Most commercial truckers, including those in the floral industry, are required by U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations to use electronic logging devices (ELDs) to maintain a record of their driving hours.
The regulations went into effect on December 18, 2017 and apply to trucks carrying horticulture products, despite an “agricultural exemption” from the rule for certain agricultural commodities.
Since the implementation of the rule in December, DOT has been contacted by truckers throughout the country requesting that the regulations be modified to relieve the pressures created by the rule.
In response to the concerns raised, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), issued an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to obtain input from interested parties on a number of possible changes to the rule.
The deadline to submit comments on the ANPRM is October 10, 2018.
There are four specific aspects of the regulations that are under consideration to change:
The short-haul hours of service (HOS) limit
The HOS exception for adverse driving conditions
The 30-minute rest break provision
The sleeper berth rule to allow drivers to split their required time in the sleeper berth
FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez noted: “Basically, what we have been doing is listening to our stakeholders in our regulated community over the last few months with regard to Hours of Service, and what changes would they propose that would make sense and add flexibility,” Martinez said. “What we kept hearing was flexibility, flexibility, flexibility.”
