FMCSA proposes altering personal conveyance guidelines as ELD mandate arrives
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has released a proposal to slightly alter the guidance issued to carriers and drivers involving the use of their truck as a persona vehicle to their home or to restaurants and motels along their route. The guidance, though related to hours of service regs in general and not specifically the use of electronic logging devices, stems from questions surrounding the use of trucks as personal conveyance vehicles that have arisen as the ELD mandate put more focus on the special driving category.
The agency in the coming days will publish a notice in the Federal Register to announce the proposed changes and field comments for 30 days from industry stakeholders.
The key change to the personal conveyance guidance is the removal of the requirement that trucks be unladen to be used for personal conveyance. FMCSA says the change is mostly meant to allow straight truck drivers the opportunity to use their truck, even if it is laden with work- or load-related materials or tools, for personal use.
The agency appears to envision drivers of tractor-trailer combination vehicles dropping their trailer before using the truck as a personal conveyance vehicle. The proposed update to the guidance does nothing to change that interpretation, only removing the requirement that the vehicle be unladen.
As proposed, the guidance would allow drivers to use their truck for personal conveyance when off duty in “time spent traveling from a driver’s en route lodging,” like a motel or truck stop, “to restaurants and entertainment facilities and back to the lodging,” according to the agency’s notice. Also included is “commuting from the last location where on-duty activity occurred to the driver’s permanent residence and back to the last on-duty location,” as well as driving from trailer-drop lots to a driver’s residence and between work sites and residences.
Personal conveyance under the changed guidance would not cover “movement of a [truck] to enhance operational readiness,” such as moving closer to a pick-up or drop-off point, the agency says. Also forbidden from personal conveyance use are (1) driving bobtail or with an empty trailer to a location to pick up another load, (2) driving an unloaded truck to a designated parking area after being unloaded and (3) “repositioning a CMV and or trailer at the direction of the motor carrier.”
Overdrive will publish a link to the full notice once published and the corresponding comment portal. FMCSA says it is seeking feedback from industry stakeholders regarding other scenarios in which personal conveyance would be appropriate.
When ELDs are placed into personal conveyance mode, their location functionality changes, tracking the truck only within a 10-mile radius via GPS, rather than the one-mile radius required for on-duty recording.
37 comments
I’m parking my truck till January!!!Report
Glidered up for now!!soon as they figure a way to stop this I’m out 2Report
I’m not original from here , I came to this country so I can feel free but every day i feel this country is not a free country at ALL , I thought it was , this country don’t give wrong I love this country the best , but this government is no different from where I came from , it seems like a dictator government shield by what they call LAW .Report
WTF More changes, then exemption to those changes. Remember when HOS were 10/8 and I don’t remember any exemptions. Who dreams up this crap?Report
Fmcsa should be run by someone who has actually driven and had to make a living driving a truck.i bet if you put the constraints and rules on their jobs things would be different.Most drivers don’t even make a living wage. Report
Personal convenience doesn’t do me a damn bit of good because my company won’t activate that option on the elog.
Report
Yes the government has to tell you it’s time to take a nap. Be good little boys and girls and obey. Report
I am so glad I am retired, everyone wants to watch what you are doing like you are a felon, this use to be such a hassle free job other than dealing with corrupt shippers and receivers. Now they want to control every minute of your life, you may as well be sitting in a cubicle with some clown breathing down your neck.Report
How about going to get groceries or something to eat before work??
So sick of the feds controlling our lives this is ridiculous for a supposedly FREE COUNTRY !!Report
Terrible terribleReport
Shut down or stop complainingReport
I agree with you CharlesReport
The great all mighty federal govt , controlling all …. It’s the way of the USSA expanding progressive govt !Report
Bow down and put your ankle bracelets on, truck drivers are now monitored the same as an incarcerated person on house arrest. Great job everyone!Report
Sounds like the US government has expanded the Slave Class! Subservience with very little resistance…… Yes Massa !Report
Personal conveyance?
I recently had an elog installed in my truck that is a fleet system.
It has no such item in it’s menu
I don’t really care about this regulation, I did need to stop running the way I was.
I finally started running legally about two years ago.
After 20 years of being , shall we say less than legitimate.
Begrudgingly I will use this device, until I tire of doing so.
Good dayReport
I purchased the JJ-Keller system for my company and I can tell you that it gives you the option to authorize personal conveyance on their website. whoever runs the back office site has access to allow personal conveyance. Rand McNally also has the option for personal conveyance. I hope this helps.Report
Personal conveyance must be enabled by whoever controls the administrative account for the carrier, Deadeye. Then you can use it. For an independent owner-operator with his own carrier authority, he/she controls it. More on how Personal Conveyance works in e-log systems here: https://www.overdriveonline.com/2017-eld-buyers-guide/#2 Report
i think they need to rewrite this article in a manner where drivers can understand it. from the comments it appears from the comments it went right over their heads. youve always been allowed to drive to a destination of your choosing so long as A) youre not under a load, B) free to persue your own interests at the destination C) not advancing the progress of a load assignment. with the ELD mandate the government wishes to improve the provisions for you to continue to operate on line 5.
This is the last straw. I have had enough ! If I can’t run when I feel it’s the safest, then I,m not going to run at all ! I quit !Report
All I can say is the truck drivers don’t care all they care about is themselves. That’s why they are going to be out of a job soon. The Government you ppl have voted for is going to put Truck Drivers out of work make you work like a dog for poor wages.make it so hard you can’t buy a truck of your own or put food on table for your family. These kids now a days driving trucks don’t know enough to save there own life’s. But that’s your Government you voted in offices. So what you going to do??? You going to do nothing but be good dogs and do what your Masters say do. Report
FoolReport
Dwayne Smith you are definitely a FOOL!! You have no idea what you are talking about apparently you drive a Toyota Prius. And by the way it was YOUR government that put the emissions crap on the trucks that made them cost $20,000 more than they should. Get your damn facts straight liberal idiot!!Report
ELD it’s gonna fail , we are the trucker gonna obey the law and pull over all over the place , purposely being late to delivery .
Park how ever we want to . Obeying the federal guide line 11 hours rules , industry all ready have short on driver .
Hahahahaha I can’t wait to December 18 .
Let santa delivers to good Report
The most scary thing about the rules and regulations that have been shoved down our throats in the last 15 years is there is not a pair of balls left with a CDL to try fix it. . That is evident by the many years from then to now and nothing but complaining is done. Sorry drivers, but Truckers are their own worst enemy. Inaction is killing the brotherhood of trucking. No one is willing to stand up on their own two legs to attempt to change it..Report
After 50 years of driving a CMV , enough is enough. I refuse to be treated like am a robot, have more restrictions on me that criminal on probation.
Be told when to take a crap or eat. punished for taking a safety nap or waiting out rush hour traffic. Just let us stop the clock when we stop the truck, will be a good start. It worked in the past. but I guess the college fed officials need to change it. Not one damn thing in the new HOS or the ELD is for safety.Control only.Report
When I started driving commercials 43 years ago, they were not even born.
Now they reinvent the bicycle and teach basics. Genius. We deffinately need more government jobs to kill real jobs.Report
Apparently going to Walmart for supplies and/or food isn’t allowed under those provisions. So I’m going to continue to do it anyway. And nobody is going to go from a truck stop to Walmart and back to the truck stop to start their clock. And furthermore, the idiots at the FMCSA are obviously oblivious to the fact that most truck stops and other parking areas do not allow dropped trailers. Nothing that the FMCSA has done in relation to ELDs has been about safety. It’s about money, power, and control. Report
Nun off this makes sense unless it’s profitable’
I like the way Trump has came to the aid off the blue collar in this country ‘make your vote count that’s all we can do and remember all off this, as this is almost all pushed through by the GOP and the ATA’ whom by the way next want to restructure the HOS to fit there indentured slavery program by tacking down the 14hr with was the plan all along’ the part they couldn’t get rid of by them selfs now every one will be on board’ Good luck out there’ I’m outa hear.Report
1+1=2!
BlaBlaBla!We(trucker s) just make nonsense “noise ”
Action Boy’s !
Report
35+years Behind the wheel And now they tell me how I need to drive thet the 1st truck lbought fuel was79/80 cents agal never though lwould see 5dol agal but i did point and matter no one likes change in clueding me old and set in my ways but I’ve made the change some things I like some I don’t so be a man moveone.let trucker roll 10_4.I’m outReport
Seeking feed back from industry stakeholders? Our voices (owner operators/drivers) continue to fall on deaf ears i swear! We had our chance to shut’em down y’all, so now we have to deal with the consequences. Ohhh but let it be no doubt that they (the government/stakeholders/shippers/receivers) will have to deal with the fallout as well. As rates will have to go up because they need more drivers. The cost gets past on the the customer and then ultimately the cost gets passed to the consumer. Oh this bright idea is gonna be costly in more ways than one thats for darn sure!Report
How about quit deleting my comments overdrive that’s what the comment box is for so quit taking them offReport
We’re not taking them off, Tennessee. Other commenters might be flagging them (we usually catch and restore those pretty quick). Report
Sounds to me like what we’re doing at Vika is the right thing then.Report
I do none of this…. dont help me at allReport
Datasmart4trucks provides a simple ELD solution.Report