Towing Issues: On duty driving HRs, carrier safety regulations, motor carrier safety

Question
I was wondering what is the correct answer for a tow truck driver and the hrs they can drive. My husband drives for 10 hrs a day and than hes on call that night he starts at 6 pm till 8am. Somenights he can have up to 5 to 6 calls a night. And than he works the next day. So what is the correct answer. I am in need for this and can not find the answer anywhere. Thank you

Answer
OH JOY, this question comes up again.

Tow truck drivers do have so many variations of how they work, either straight shifts, or on call that its real hard to answer this question.

YES there are rules and regulations on drivers hours of service which is under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations guidelines, which even though they are designed for over the road drivers do apply to towing. Section 395 of the regulations are what you are looking for... Link below

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/topics/hos/index.htm

That being said, it also sounds like your husband does drive a smaller tow truck providing service for auto clubs and such. Most of these drivers are working for small companies and they might not have enough drivers to provide "FULL TIME COVERAGE" by shifts of drivers.

In many discussions I have with other drivers and such (there are lots of online towing forums on the Internet) this subject comes up quite often.
But the best quote I hear is that "towing is a lifestyle, not a job" seems to be the best answer that I have heard.
Towing forum links are at the end of the answers, where you can find out more about towing, and he might learn some tricks also on how to do things.


Now I am not sure exactly what you are looking for answer wise but by questioning this at work, might not be good for your husbands job status.

I have been towing for 30+ years and even after all that time I still am on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week... It does seem to cause some problems and all with the "ON CALL" but it can be worked around if you really do look at it all.

Feel free to ask more questions or such and we will see if we can help more.



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