Last week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced it had granted an exemption of the 30-minute rest break provision in the current hours-of-service regulations to haulers of oversize/overweight loads.
The decision is certainly welcomed by the heavy hauling industry, but is a long time in the making. Below, we detail the history of the decision and how it will take effect over the next two years.
In December of 2011, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a final rule that would affect most property carriers, including heavy haulers. In addition to some changes in the definition of on-duty, the rule brought the 34-hour restart conditions and the 30-minute rest break that came into play on July 1, 2013.
The rule’s proposal resulted in nearly 24,000 comments, 8,000 of which were opposed to the changes. Over 2,500 commenters spoke directly to the rest break mandate.
Due to the attendance requirements of §397.5, the FMCSA exempted operators of commercial motor vehicles transporting Division 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3 explosives. A circuit court decision quickly added short-haul drivers to the exempt list.
The FMCSA has a process for drivers, carriers, and industries to request relief from regulations in the form of waivers and exemptions. This process is found in Part 381. Shortly after the effective date of the rest break rule, livestock haulers received an exemption.
