HOS Changes Coming

April 9, 2019 LOUISVILLE, Kentucky. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced that the Department of Transportation has sent an hours of service (HOS) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. Chao did not state the timetable before the rule is published in the Federal Register, but OMB has in the past moved proposed rules within days. Given the importance of this rule, a quick approval from OMB is likely.

At last year’s Mid-America Trucking Show, you told the Department you wanted flexibility … and the Department listened, Chao said before a packed audience in a seminar room at this year’s Mid-America in Louisville, Kentucky. “We asked for your participating, and you participated, with over five thousand, two hundred comments."

“The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was just sent to the Office of Management and Budget,” Chao added, to applause. “I can’t give you specifics because it is still in the rules stage, but I can tell you the Department understands the importance of giving you the flexibility [to do your jobs].

Last August, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrationput forth an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to give the public a chance to comment on current regulations. The ANPRM sought public input on several potential revisions to HOS rules, including: Whether to expand 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; Whether to extend the current 14-hour on-duty limitation by up to two hours when a truck driver encounters adverse driving conditions. Whether to revise the mandatory 30-minute break for truck drivers after 8-hours of continuous driving; and Whether to 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).

OOIDA has been pushing for changes to the regulations for more flexibility. Since the hard enforcement date of April 1, 2018, for electronic logging devices (ELD), the rigid nature of HOS rules – specifically the 14-hour clock – have become a more noticeable problem for many. Chao also said DOT will seek to make the Crash Preventability Demonstration program, which began in 2017 and ends on July 30, 2019, permanent.

“The Department will propose to make this demonstration program permanent,” she said. “The Department will also look to add additional [scenarios].”

The program seeks to assign proper blame for accidents, giving carriers and drivers the opportunity to have a crash removed from their record if the driver was not at fault.

Brian Straight - Freight Waves

Don’t hold your breath on this old news.

Don’t hold your breath on this old news.

Saw April 9th, thought it was new😶😑😐

HOS potential changes and updates “news” has been going around since the last time these were changed over a decade ago. This article you posted came out at MATS in Louisville in Mid-March. The FMCSA had an open comment period that ended in January. This was open to any driver to log in and post their ideas, comments, and suggestions on HOS changes they wanted to see. Of the approximately three MILLION PLUS CDL holders in the US, a whopping 5,600 took the time to submit a comment. This is how we get things changed!?!? Lots want to talk about how screwed up the HOS rules are (10 hour continuous off-duty, 14 hour clock that can never be stopped, etc), yet when these same people have an opportunity to voice their thoughts, crickets....I could really go on a rant, but I won’t today.

So you want truck drivers to ***** and complain to people that have no business being in charge of trucking? Never held a cdl , never been inside a truck, never moved freight, and frankly can't do anything right.

Thanks, but it's not worth the effort to breath in, form my mouth in such a way sound can be heard, and breath out.

The only thing government understands is dollar and cents. They'll only understand complaints from big corporations that are affected not from truck drivers.

So you want truck drivers to ***** and complain to people that have no business being in charge of trucking? Never held a cdl , never been inside a truck, never moved freight, and frankly can't do anything right.

Thanks, but it's not worth the effort to breath in, form my mouth in such a way sound can be heard, and breath out.

The only thing government understands is dollar and cents. They'll only understand complaints from big corporations that are affected not from truck drivers.

Nice going, Sid! You prove my point precisely.

Well, I guess i did. :)

But next time I need to build a bridge in the middle of a cornfield, I'll let you know. :)

I posted a comment during the open polling period. If you don’t use your voice to petition for change then you don’t have the right to ***** about how the rules are or how they change. Just my opinion. If you feel those in charge of making the rules are so ignorant, then take time to educate. If you don’t give meaningful feedback, how can you possibly expect meaningful change to happen.

I posted a comment during the open polling period. If you don’t use your voice to petition for change then you don’t have the right to ***** about how the rules are or how they change. Just my opinion. If you feel those in charge of making the rules are so ignorant, then take time to educate. If you don’t give meaningful feedback, how can you possibly expect meaningful change to happen.

How are drivers informed of the right to comment? I never knew I had the opportunity. Somebody with hidden interests was keeping things quiet, as usual.

Well, I guess i did. :)

But next time I need to build a bridge in the middle of a cornfield, I'll let you know. :)

More useful info, Sid. Thanks again!