Hours of Service Form and Manner Violations

Section 395.8 Form and Manner violations cited at roadside, are calculated in the BASIC for hours of service with the severity weight rating of 2. Violations cited at roadside for minor omissions, such as unit number, miles traveled, or for other form and manner issues such as omitting a flag for pre or post trip inspection have no overall correlation with the use of a fatigued driver. and will affect a carriers overall score in that BASIC. These violations are as such, and rightfully should be cited on the roadside report and sanctioned accordingly, however, these types of minor omissions and /or penmanship issues to not accurately reflect the use of a fatigued driver, nor do they effect the overall safety posture of the carriers operation.

These violations for form and manner when added to the BASIC contribute towards the identification or the indication that the carrier may have issues with the use of fatigued drivers. The recent high profile motor coach and passenger carrier crashes have created a hightened awareness in the public domain regarding these carriers. Individuals, companies, educational institutions and others now perform due diligence research before selecting a passenger carrier for their service. When a carrier is portrayed as having a fatigued driver issue, a negative conclusion may be reached by the customer as a result. The inclusion of a two point assessment for violations of 385.8 form and manner impacts the overall BASIC and inaccurately reflects the use of fatigued drivers.

Remove the violation, 395.8 Form and manner, from the BASIC calculation in the hours of service category for both carrier and driver.