Citing the lack of an alternative plan, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has denied a company’s request for an exemption from hours-of-service rules.
Notice of the denial was published in the Federal Register on Thursday, July 18.
In 2023, Wyoming-based Reiman Corp., which transports latex-embedded cement, asked FMCSA to grant its drivers the same hours-of-service exemption allowed to drivers at oil wells.
As part of the request, Reiman asked FMCSA to allow its drivers to record waiting time at construction sites as “off-duty.” In addition, waiting time would not be included in calculating the regulation’s 14-hour period.
“As is already understood, this exemption currently applies to ‘specially trained drivers of commercial motor vehicles that are specially constructed to service oil wells,’” a representative for Reiman wrote in the exemption request. “My clients’ operations are affected by some similar circumstances as the oil field, the difference being that they are involved in the construction of highway roads and bridges …”
Reiman argued that much of its drivers’ time is spent waiting but that the 14-hour clock keeps ticking during that downtime.
“During these waiting times, when the operations are stopped … the 14-hour driving rule is still in effect,” Reiman’s representative wrote. “Sometimes, the driver can complete the operations and drive back to the office before the end of the 14-hour window, but many times this is not the case.”
The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and the Truck Safety Coalition filed a joint comment in opposition to Reiman’s hours-of-service exemption request.
“Permitting an exemption for any industry or group of drivers that face waiting times would render the hours-of-service limitations meaningless at a time when driver fatigue remains a serious safety issue,” the groups wrote.
In its decision, FMCSA agreed that fatigue represents a significant safety risk.
“The applicant did not include alternatives to compliance with the 14-hour rule, such as some other fixed driving window within which all driving must be completed,” FMCSA wrote. “The proposed relief from the 14-hour rule would enable miscellaneous off-duty periods at the construction sites to be excluded when determining whether the drivers may operate the commercial motor vehicle during the latter part of the workday. This would create the potential of fatigued drivers, subject to long workdays and without consideration of whether the driver had accumulated 14 hours of on-duty time before completing their driving tasks for the day.” LL
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