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Transportation Updates and

Regulatory News (TURN)

A quarterly publication of the Agricultural Marketing Service

www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/transportation/turn

January 2018

FMCSA Requests 

Comments on 

Independent Driver

Petition for ELD 

Exemption

On January 2, the Federal 

Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA) 

announced the Owner 

Operator Independent 

Drivers Association, Inc. 

(OOIDA’s) petition for an 

exemption from the 

electronic logging device 

(ELD) requirements for 

motor carriers considered to 

be small transportation 

trucking businesses. This 

exemption would allow small 

trucking businesses, that do 

not have a carrier safety 

rating of ``unsatisfactory'' 

and can document a proven 

history of safety 

performance with no 

attributable at-fault crashes, 

to complete paper records of 

duty status (RODS) instead of 

using an ELD device. OOIDA 

believes the exemption 

would not have any adverse 

impacts on operational 

safety, as motor carriers and 

drivers would remain subject 

to the hours of service 

regulations, as well as the 

requirements to maintain 

paper RODS. FMCSA 

requested public comment 

on OOIDA's application for 

exemption on or before 

February 1, 2018.

FMCSA Requests 

Comments on 

Agricultural Retailers 

Petition for ELD 

Exemption

On December 28, 2017, 

FMCSA announced the 

Agricultural Retailers 

Association’s (ARA) petition

for an exemption from the 

requirement that ARA 

members use an ELD to 

record their drivers’ hours of 

service. ARA said the ELD 

requirement imposes undue 

economic, and other 

burdens, on its member 

retailers and distributors of 

farm-related products and 

services. It asserts ELDs fail 

to properly record the 

complex hours of service 

data, are not properly 
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certified by the FMCSA, and 

do not provide appropriate 

cyber-security safeguards. 

ARA also asserts ELDs will not 

function properly in many 

locations in rural America 

because of poor internet and 

cellular connectivity. ARA 

said the operations of its 

members, under exemption 

from the ELD requirements,

will achieve a level of safety 

equivalent to, or greater 

than, the level that would be 

achieved absent the 

proposed exemption. FMCSA 

requested public comment 

on ARA’s application for 

exemption on or before 

January 29, 2018. 

FMCSA Clarifies 

Agricultural 

Commodity Exception 

to Drivers’ Hours of 

Service Regulations

On December 20, 2017, the 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA) 

published proposed 

regulatory guidance to clarify 

that the 150 air-mile radius 

agricultural commodity 

exception to the drivers’ 

hours of service regulations 

applies to: (1) drivers while 

driving unloaded to a source 

where an agricultural 

commodity will be loaded; 

(2) an unloaded return trip 

after delivering an 

agricultural commodity; and 

(3) the initial 150 air-miles 

from the source of the 

agricultural commodity, on 

the outbound and return 

trips to the source of the 

agricultural commodity, 

when operating beyond the 

initial 150 air-mile radius. 

FMCSA requested public 

comments on the proposed 

regulatory guidance on or 

before February 20, 

2018. The statutory 

definition of agricultural 

commodity (49 U.S.C. § 

31136 note) is as follows: 

‘‘(7) AGRICULTURAL 

COMMODITY — The term 

‘agricultural commodity 

means any agricultural 

commodity, non-processed 

food, feed, fiber, or livestock 

(including livestock as 

defined in section 602 of the 

Emergency Livestock Feed 

Assistance Act of 1988 (7 

U.S.C. 1471) and insects).” 

FMCSA Provides 90-day 

Temporary Waiver 

from ELD Requirement 

for Agricultural 

Commodities

On December 20, 2017, 

FMCSA published a limited 

90-day waiver from the 

drivers’ hours of service 

regulations pertaining to 

ELDs for the transportation 

of agricultural 

commodities. FMCSA “has 

determined that the waiver 

is in the public interest and 

would likely achieve a level 

of safety that is equivalent 

to, or greater than, the level 

that would be achieved 

absent such exemption, 

based on the terms and 

conditions imposed. The 

waiver will also, through 

notice and comment, 

provide FMCSA with time to 

consider certain exemption 

applications from segments 

of the agricultural industry 

concerning the use of ELDs 

to document drivers' hours 

of service and clarify 

applicability of the 

requirements and the need 

for certain carriers to begin 

using ELDs by the December 

18, 2017 deadline.” This 

waiver expires on March 18, 

2018.

FMCSA Proposes to 

Revise Regulatory 

Guidance Concerning 

‘‘Personal Conveyance’’

On December 19, 2017, 

FMCSA published a proposal 

to revise the regulatory 

guidance concerning driving 

a commercial motor vehicle

(CMV) for personal use while 

off-duty, referred to as 

‘‘personal conveyance.’’ This 

provision is available to all 

CMV drivers required to 

record their hours of service

who are permitted by their 

employer to use the vehicle 

for personal use. The revision 

would allow CMVs with loads 

to be used for personal 

conveyance. Comments on 

the guidance and its 

economic impact are due by 

February 20, 2018.
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FMCSA Plans 

Congressionally 

Mandated Driver 

Commuting Practices 

Survey

On November 27, 2017, 

FMCSA announced it is 

seeking approval from the 

Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB), and public 

comments by January 26, 

2018, on the proposal to 

survey driver commuting 

practices. The survey will 

fulfill Section 5515 of the 

Fixing America's Surface 

Transportation Act, 2015 

(FAST Act), which requires 

FMCSA to conduct a study on 

the safety effects of motor 

carrier operator commutes 

exceeding 150 minutes. 

FMCSA is required to submit 

a report to Congress 

containing the findings of the 

study. The survey will gather 

information on the 

prevalence of excessive 

(greater than 150 minutes) 

driver commuting in the 

commercial motor vehicle 

(CMV) industry, including: (1)

the number and percentage 

of drivers who commute; (2) 

the distances traveled, time 

zones crossed, time spent 

commuting, and methods of 

transportation used; (3) 

research on the impact of 

excessive commuting on 

safety and CMV driver 

fatigue; and (4) the 

commuting practices of CMV 

drivers and policies of motor 

carriers.

FMCSA Announces 

Flexible Sleeper Berth 

Pilot Program Details

On October 27, 2017, FMCSA 

announced it submitted an 

Information Collection 

Request (ICR) on the flexible 

sleeper berth pilot program 

to OMB for review and 

approval, and for public 

comment by November 27, 

2017. FMCSA first proposed

the pilot program on June 6, 

2017, and proposed the 

information collection on 

June 27, 2017. The goal of 

the pilot program is to allow 

temporary regulatory relief 

from the FMCSA’s sleeper 

berth regulation for a limited 

number of commercial 

drivers who have a valid 

commercial driver's license 

(CDL), and who regularly use 

a sleeper berth to 

accumulate their required 10 

hours of non-duty work 

status. During the pilot 

program, participating 

drivers would have the 

option to split their sleeper 

berth time within 

parameters specified by 

FMCSA. Driver metrics would 

be collected for the duration 

of the study, and 

participants' safety 

performance and fatigue 

levels would be analyzed. 

The pilot program seeks to 

produce statistically reliable 

evidence on the question as 

to whether split sleeper 

berth time affects driver 

safety performance and 

fatigue levels. 

U.S. Department of 

Transportation 

Continues Regulatory 

Review

On October 2, 2017, the U.S. 

Department of 

Transportation (USDOT) 

announced it is reviewing its 

existing regulations and

other agency actions to 

evaluate their continued 

necessity, determine 

whether they are crafted 

effectively to solve current 

problems, and evaluate 

whether they potentially 

burden the development or 

use of domestically produced 

energy resources. As part of

these reviews, USDOT invited 

the public to provide input

through December 1, 2017, 

on existing rules and other 

agency actions that are good 

candidates for repeal, 

replacement, suspension, or 

modification. USDOT may 

also hold a public meeting to 

discuss and consider

comments from members of 

the public.

Photo credits: USDA
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