The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will give the public an opportunity to let the agency know whether existing guidance documents need to be revised.
FMCSA is scheduled to publish a notice in the Federal Register on Tuesday, Aug. 13. Once that happens, the public will have 30 days to provide feedback.
“The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will be reviewing its existing guidance documents to evaluate their continued necessity and determine whether they should be updated or eliminated,” the agency wrote. “As part of this review, FMCSA invites the public to identify and provide input on existing guidance documents that are good candidates for revision or rescission.”
The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act of 2015 requires the agency to conduct a comprehensive review at least once every five years to ensure that all of its guidance documents are “consistent and clear, uniformly and consistently enforced, and still necessary.” FMCSA previously reviewed its guidance documents in 2020.
Personal conveyance
One of FMCSA’s guidance documents that has received scrutiny in recent years has been personal conveyance, which is the movement of a commercial motor vehicle for personal use while off-duty.
FMCSA has issued guidance for claiming the use of the provision in recording hours of service:
“A driver may record time operating a (commercial motor vehicle) for personal conveyance (i.e., for personal use or reasons) as off-duty only when the driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work by the motor carrier. The CMV may be used for personal conveyance even if it is laden, since the load is not being transported for the commercial benefit of the carrier at that time. Personal conveyance does not reduce a driver’s or motor carrier’s responsibility to operate a CMV safely. Motor carriers can establish personal conveyance limitations either within the scope of, or more restrictive than, this guidance, such as banning use of a CMV for personal conveyance purposes, imposing a distance limitation on personal conveyance or prohibiting personal conveyance while the CMV is laden.”
In recent years, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has petitioned FMCSA to add a maximum distance or time to a trucker’s personal conveyance provision. FMCSA has repeatedly denied the petition.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, which represents small-business truckers, supports truckers’ ability to utilize personal conveyance.
How to comment
Once the notice is published in the Federal Register, the public will have 30 days to comment. To do so, go to Regulations.gov and enter Docket No. FMCSA-2024-0208. LL
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