§390.13 is short: no person shall aid, abet, encourage, or require a motor carrier or its employees to violate the regulations in this subchapter. The rule extends compliance responsibility past the carrier-of-record — a shipper who pressures unsafe loading, a broker who books a load incompatible with HOS time, a receiver who delays a driver past available HOS, a manager who dispatches a driver in §392.3 condition all sit inside §390.13.
Severity weight
Severity weight 5, typically scored under the BASIC of the underlying violation (Unsafe Driving for §392.x violations, HOS Compliance for §395.x). The cite is most common in compliance reviews where a pattern of related findings traces back to a single decision-maker.
How it gets cited
Three patterns: (1) dispatch records that show a driver was sent on a run that required HOS or speed violations (pairs with §392.6); (2) communications (text, email, dispatch notes) directing a driver to operate despite a DVIR defect (pairs with §396.7); (3) shipper detention records showing receivers who structurally exhaust HOS and the carrier accepted the lane anyway.
How to prevent it
- Train dispatchers and managers that "the driver chose to do it" is not a §390.13 defense if dispatch made the choice possible.
- Document declined loads, declined appointment times, and declined customer requests — the paper trail is the §390.13 defense.
- For customer-driven HOS pressure, escalate in writing — verbal pushback does not survive a §390.13 audit.
How Roadworthy HQ helps
Roadworthy HQ holds no dispatch records and no hours-of-service data, so it cannot show how a run was planned or whether a schedule was achievable. What it keeps is the driver and vehicle file behind the run: qualification documents, D&A records, maintenance, DVIRs, and roadside inspections.