
Yesterday, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a final rule impacting 49 CFR parts 385 and 395, relating to hours of servers for truck drivers.
The rule change is designed to give truck drivers more flexibility. Some of the significant changes include:
The new safety requirements loosen some requirements to comply with the minimum safety requirements of the regulations. You can read the full text of the changes by clicking here.
Because of the recent virus issues, the trucking industry has faced substantial pressure to deliver goods America needs to keep running. The new safety requirements are somewhat enhanced by the use of the Electronic Logging Device rule, which has tended to make it much easier to assess compliance with the hours of service regulations for commercial truck drivers.
The ELD rules have brought motor carriers and commercial drivers into the electronic information age, which has been a much more productive way to record compliance with the safety regulations.
According to the DOT, the final rules will improve driver efficiency and that compromise safety. None of the changes increases the maximum allowable driving time.
Here is a video of the announcement.