Task 19-1 HOS Report

Presented by:
Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee MCSAC

John Lannen
Chairman

October 15, 2019

The Honorable Raymond P. Martinez
Administrator
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC  20590

Dear Administrator Martinez:

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) tasked the Committee with Task 19-1, Hours of Service for Drivers of Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMVs), directing the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) to provide feedback to the Agency regarding FMCSA’s proposed amendments to its hours-of-service (HOS) requirements to provide greater flexibility for drivers subject to the HOS rules without adversely affecting safety. 

The MCSAC met in public meetings on September 30 – October 1, 2019, to discuss the task. The Committee reviewed the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on HOS, which was published on August 22, 2019, with an open comment period until October 21, and considered the Agency’s proposed amendments to the HOS rules and how to best accomplish them without adversely affecting safety. Specifically, FMCSA asked the MCSAC to review the proposals to alter the short-haul exception to the record of duty status  requirement available to certain CMV drivers, to modify the adverse driving conditions exception, increase flexibility for the 30-minute break rule by requiring a break after 8 hours of driving time (instead of on-duty time) and allow on-duty-not driving periods as qualifying breaks from driving, to modify the sleeper berth exception to allow a driver to spend a minimum of 7 hours in the berth combined with an minimum 2-hour off-duty period, provided the combined periods total 10 hours (rather than the current 8/2 split), and allow one off-duty break that would pause a truck driver’s 14-hour driving window. The resulting comments are attached as the Task 19-1 Report.

On behalf of the MCSAC, I respectfully submit this report to FMCSA for its consideration.

Sincerely,

John Lannen
Chairman