A federal appeals court has recently ruled that the portion of the new rules on hours of service that require a 30-minute rest break for all drivers operating a commercial motor vehicle every 8 hours do not apply for short-haul drivers.
The majority of hours of service rules that were in question remain intact and the court has ruled that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has the authority to regulate most of the rules regarding hours of service. The small exception in the case is the new rule regarding 30-minute breaks for short-haul drivers.
Short-haul operators fall under the definition below.
Short-haul operations – (1) 100 air-mile radius driver. A driver is exempt from the requirements of § 395.8 if: The driver operates within a 100 air-mile radius of the normal work reporting location.
In addition, Michigan changed its requirements for registering Commercial Motor Vehicles (CMVs) increasing the minimum standard to anything over 26,000 pounds. By doing so, any operator of a vehicle under 26,000 pounds that is not registered as a CMV is not subject to Hours of Service regulations.
If you have any additional questions or concerns about the new Court of Appeals Ruling do not hesitate to contact Mike Nystrom at mikenystrom@mi-ita.com or Lance Binoniemi at lancebinoniemi@mi-ita.com.
