By SEMA Washington, D.C., Staff
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a final rule that provides drivers with additional flexibility in complying with its hours-of-service regulations. Major changes to the rule include:
- On-duty limits for short-haul operations will increase from 12 to 14 hours but maintain an 11-hour limit on driving time. The air-mile radius will increase from 100 to 150 air miles.
- Under certain adverse driving conditions, drivers can extend their driving window by up to two hours.
- Modifies the split sleeper berth provisions allowing greater flexibility for how a driver splits their sleeper berth time.
- Modifies the 30-minute break provision to require the break after eight hours of consecutive driving time (instead of on-duty time) and allows an on-duty/not driving period to qualify as the required break.
The rule takes effect September 29.