Federal safety rules that limit how long commercial drivers can drive, work, and stay on duty before they must take breaks or rest are known as hours of service.

These rules exist to reduce fatigue, one of the most dangerous and easiest-to-hide causes of truck crashes. Under the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Hours of Service rules, 49 C.F.R. Part 395, updated in 2020, most property-carrying drivers face limits such as an 11-hour driving cap after 10 consecutive hours off duty, a 14-hour on-duty window, and required break and weekly reset rules. Drivers and trucking companies track this time through electronic logging devices, dispatch records, fuel receipts, GPS data, and other records. When those records do not match, that can be a red flag.

For an injury claim, hours of service can help show whether a driver was exhausted, pressured by a company, or operating in violation of safety rules. That may support proof of negligence, negligent hiring, or spoliation of evidence if logs disappear or are altered. In Nebraska, crashes involving commercial vehicles on highways across all 93 counties may be investigated or enforced by the Nebraska State Patrol, and carriers operating in the state generally must follow federal safety standards. Near major freight routes and large employers such as Offutt Air Force Base near Bellevue, those records can become key evidence when a company tries to blame the victim instead of its own scheduling practices.