FMCSA delays publication of proposed rule to amend trucker hours-of-service regs
Washington — The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has delayed until further notice the publication of a proposed rule intended to add flexibility to hours-of-service regulations for commercial truck drivers.
A Department of Transportation regulatory update released in May had indicated June 7 as the target publication date for the proposed rule, which was submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget on March 28. An FMCSA spokesperson confirmed in an email to Safety+Health that the proposed rule remains under OMB review.
“The timelines in the department’s regulatory updates serve as goals for the agency and are reflective of FMCSA’s plan to move quickly during this rulemaking process,” the spokesperson wrote. “The agency is hopeful the rule will be published soon.”
FMCSA received more than 5,200 comments on an advance notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Aug. 23 Federal Register. Potential changes to HOS regulations included:
- Expanding the current 100-air mile short haul exemption to 14 hours on duty from 12 hours on duty, to be consistent with rules for long-haul truck drivers.
- Extending the current 14-hour on-duty limitation by up to two hours when a truck driver encounters adverse driving conditions.
- Revising the current mandatory 30-minute break for truck drivers after eight hours of continuous driving.
- Reinstating the option for splitting up the required 10-hour off-duty rest break for drivers operating trucks equipped with sleeper berth compartments.
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Additionally, FMCSA weighed input on separate petitions requesting the agency to:
- Allow covered commercial motor vehicle operators one rest break – for up to three consecutive hours – during every 14-hour on-duty period (filed by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association).
- Allow covered CMV operators to use multiple off-duty periods of at least three hours in place of taking 10 consecutive hours off duty (filed by TruckerNation.org).
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Title
June 12, 2019
I have been an owner operator for 48 years with the current law I have never been so tired and driving hours I never had to drive before splitting the 10 hour break would be a great thing The 30 minute break I feel is ridiculous owner operators with only one truck shouldn’t even have an ELD But I will do what I have to do to make a living hopefully the changes will come soon
Title
June 12, 2019
Am an otr drive. Current rules cause more harm than good . New rules look much better. Different people have vastly different body clocks. Current rules cause much haste and stress.
Title
June 13, 2019
Truck drivers are under enormous pressure to accomplish as much as possible within the limited time frame with no way of stopping the e-log clock and taking a break away from the road. In the old days , a driver could stop for a cup of coffee and a meal on a plate and distress from the road. Since the e-log everything is nonstop, fast food on the go, no time to stop and help a stranded motorists, or take a much needed nap. Our attitude has degraded from highway hero to highway road hog. As an old timer I’m looking forward to retiring and watch how much more our Federal government corrupts the trucking industry.
Title
June 18, 2019
Am lead to believe there is a direct correlation to hours worked/driven with accidents or the potential of. Anyone in favor of increasing hours driven beyond safe (should be determined by impartial, nonpolitical & credible sources) durations should consider the risk it poses on other drivers, pedestrians and the general public . Bottom line is, what risk is Congress willing to accept = Risk/cost to be assumed by the general public offset by a few more dollars to fall to companies and drivers bottom line. Deregulation and higher profits are nice in concept, but should not be at the cost of someone's life or limb.
Title
August 7, 2019
Having been a 20yr veteran of the trucking industry and a 10yr o/o . I believe that a large portion of o/o are very professional and o/o's and are capible of knowing when its time for a break. That being said the driver should have the option to use the hour of service as they see fit. Im in favor of the 14/11 rule with the 10 hour sleeper birth to be split according to drivers need. I believe that more time behind the wheel for drivers in training would be far more beneficial to highway safty then more changes in hours of service regulations. I feel like the eld should be except for o\o's with 10 trucks or less. Its my opinion that most owner operators take lots of pride in there business. Its their life line.
Title
September 5, 2019
I'm not sure if the hos amendment will make the highways safer when you consider 4 out of every 10 cars is still riding down the road with their phones in their hands and not paying attention to anything around them until they either collide or lose control
Starting my 26th year in September of 2019 and having been on the highways since the old trusty road atlas and paper logs with no significant incidents to speak of, I think the 5 and 5 split sleeper berth was the optimum choice for on time deliveries as well as constructive power naps.
Under the 11-14-10, there's already a 2 hr 45 min grace period installed without going over the 14 so that's just a fancy way of saying the same thing if the 14 hr rule is not being extended as you can't mathematically do more than 3 hrs in the sleeper and drive 11 anyway.. 11 + 3 = 14.
7/3 or 8/2 won't make that much of a difference.
11/10/14 @ 7/3 or 8/2 still forces a driver to go down the road under fatigued conditions with the only option being to stop or to go on tired.
Time permitting, I still say "As the wheels that turn America, we should be able to go down the road the way we need to go down the road."
Quite a few of the most recent accidents are due to drivers falling asleep feeling obligated to meet the requirements or face being late, fined, or penalized when a short nap would re-establish alertness and still secure an on-time delivery.
Bureaucrats driving my truck from an armchair.
I still don't like it.
Title
January 9, 2020
Hey
I am driving truck on long haul 5 years. I want some request about ELD and hour of service. I want to give us more flexibility in 70 hours window .
If someone work 70 hours or less he can take off 34 hours .
But if you can’t complete your trip in 70 hours. You need
75or 80 hours to complete your load then you take off 42 hours off duty andIf your rounder trip need like 85 or 90 hours in 9 days then you need 48 hours off duty. It can make our job a lot easier and relax by physically and mentally
The way its now giving us to much stress
This 70 hours window pushing us for save your hours
Because I don’t have other option
Or if you remove this 34 hours rest break then we don’t need to run fast
And if you give us 12 hours driving window in 14 hours
That’s a lot better
Or we need around 45 minutes personally driving every if we need
Because some time we got high wind raining bad weather road accident or stuck in traffic for 30 minutes
That time we can’t arrive at destination
The flying j is 20 miles ahead but my driving time is our
I can’t stop at that truck stop there I don’t have fuel card to put fuel in my truck.
If that truck stop got 50 truck in the night parking nobody get fuel from him how he gonna feels.
So after all we need flexibility please