Truckers, trucking industry stakeholders and the public at large have 45 days — until Oct. 7 — to file formal feedback for the U.S. DOT to consider when crafting a rule to overhaul federal Hours of Service regulations.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has proposed major changes to the trucking hours-of-service (HOS) regulations, which if implemented would give carriers and drivers more flexibility in how they operate.

The rulemaking seeks public comment on five key changes to the regulation:

• Increasing flexibility for the 30-minute break rule by tying the break requirement to eight hours of driving time without interruption for at least 30 minutes, and allowing the break to be satisfied by a driver using on-duty, not driving status, rather than off-duty.
• Modifying the sleeper-berth exception to allow drivers to split their required 10 hours off duty into two periods: one period of at least seven consecutive hours in the sleeper berth; and the other period of not less than two consecutive hours, either off duty or in the sleeper berth. According to the proposal, neither period would count against the driver’s 14‑hour driving window.
• Allowing one off-duty break of at least 30 minutes, but not more than three hours, that would pause a truck driver’s 14-hour driving window, provided the driver takes 10 consecutive hours off-duty at the end of the work shift.
• Modifying the adverse driving conditions exception by extending by two hours the maximum window during which driving is permitted.
• Changing the short-haul exception by lengthening the drivers’ maximum on‑duty period from 12 hours to 14 hours and extending the distance limit within which the driver may operate from 100 air miles to 150 air miles.

Comments can be filed at this link, via the regulations.gov rulemaking portal.

Source and credits: FMCSA / freightwaves.com / John Gallagher, Washington Correspondent / overdriveonline.com / iTrucker / Mario Pawlowski