U.S. Department Of Transportation Modernizes ‘Hours Of Service’ Rules Giving Drivers And Transport Companies Additional Flexibility

In 2015, the RV Industry Association successfully petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for exemption from the Class A and B commercial driver’s license (CDL) requirements for the transport of newly produced RVs. This exemption applies to shipments of vehicles with an actual vehicle weight not exceeding 26,000 pounds or a combination of RV trailer/tow vehicle with the actual weight of the towed unit not exceeding 10,000 pounds and the gross combined weight not exceeding 26,000 pounds. In 2017, this exemption was renewed and remains in effect until April 6, 2022. This action helped alleviate the commercial driver shortage which created unnecessary delays in the delivery of RVs to consumers.

This week, the federal Department of Transportation implemented new “hours of service” rules which should give drivers and transport companies additional flexibility for any shipment that does require a CDL driver. See the full FMCSA announcement below.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) today published a final rule updating hours of service (HOS) rules to increase safety on America’s roadways by updating existing regulations for commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.    

“America’s truckers are doing a heroic job keeping our supply chains open during this unprecedented time and these rules will provide them greater flexibility to keep America moving,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao. 

“The Department of Transportation and the Trump Administration listened directly to the concerns of truckers seeking rules that are safer and have more flexibility—and we have acted. These updated hours of service rules are based on the thousands of comments we received from the American people. These reforms will improve safety on America’s roadways and strengthen the nation’s motor carrier industry,” said FMCSA Acting Administrator Jim Mullen.  

Check out the full article from the U.S. Department of Transportation here.