With another extension of the emergency hours-of-service waiver looming, federal regulators want the trucking industry to let them know to what extent carriers and drivers are actually taking advantage of the exemption.
The first-of-its-kind, 50-state exemption was originally issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The order gives drivers and carriers more time to make deliveries without violating federal work-hour requirements. It has been modified, expanded and extended several times as the types of products given priority during the pandemic evolved from food and fuel to face masks and vaccines.
But after 17 months of the exemption being in effect, the FMCSA will attempt to find out how useful it is in order to help inform future extensions.
“FMCSA does not know how many motor carriers or drivers are relying on the emergency declaration.”
FMCSA
“Neither the emergency declaration nor the regulations covering [it] require that motor carriers or drivers operating under the emergency declaration report their operation to FMCSA,” the agency stated in a Federal Register notice to be published on Friday. “As a result, FMCSA does not know how many motor carriers or drivers are relying on the emergency declaration.”
Given the “unprecedented period” since the waiver was first issued, FMCSA plans to conduct a monthly survey for six months of an estimated 1.2 million drivers and carriers to get more information on whether and how the waiver is being used. The agency estimates the survey will take 15 minutes to fill out.
As FMCSA seeks Office of Management and Budget approval of the survey, anyone who wants to comment on it, including whether it is necessary or ways to improve it, has until Monday.
Meanwhile, the most recent extension of the waiver — issued on May 26 and set to expire on Tuesday – is slated for another multi-month extension, according to a U.S. Department of Transportation official.
“We’re a team player on the field alongside our other federal agency teammates that are issuing exemptions as part of the Biden administration’s holistic response to the ongoing emergency,” a DOT spokesperson told FreightWaves.
The current version of the waiver exempts drivers and carriers from Parts 390 to 399 of federal regulations — which includes driver hours of service — for those “providing direct assistance in support of emergency relief efforts” related to COVID-19. It is limited those hauling:
- Livestock and livestock feed.
- Medical supplies and equipment related to the testing, diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19.
- Vaccines, constituent products, and medical supplies and equipment, including ancillary supplies/kits for the administration of vaccines, related to preventing COVID-19.
- Supplies and equipment necessary for community safety, sanitation and prevention of community transmission of COVID-19 such as masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, soap and disinfectants.
- Food, paper products and other groceries for emergency restocking of distribution centers or stores.
While the commodities are specified in the waiver, the exemption could be causing confusion in the industry as to what is covered, as previously reported by FreightWaves. In addition, truck safety advocates have cautioned that safety should be a priority in expanding and extending the waiver.
Holloway Transportation LLC
As a small fleet owner.. we use the Exemption all the time. We haul to walmart,Kroger and other frozen sheds. We can control our sleep times and drive times. Not every driver can sleep or stay in the ” sleeper ‘ 10 hours, even with the current split sleeper added in.. warehouses like walmart don’t care about the Exemption,done show up early you can’t get it off. Don’t miss your appointment or you can wait up to two days for a reschedule or work-in. Not everybody is on board with this Exemption. Get the walmarts DC And others on line with this and we’ll have a fighting chance out here.Driver shortage has been here for the last 30 years I can remember, all the different rule changes over the years has forced out thousands of qualified drivers, y’alls fault not ours now there’s a problem…go figure
Brian
I use this exemption all week I haul food to Walmart, SuperValu ,Gordon foods ,etc. And I also haul livestock it’s great that I can stop and take a nap and wait till rush hour traffic dies down and I don’t have to worry about running out of time and still get everything where it needs to be on time. I’ve been using this exemption since it started and I’m more relaxed less stressed than I ever was on elogs
Anthony Brown
I am a small company that hauls frozen food, produce, fresh produce out of the fields and deliver to warehouses and suppliers. We was using the emergency extension daily until one of my drivers was pulled into scale house in Tennessee and was told by the officer that he knew nothing of a emergency extension by FMSCA. My driver showed him the letter and he still wrote a violation and put him out of service for 10 hours and made us late for our appointment. All the officers need to be aware of this emergency extension so we can continue to supply America the food and products that is needed. We would use the extension every day and we need this to keep America moving
Michael
Owner operator here and I use the exemption 98% of my loads. I haul reefer west to east coast and back. Although I drive a lot more hours a day, I still get better sleep because I can now control when I drive and sleep vs a computer telling me I’m tired and time to sleep or Time to drive.
Edward F Sluss
This needs to remain into effect.Why? Due to Covid-19 being just as high as it was this time last year,Why shut it down then have to turn around within a week or a month and put it right back into place? The companies and drivers that are already using it to operate and keep supplies going into the health care facilities are right on target with keep supplies going,if you end it then it is going to get the shippers and receivers out of their routine of scheduling and then to do that especially with the job force weak already these shippers might have a tougher time getting employees back in place and trained to do the job of seeing supplies shipped right on time for right on time deliveries!!! Hospitals beds are already filled up with Covid-19 patients again and health care facilities are already putting people on hold for other health care needs and surgeries are being put on hold!!
Scott Moreland
What’s the difference when the warehouses don’t take it till there door time no matter what it is you are being them and most say no over night parking but don’t miss your door time or we change your company thay act like they are doing us a favor by keeping us for 6 to 7 hrs but the get off my property so y would we care if thay don’t
Christopher Criss
I love the exemption,,,dont have to fight the clock,,construct delays are gone traffic delays mean nothing and stores can be restocked much faster and from what I’m seeing across this country the exemption needs to be reinstated now,, store shelves are bare in some states ,,all drivers have to do is discipline themselves to stop when there tired take a nap and get up and go again,,,the actual DOT laws arnt very safe,,, we can’t stop whenever we choose for a nap we have to go by there 1 size fits all rules,,,IT DOSNT WORK FOR EVERYONE
Rafael
We are owner operator’s and family owned, we actually love the exemption! As we strictly haul fresh produce to the east coast and a verity of food goods to California. We love it because we aren’t fighting the clock, we stop when we are tired and rest. Though we don’t have to keep logs, we still do ad in sleeper or dvir. So when or if we get pulled in for a level 1 or 2 we still offer our eld’s to them. We personally feel it should stay as law but require that the driver’s keep logs of sleeper ect.
Lastly, the reason why we trucker’s are limited to parking is because WAY to many driver’s just toss their trash on the ground when a garbage can is 10ft away and those ppl give the whole industry a horrible name! Fix that and there wouldn’t be restrictions!