In some ways contrary to current hours of service guidance around use of “personal conveyance” for personal off-duty use of the truck by operators nationwide, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance wants the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to impose new restrictions:
- A two-hour daily hard limit on PC use.
- Express prohibition of owner-operators utilizing PC to travel to or from home.
- Prohibition, too, on PC use for drivers up against an hours of service limit to continue driving to get to a “safe haven” when no parking is available.
- Moving PC driving of the truck away from the “off duty” log line.
CVSA, “in the next several weeks,” said Deputy Executive Director Adrienne Gildea, will petition FMCSA for these and other changes and guidance clarifications, following years of documentation by inspectors around the nation of PC use. Last time the alliance petitioned the agency for PC limits and clarifications, FMCSA “cited a lack of safety data” in denying the request, Gildea said. With this upcoming petition, the alliance comes with data in their back pocket.
