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Regulatory Guidance

Welcome to the FMCSA Guidance Portal. This web portal is a searchable, indexed database that contains and links to all guidance documents in effect from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The guidance documents lack the force and effect of law, unless expressly authorized by statute or incorporated into a contract.

To comment on any guidance document, or to request issuance, reconsideration, modification, or rescission of any guidance document, please identify the guidance document in your request and send it to: FMCSAguidance@dot.gov. NOTE: The FMCSAguidance mailbox is not intended to serve as a mailbox for general inquiries. For inquiries that go beyond the limited purpose of the FMCSAguidance mailbox, please call FMCSA's Information Line (800-832-5660) or visit FMCSA's "Contact Us" page to send your inquiry to the appropriate mailbox.

Subject Agency Identifier Topic Issued Date
Does a driver, employed full time by one motor carrier using the 60-hours in 7-days rule, and part-time by another motor carrier using the 70-hours in 8-days rule, have the option of using either rule in computing his hours of service? FMCSA-HOS-395.3-Q02 Hours of Service Maximum Driving Time
If a driver from a foreign country only operates in the U.S. one day a week, is he required to keep a record of duty status for every day? FMCSA-HOS-395.8-Q15 FMCSA-HOS-395.8-Q15
Are drivers required to be dedicated permanently to the oilfield industry? FMCSA-HOS-395.1-Q09 Hours of Service Exceptions
May a driver who is taking advantage of the 100-air-mile radius exemption in §395.1(e) be intermittently off-duty during the period away from the work-reporting location? FMCSA-HOS-395.1-Q20 Hours of Service Exceptions
If a driver is required by a motor carrier to carry a pager/beeper to receive notification to contact the motor carrier for a duty assignment, how should this time be recorded? FMCSA-HOS-395.2-Q06 Hours of Service Definitions
If a company owns more than one motor carrier subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, may the company use logs listing the names of all such motor carrier employers and require the driver to identify the carrier for which he or she drives FMCSA-HOS-395.8-Q18 Hours of Service Records of Duty Status
A driver returns to his/her normal work reporting location from a location beyond the 100-air-mile radius and goes off duty for 7 hours. May the driver return to duty after being off-duty for 7 hours and utilize the 100-air-mile radius exemption? FMCSA-HOS-395.1-Q22 Hours of Service Exceptions
If a “driver trainer” occasionally drives a commercial motor vehicle (CMV), thereby becoming a “driver” (regardless of whether he/she is paid for driving), must the driver record all non driving (training) time as on-duty (not driving)? FMCSA-HOS-395.2-Q08 Hours of Service Definitions
When the driver’s duty status changes, do §§395.8(c) or 395.8(h)(5) require a description of on-duty not driving activities in the remarks section in addition to the name of the nearest city, town or village followed by the State abbreviation? FMCSA-HOS-395.8-Q23 Requirements for on-duty not driving descriptions
May an automatic on-board recording device use an algorithm to identify the location of each change in duty status relative to the nearest city, town, or village? FMCSA-ELD-HOS-395.15-Q03 AOBRD use of algorithm