car. Federal hours-of-service rules limit how long a property-carrying truck driver is allowed to stay behind the wheel after a rest period. Those limits are written in the Code of Federal Regulations, not in a company’s handbook.

Under 49 CFR 395.3(a), a driver must take 10 consecutive hours off duty before a new driving window opens. After coming on duty following that rest, the driver is limited to 11 hours of driving and is forbidden from driving after 14 consecutive hours have passed, even if some of those 14 hours were spent loading, waiting, or otherwise on duty but not driving. A driver who started a shift at 6 a.m. reaches the end of that 14-hour window at 8 p.m., whether or not 11 hours of driving have been used. Those limits are the ones a later investigation either confirms or rules out from the records the law already required the company or the claimant to keep. Those hour limits apply on every qualifying interstate run, including trips through Jackson.

The 11-hour cap

Families sometimes consult Diaz Law Firm 18-wheeler accident lawyer or another lawyer in that situation. After a crash on a Mississippi interstate, questions about whether those 11-hour, 14-hour, and 30-minute limits were followed are fact questions, not slogans. The regulation states the hours. It does not, by itself, decide fault.

Section 395.3(a)(3)(ii) adds a mid-shift break. Except for drivers who qualify for a short-haul exception in 395.1(e)(1) or (2), driving is not permitted if more than 8 hours of driving time have passed without at least a consecutive 30-minute interruption in driving status. That interruption is satisfied by off-duty time, sleeper-berth time, on-duty not-driving time, or a combination of those. The weekly limits sit in 395.3(b). A driver is cut off after 60 hours on duty in 7 consecutive days if the carrier does not operate commercial motor vehicles every day of the week, or after 70 hours on duty in 8 consecutive days if the carrier does.

The daily inspection report under 396.11

Hours are not the only federal paper trail. 49 CFR 396.11(a) requires every motor carrier to have its drivers prepare a written report at the completion of each day’s work on each vehicle operated, with a listed exception for intermodal equipment tendered by an intermodal equipment provider. The report must cover at least service brakes including trailer brake connections, the parking brake, and the steering mechanism, along with the other parts and accessories named in the section. That requirement is the one the official text actually states.

Before a carrier requires or permits a driver to operate the vehicle again, 396.11(a)(3) requires the carrier or its agent to repair any listed defect or deficiency that would be likely to affect the safety of operation. The carrier must also certify on the report that the defect has been repaired or that repair is unnecessary. Section 396.11(a)(4) requires the carrier to keep the report, the certification of repairs, and the certification of the driver’s review for three months from the date the written report was prepared.

What do the records show?

A missing report, or a listed brake or steering defect that was not certified as repaired, is a concrete gap under a rule that applies to the truck that was on the road that day. Those documents either exist for the three-month retention period or they do not. That duty is stated in the official section cited in this article. Section 396.11(a)(4) requires the carrier to keep the report for three months. Parents who want a broader look at sharing the road with large trucks have also used the host’s parent’s guide to truck safety and what to do after an accident.