what are some real-world fines for HOS violations?

hey folks

i've recently taken a job working for a fraccing company in ohio. most of the job is out of the truck, but on the clock. the hours are long--14.5 to 16 hours per day, with an 8 to 9.5 hour break, six days on, three days off. we drive oversize, overweight, and hazmat.

my company is pretty ignorant about 10-hour breaks, 14-hour days, and 70-hour limits. so i'd like to educate them with some dollar figures for typical fines. in the meantime, i only drive the first day of my rotation, because every day after the first i haven't had a full 10 hours off.

so what are some typical DOT fines for driving without taking a full 10-hour break? or after a week without a 10-hour break?

what's a real-world fine for getting caught driving beyond your 14? beyond your 70?

i've never had any of these violations and don't know what they currently run.

 

hmmm

i just don't drive the truck, and explain why. there's no oilfield exemption for the 10, 14, and 70 that i'm aware of. there is an oilfield exception allowing a 24-hour reset, like in construction, and oilfield logbooks allow you to log waiting time on a new line 5, which is paid hourly time, but off-duty. but that's it, so far as i know.

the CSA score is the major problem. my middle management is aware of FMCSA compliance, but the seriousness hasn't trickled down to the field supervisors yet. i'm anticipating a big DOT bust one of these days, as half a dozen overweight frac trucks get pulled over at once with the drivers out of 10, out of 70, and without a current logbook. trying to come up with legal drivers to get them moving off the shoulder would be pretty hard to do at short notice.

i keep my logbooks strictly legal, so were i to get a ticket it would be for an HOS violation, not a book mistake.

 

ignorant is an understatement.

we run overdimensional sand silos on the public roads, big round cans 144 inches across, 65 feet long before you put a tractor on them. ohio has an exemption in its oversize regs for "well drilling equipment," so my company doesn't buy a permit to pull these things on the highways. i think the well drilling exemption is for water well stuff, and certainly it's a stretch to apply it to what amounts to a tank, but they don't buy a permit unless the trailer is overweight.

it's a cowboy mentality, mostly. i'm still working on them.