OTA Dispatch Issue 3

29 www.ortrucking.org Issue 3 | 2018 Personal Conveyance By Wes Curtis, Owner of Commercial Truck Consulting, LLC Conveyance” to find a place to park and rest. FMCSA went on to say that a driver can use “Personal Conveyance” to and from work, which of course wouldn’t count against the driver’s 14 hour on-duty, 11- hour drive time, 60/70-hour limitations and the 34-hour restart provision. To clarify, a driver that leaves home enroute to pick up a load would not be eligible for the “Personal Conveyance” option. Operating at the direction of a motor carrier is not considered off-duty. If a driver uses “Personal Conveyance” for a legitimate reason, the driver is not required to return to the previous on- duty location. A driver may resume on- duty status immediately after an off-duty status regardless of the location of the vehicle. FMCSA also made it perfectly clear that “any movement to enhance operational readiness” should be recorded as on-duty time. An example would be if a driver uses “Personal Conveyance” to get the load closer to where it needs to be, and that’s not allowed. Likewise, driving bobtail or with an empty trailer to retrieve a load is on-duty driving time, as is heading back to a terminal or yard after dropping a load. Trips for maintenance or for fueling are also considered on-duty. For those that have ELDs installed for hours of service compliance, the drivers can either select the personal conveyance mode on their ELD (devices are required to have a personal use function) or simply log out and then annotate the beginning and end of their personal conveyance time. I n late May 2018, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued an update on “Personal Conveyance” rules. But, what does it mean, especially as related to Part 395.8 Driver’s Record of Duty Status of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations? Here is my take on the new interpretation/guidance, which focuses on the “Intent” of the movement. The new “Intent” is to allow drivers who have exhausted their hours of service due to delays at shippers or receivers to find the nearest safe location to park and rest. Additionally, the new interpretation/ guidance would also allow movement at the direction of a law enforcement officer. If this type of movement is done, the driver must annotate their logs to note the reason for the move to make clear to enforcement officers that it was “Personal What is Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Going to Allow?