On Sept 29, 2020, the following four changes to the FMCSA hour of service regulations will go into effect as published in the June 1, 2020 Federal Register.  There will be four significant changes to the regulations. As a motor carrier you will want to be prepared for these changes in advance.  These changes will provide additional flexibility to your drivers and to you the motor carrier.

• Contact your Electronic Logging Device (ELD) provider to make sure that reprogramming of ELD’s are addressed in your system.
• Train your drivers on how the changes will impact their operation and that of the ELD if any.
• Train dispatchers and management personnel on the changes.

The new rules will include four significant changes for interstate truck and bus drivers:

• Revisions to the 30-minute break rule for truck drivers so they can remain “on duty” for their breaks and not have to take a break until completing eight hours of driving time, rather than consecutive time.
• Revisions to the 100-air-mile short-haul exception to lengthen the maximum on-duty period from 12 to 14 hours and extend the distance limit within which the driver may operate from 100 air miles to 150 air miles.
• Revisions to the sleeper-berth provisions to allow truck drivers to split their required 10 hours off into two periods, one being at least 7 hours in a sleeper berth and the other being at least 2 hours off (e.g., a 7/3 or 8/2 split). In addition, neither rest period will count against the driver’s 14-hour driving window.
• Changes to the “adverse driving conditions” exception to extend by two hours the maximum window of time during which driving is allowed after a driver encounters unexpected weather or traffic conditions.

Keep in mind that these regulation changes are for FMCSA INTERstate compliant carriers only! 

For INTRAstate operations, the states will have to consider adopting the regulation changes!