2026 DOT Fines for Hours of Service Violations

How FMCSA Calculates HOS Penalty Amounts

FMCSA civil penalty amounts are not fixed permanently. By law, they are adjusted annually for inflation under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act, which requires all federal agencies to update penalty amounts to maintain their deterrent value. The penalty schedule at Appendix B to 49 CFR Part 386 is the authoritative source for current fine amounts.

The 2026 amounts reflect the most recent inflation adjustments and represent the maximum civil penalties that FMCSA may assess in administrative enforcement proceedings. Actual penalties assessed in a given case depend on factors including the gravity of the violation, history of prior violations, and whether the carrier acted in good faith — but the maximums represent what the law has determined is necessary to deter the most serious conduct.

2026 HOS Fine Schedule: Complete Reference

The following table reflects the current civil penalty amounts from 49 CFR Appendix B to Part 386. These are maximum amounts; FMCSA may assess any amount up to these limits.

Source: 49 CFR Appendix B to Part 386 and Cornell LII current version

The HOS Rules That Generate These Fines

Understanding which rules carry these penalties matters in crash litigation, because FMCSA violation categories map directly to crash causation theories. The core hours-of-service rules under 49 CFR Part 395 for property-carrying drivers are:

• 11-Hour Driving Limit: A driver may drive no more than 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty. Exceeding this by more than 3 hours constitutes an “egregious” violation warranting maximum penalties.
• 14-Hour On-Duty Window: A driver may not drive beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty, regardless of how many hours were spent resting during that window.
• 30-Minute Break: A driver must take a 30-minute break after 8 cumulative hours of driving.
• 60/70-Hour Limits: A driver may not drive after having been on duty 60 hours in any 7 consecutive days (or 70 hours in 8 days for carriers operating every day of the week).
• 10-Hour Off-Duty Requirement: A driver must have 10 consecutive hours off duty before beginning a new driving period.

Out-of-Service Orders: When Driving Is Banned Entirely

When a roadside inspector finds an HOS violation serious enough to warrant it, the driver is placed out of service (OOS) — prohibited from operating the commercial motor vehicle until sufficient off-duty time has been taken. Under 49 CFR § 395.13, the carrier cannot require or permit a driver who has been placed OOS to drive until the mandatory rest period is complete.

When a driver continues operating after an OOS order — or when a carrier dispatches an OOS driver — both face elevated penalties. A driver violating an OOS order faces up to $2,364. A carrier that permits or requires a driver to operate during OOS status faces up to $23,647 per violation. These elevated penalties reflect that OOS violations are not technical paperwork errors — they mean a fatigued driver who was specifically ordered not to drive was put back on the road anyway.

How HOS Violations and Fines Become Evidence in Kentucky Crash Cases

FMCSA civil penalties are not criminal charges, but they are powerful evidence in personal injury litigation. Here is how they translate into your case:

1. Negligence Per Se

When a carrier or driver violates a specific FMCSA safety regulation — such as exceeding the 11-hour driving limit — and that violation causes a crash, Kentucky courts may apply the negligence per se doctrine. The violation of the federal safety standard establishes the breach of duty element of negligence without requiring the plaintiff to prove what a “reasonable person” would have done. The regulation itself defines the standard of care.

2. Evidence of Safety Culture

Prior FMCSA penalty assessments against a carrier are admissible to show a pattern of disregard for HOS rules. A carrier that has been fined multiple times for the same category of violation — and kept putting drivers back on the road anyway — demonstrates the kind of conscious indifference to safety that supports punitive damages claims. FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System (SMS) makes this enforcement history publicly available and retrievable in discovery.

3. Causation Connection

Driver fatigue is a recognized factor in large-truck crashes. NHTSA has linked drowsy driving to hundreds of fatal crashes annually, and the NTSB’s investigation of the 2022 Williamsburg crash specifically concluded that fatigue from excess driving time caused the driver to fail to brake. When we can establish that the driver was over his HOS limit at the time of the crash, the causal chain from the HOS violation to the collision becomes direct and documentable.

Key Discovery Requests After an HOS-Related Crash

To build the HOS violation evidence in your case, we request:

• Full ELD data for the driver for the 14 days before the crash (originals + full edit history)
• All supporting documents under 49 CFR § 395.11: fuel receipts, toll records, bills of lading, payroll records
• Telematics and GPS data from the truck and trailer
• Dispatch communications — texts, app messages, email, and phone logs
• Prior FMCSA roadside inspection records and OOS orders (available via FMCSA SMS)
• Prior FMCSA enforcement actions and penalty assessments against the carrier
• Carrier’s HOS training materials, driver scheduling policies, and trip planning documents
• Kentucky State Police and CVE crash and inspection files (obtainable via Kentucky Open Records Act)