The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is proposing a pilot program to allow temporary regulatory relief from hours-of-service (HOS) requirement that all driving by drivers has to be completed within 14 hours of them starting duty.
The Split Duty Period Pilot Program would allow participating drives to pause their 14-hour on-duty period with one off-duty period of at least 30 minutes but no more than 3 hours. The plan would be limited to a those holding a commercial driver's license that meets specified criteria.
“This pilot program seeks to gather statistically reliable evidence whether decisions concerning the timing of such flexibility can be aligned with employers', shippers', and receivers' scheduling preferences to optimize productivity while ensuring safety performance at a level equivalent to or greater than what would be achieved absent the regulatory relief,” FMCSA said in a notice in Thursday's (September 3) Federal Register. There would be criteria for both motor carriers and drivers to be able to participate, including the carriers cannot have any enforcement actions within the past three years and cannot have a crash rate above the national average.
For drivers, they cannot have had their license suspended, revoked or cancelled and cannot have had a conviction for a violation of state or local motor vehicle traffic control laws in connection with an at-fault crash. The pilot program could last up to three years. There will be a 60-day comment period on the plan.
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