Trucking Laws · Nationwide · October 26, 2026

J.B. Hunt Says Truck Drivers' Crash Risk Rose After Longer 34-Hour Resets

A red semi tractor parked on a gravel drive beside a white country home at dusk, with the porch light on — Illustration for this story. Not a photo of a specific location.

A longer break at home does not always mean a safer first shift back. J.B. Hunt's safety team says its own data showed a higher chance of a crash in the first 6 to 12 hours after truck drivers returned from longer 34-hour resets, according to Truck News, which reported on a panel at the American Trucking Associations' annual conference in Charlotte, N.C.

The panel took place at the conference earlier this month. Truck News published its report on Oct. 25.

What J.B. Hunt found

The finding came from J.B. Hunt's safety team analyzing telematics data, Truck News reported. No crash counts or percentages were given.

"We were seeing that the longer that 34-hour break was, the higher the likelihood of some sort of crash when they returned to work within the first 6-to-12 hours," said Joshua Vance, J.B. Hunt's vice president of safety and compliance.

A former truck driver's view

The finding did not surprise Melanie Simard, a former truck driver who is now vice president of safety, compliance and technical support at Isaac Instruments.

"When I was off the clock as a driver, and I had maybe 48 hours at home, I was trying to do everything very, very fast," she said. The result, she said, was not enough quality rest before the next shift.

Simard also said lane-departure warnings, harsh maneuvers and following too closely can be signs of fatigue.

How the fleet is responding

J.B. Hunt developed an educational video to help its drivers talk with their families about the importance of quality rest at home, according to Truck News.

The company has also rolled out a fatigue program that builds on inward-facing cameras installed several years ago. The system watches eye movement, yawning and other behaviors to judge whether they are normal for that driver. If not, the safety team can reach out through a speaker in the truck cab, Truck News reported.

Logbook tricks on the panel's radar

The same panel discussed electronic logging device fraud. Sean Garney, co-director of Scopelitis Transportation Consulting, said "ELD fraud takes a lot of different forms." He listed:

Misuse of special categories such as unassigned drive time, personal conveyance and yard moves.
Disconnecting the ELD to run miles without an electronic record. Garney recommended fleets compare a truck's odometer with the driver's logs.
"Ghost" drivers, created with a second logbook on the ELD under a slightly different CDL number.
Third-party manipulation of logbooks.

Simard said drivers who use special categories create more risk for a fleet, but that does not make them all bad actors. Many want to run as many legal hours as possible and then run into trouble finding safe parking, she said.

Planning the first day back

The 34-hour restart and the other federal limits are explained in Big Rig Daily's guide to ELD and hours of service rules. The hours of service break calculator can help plan breaks on that first day back.