FMCSA Seeking Comments on Hours of Service Rule

On August 22, 2019 the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) seeking comments on proposed changes to the Hours of Service regulations. The proposed changes are intended to provide flexibility in several areas following concerns raised by industries and commercial drivers. These include:
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1. Extend the maximum duty-period allowed under the short-haul exception from 12 hours to 14 hours,
2. Extend the maximum distance for short-haul drivers (subject to existing exception requirements) from a 100 air-mile radius to a 150 air-mile radius,
3. Modifying the exception for adverse driving condition by extending the maximum driving windows by 2 hours,
4. Making the 30 minute rest break applicable only in situations where a driver has driven for a period of 8 hours without at least 1 30 minute break, which can be satisfied with a period either off duty, in the sleeper berth, or on-duty not-driving,
5. Modifying the sleeper berth requirements such that the required 10 hours off duty could be split into two periods, provided one off duty period is at least 2 hours long (either in or out of the sleeper berth) and the other involves at least 7 consecutive hours in the sleeper birth,
6. Adding an additional optional under § 395.3 (a)(3)(iii) that would allow one off-duty break of at least 30 minutes, but not more than 3 hours, during the course of a 14-hour driving window to extend that period for the length of the break, provided the drivers take at least 10 consecutive hours off duty at the end of the work shift.

 
The entire notice can be found here including additional discussion about comments received and Agency reasonings.
 
Originally, the NPRM noted a due date for comments of October 7th, however, that deadline has been extended to October 21. FMCSA is seeking comments from the industries and drivers impacted by these potential changes. More information on the topic can be found here and comments may be submitted to FMCSA here.