The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) will hold a public listening session concerning the revision of current hours-of-service (HOS) regulations on September 22, 2018 from 10:00AM -12:00PM in Reno, NV.
The Agency hopes to gather feedback which will be used to determine if HOS revisions may alleviate unnecessary burdens placed on drivers while maintaining safety on our nation’s highways and roads. After introductory remarks from Administrator Martinez, participants will be invited to share their views on current regulations and other topics related to commercial truck drivers in an open forum.
The four specific areas under consideration for revision are:
- Expanding the current 100 air-mile “short-haul” exemption from 12 hours on-duty to 14 hours on-duty, in order to be consistent with the 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 8-hours of continuous driving
- Reinstating the option for splitting up the required 10-hour off-duty rest break for drivers operating trucks that are equipped with a sleeper-berth compartment
In addition, the ANPRM seeks public comment and relevant data on two recently submitted petitions requesting regulatory relief from HOS rules (1) pertaining to the 14-hour on-duty limitation (filed by the Owner-Operators Independent Drivers Association) and (2) pertaining to the 10-hour off-duty requirement (filed by TruckerNation).
Earlier this year, the congressionally mandated electronic logging device (ELD) rule, which required most FMCSA-regulated motor carriers to convert their records from paper to an electronic format, became effective. While compliance with the ELD rule has reached nearly 99 percent across the trucking industry, it has also brought focus to HOS regulations, especially with regard to certain regulations having a significant impact on agriculture and other sectors of trucking.
FMCSA’s public listening session will have a live web streaming broadcast.
Please follow this link to RSVP for this event, and find further information.
Location:
National Automobile Museum
10 South Lake Street
Reno, NV 89501
Sept 22, 2018 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information on the listening session, contact Mr. Bill Cunnane, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590, at (202) 366-0055, or via email: william.cunnane@dot.gov. For information concerning the HOS rules, contact Mr. Tom Yager, Chief, Driver and Carrier Operations Division, (202) 366-4325, mcpsd@dot.gov.
