From the Ohio Trucking Association, OTA Road Map Blog: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration\u2019s new Hours of Service (HOS) rules go into effect at one midnight past midnight, Eastern Time, Tuesday, September 29. The new rules include the expansion of split-sleeper berth options afforded to drivers, which will allow them to split their 10-hour off-duty period into windows of seven hours and three hours, in addition to the existing eight-hour, two-hour option. The shorter window in any split of off-duty time will not count against a drivers\u2019 14-hour on-duty clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Provisions around the 30-minute break requirement have been changed, allowing drivers the additional option of logging their break as on-duty, not-driving, as well as off-duty or sleeper berth. The requirement covering when to take the break has also been adjusted, to allow the driver to take it within their first eight hours of drive time, rather than their first eight hours on-duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another rule change will expand the adverse driving conditions provision by allowing drivers to extend both their drive-time limit and their on-duty window by two hours if they encounter adverse conditions such as weather or traffic congestion. The agency says the provision will allow drivers to either sit and wait out the conditions or to drive slowly through them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Short-haul carriers will get benefits from the final rule change, which expands the exemptions for short-haul drivers by extending their allowed on-duty period from 12 hours to 14 hours. Drivers under the short-haul exemption aren\u2019t required to keep records of duty status, and do not need to take the mandatory 30-minute break after eight hours of driving. Finally, the radius for short haul exemption status has been increased from 100 to 150 air miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n