FMCSA revises the hours of service (HOS) regulations to provide greater flexibility for drivers subject to those rules without adversely affecting safety. Hutch is already working on implementing these changes and will soon have it available
Revised Requirements and their impacts on the Industry:
Short-Haul
Changes -
- The maximum work period allowed under the short-haul exemption extended from 12 to 14 hours
- The maximum driving radius also increased from 100 air-miles to 150 air-miles
Impacts -
- More companies and Drivers can now take advantage of the Short-haul exception (150 air-mile radius)
- This will shift the workload from Long-haul to Short-haul companies and Drivers, giving more opportunity to Short-haul driving
- There will be no or minimal changes to the total hours driven or Vehicle Miles Travelled
Adverse Driving Conditions or as OOIDA says “Unforeseen” Driving Conditions
Changes -
- Drivers can now extend their maximum driving window by up to 2 hours during Unforeseen Driving Conditions. Adverse Driving conditions include any unforeseen circumstances that arise on the road that were unplanned/unforeseeable by the Dispatchers; Traffic accidents; traffic congestion; bad weather conditions; etc
- This Change is applicable to both Property carrying and Passenger carrying CMVs.
Impacts -
- Drivers will now have increased hours during Adverse driving conditions, allowing them to drive later in the day, increasing the Hours driven and Vehicle miles traveled
- Drivers will not have more time to stop, park or drive slowly during adverse driving conditions
- This will impact and decrease the crash risk, as drivers will not be forced to drive faster/normal speed through adverse driving conditions; to meet their HOS requirements.
30-minute break
Changes -
- A 30-minute break can be taken after 8 hours of consecutive driving, when done without any 30-minute breaks in between or before
- The break can now be completed by going ON/not driving status as well or on-duty, off-duty, sleeper berth time.
Impacts -
- On-duty/not driving time Increased by 30 minutes, helping drivers reach their destination early or in-time
- Companies/drivers can now plan their stops better, instead of being forced to take a 30-minute break
- Helps less-than-truckload (LTL) drivers to make additional deliveries on their routes, as they can now perform work-related non-driving tasks during this 30-minute break
Split-Sleeper berth
Changes -
- Split-sleeper berth modification allows drivers to take their required 10 hours off-duty in two models 8/2 split or 7/3 split, provided that at least 7 consecutive hours are spent in the sleeper berth when doing a 7/3 split.
- Split-sleeper berth functionality is not a part of the 14-hour Driving window.
Impacts -
- Drivers can now shift One hour from the longer rest period to the shorter one i.e. can take a 7 hour long rest period instead of 8 hours (as per the former split sleep rule)
- Drivers will get more hours to complete the 11 hours of driving, as they can remove the shorter rest period from the 14-hour driving window
