FMCSA hours-of-service public comment period ends Monday, October 21
The public comment period on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) proposed changes to the hours-of-service rules ends Monday, October 21.
Five much-anticipated proposed changes were announced on August 22, 2019, and the industry stakeholders were given an initial deadline of October 7 to post comments. Acting upon requests from various trucking associations, FMCSA extended the deadline to October 21.
The proposed changes are:
- Changing the short-haul exception from certain commercial motor vehicle drivers from 12 to 14 hours and extending the distance limit from 100 air-miles to 150 air-miles.
- Extending the adverse driving conditions exception by two hours.
- Requiring a minimum 30-minute break before eight consecutive hours of driving time occurs. The break would be for at least 30 minutes and could be satisfied with on-duty, not driving time, or off-duty time, rather than just off-duty time.
- Modifying the sleeper-berth exception to allow drivers to split their required 10 hours of off-duty time into two periods of at least seven consecutive hours in one period and not less than two consecutive hours either off-duty or in the sleeper berth.
- Allowing one off-duty break of at least 30 minutes, but not more than three hours, that would pause a truck driver's 14-hour driving window, provided the driver takes 10 consecutive hours off-duty at the end of the work shift.
Comments can be submitted at the Federal eRulemaking Portal by accessing Docket Number FMCSA-2018-0248.
When the comment period closes, FMCSA will consider the latest comments before issuing a final rule. While considered a "fast track" rule, implementation of the rules may still take an extensive amount of time to craft given the number an extent of changes.