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Personal Conveyance in CMV's Being Reviewed by FMCSA
When can driving time be considered as off-duty time? That's a good question. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance are looking strongly at this option, with the question of "Is it being abused?"
Carriers, and more often owner-operators, drive a commercial motor vehicle as a personal vehicle to commute to and from a personal destination. Normally all time spent driving a CMV would be logged as on-duty driving. But what happens when the driver is using the CMV to commute?
To be allowed to log the personal conveyance time as off- duty there are a number of conditions that must be met. The conditions are the same whether the driver is driving a company truck or a truck owned by the driver.
The first condition is that the driver can actually meet the definition of "off-duty" time. They must be relieved of all responsibilities and conduct no on-duty activities. In other words, no work for the company is allowed during that time.
The second condition that must be met is that the trip must be strictly personal in nature. Advancing on a run, moving to pick up the next load, returning to a company terminal, repositioning equipment for the company or running a work-related errand or parts run is not considered personal conveyance. Personal conveyance would be driving to a personal destination, such as a hotel, restaurant, home, etc.
The next condition that must be met is that the regulations state that the vehicle must not be "laden", or loaded. If operating a tractor trailer the driver should not even be pulling a trailer.
Fourthly, you cannot use the vehicle as personal conveyance if you have been placed out of service for a violation of the FMCSR's.
The last condition, which is the one that both the FMCSA and CVSA are looking at, is that the personal conveyance distance must be "reasonable." This topic has been discussed in the last several CVSA meetings, where the FMCSA is present and is raising a concern. What is raising the concern of these agencies is that more and more drivers are using the personal conveyance option for trips in excess of several hundred miles.
Does the fact that a driver is not being paid for those miles alter the situation? No. The FMCSA does not care how many miles for which a driver is being paid. The driver's activity determines how or if they should be logging. Even if dispatch tells their drivers or owner-operators to "head for home," they still are completing the run to which they were assigned. If the driver is not relieved of duty responsibilities, does work of some sort along the way, the vehicle is "laden" or is repositioning themselves or their equipment, they cannot log this driving time as off-duty.
The personal conveyance option is good for both carriers and drivers, but make sure that it is being used properly and not in excess. Protect yourselves and your drivers by making sure that you are following the regulations when it comes to using a commercial motor vehicle as a personal vehicle.
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TMHA Board
of Directors
President
Jon Coca
Diamond Transportation System, Inc.
First Vice President
Aaron Tennant
Tennant Truck Lines
Second Vice President
Mike Connell
Bennett Motor Express
Past President
Jim Towery
Steelman Transportation
Clayton Fisk
Warren Transport
Jeremy Ihle
Ihle Transport, Inc.
David Major
Sammons Trucking
TMHA Mission Statement
To provide an ongoing forum for education, networking and advocacy for flatbed, step-deck and lowboy (RGN) carriers that specialize in the transportation of machinery and machinery-related commodities throughout the United States and Canada.
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TMHA Hosting Critical Issues in Trucking Webinar September 25
Participation is encouraged for The Machinery Haulers Association's live Webinar on September 25 to discuss Critial Issues in Trucking.
The Webinar will be held at 11 a.m. (CT) -- or 12 p.m. (ET), 10 a.m. (MT) and 9 a.m. (PT). Items expected to be covered in it will include: CSA; Hours of Service; Economy; Driver Shortage; Fuel/Supply Shortage; ELD Mandate; Driver Retention; Truck Parking; Driver Health and Wellness; Highway Congestion; and Infrastructure.
Instructions for joining the session are as follows:
- Visit www.glance.net
- Enter iowamotortruckassociation.glance.net in the Glance Address Tab
- Use 2211 as the Session Key
Participants will be able to log on to the session 10 minutes prior to the start time.
For the audio portion of the Webinar, please use the phone number below and enter the code in order to listen to the presentation:
Phone number: 1-702-589-8350
Host Code: 6781603
TMHA members are being offered this opportunity free of charge. If you have any questions leading up to the Webinar, please contact Don Egli the TMHA office at (515) 244-5193 or [email protected].
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Congress Expresses Concern to DOT Secretary Over Hours of Service
Fifty-one representatives from the U.S. House have sent Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx a letter to "express their continued deep concern" about the hours of service rule that went into effect July 1, pointing to the 34-hour restart provision within the rule as restrictive and not studied sufficiently.
The letter asks that the FMCSA provide Congress with the date it plans to finish the hours of service study required by the current highway funding law. The law, MAP-21, required the FMCSA to finish a field study by March 31, 2013. The study still has not been completed and submitted to Congress, but the new Hours of Service rule was enacted anyway, which is "counter to commonsense" the letter says. The letter was sent August 29 and asks for a response from Foxx by September 12.
Source: Commerical Carrier Journal
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Preventable Collision or Not?
When looking at a crash, we often don't think in terms of preventability. More often we think in terms of who is at fault. But there is a big difference. A preventable collision is one in which the driver failed to do everything "reasonable" to prevent the collision. Notice that it does not say everything "possible." Everything possible could mean that the driver could have stayed home that day, taken a different road or any number of other possibilities. Everything "reasonable" means; did the driver do everything within reason to prevent the collision? In other words, did the driver drive defensively, make wise decisions, anticipate the other driver's actions by using the "what if" approach, slow down and look both ways at an intersection, etc.? In reviewing the crash, we could possibly find out that even though the crash was the fault of the other party, our driver could have done something "reasonable" to have avoided the collision.
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Mark Your Calendars for the TMHA Winter Membership Meeting!
If you have yet to do so, mark your calendars to attend the TMHA Winter Membership Meeting at Jumer's Casino & Hotel in Rock Island, Ill., on Wednesday, December 4, and Thursday, December 5.
Hotel accommodations have been arranged at Jumer's Casino & Hotel with a special rate room block available until November 27. Registration is also open and being accepted electronically by using the link below.
As the meeting draws closer, a full schedule of events and confirmed speakers will be made available.
Contact the TMHA office at (515) 244-5193 or [email protected] with questions.
For further information, please view the TMHA Member Meeting Flyer and and visit the online registration form that can be used to sign up.
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FMCSA Publishes Final Rule for New Unified Registration System
The Federal Motor Carrier Administration has published a final rule that will combine 16 different forms that carriers, freight forwarders and brokers currently use to register and update their information with the agency into a single, electronic "smart form."
According to the FMCSA, the new Unified Registration System will increase efficiency by streamlining the registration process for industry and enabling the agency to maintain more accurate information on the entities it regulates. The streamlined web-based system will begin operating in 2015. At that time, all new applications and updates to existing records will be handled through the new system.
Both the effective dates and compliance dates for this final rule are October 23, 2015, except for � 390.19 (amendatory instruction number 55) and � 392.9b (amendatory instruction 61), which are effective November 1, 2013, and except for � 366.2 (amendatory instruction 19), which is effective April 25, 2016.
Petitions for reconsideration must be received by September 23, 2013. For more information, or to read the final rule, please visit www.fmcsa.dot.gov.
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Industry Asked to Rank Top Concerns
The American Transportation Research Institute launched the 2013 Top Industry Issues Survey. The annual survey, commissioned by the American Trucking Associations asks trucking industry stakeholders to rank the top issues of concern for the industry along with appropriate strategies for addressing each issue. The survey is in its ninth year and participation by trucking stakeholders has grown each year. The results of the survey will be released at the ATA Annual Management Conference and Exhibition in October. Industry stakeholders are encouraged to complete the survey online at www.atri-online.org.
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Electronic Logging Device Rule Sent to White House for Review
Federal regulators sent a proposal to mandate electronic logging devices on all trucks to the White House for its review. The White House Office of Management and Budget will review the proposal for its adherence to the law and President Obama's agenda. The review can take up to 90 days, but OMB can extend the period if it sees fit. The FMCSA had previously finalized an ELD requirement for certain carriers with poor hours of service compliance records, but that mandate was struck down in federal court because the agency didn't properly address how the devices could be used to harass drivers. The FMCSA withdrew the universal mandate proposal because it used the same specifications as the proposal that was overturned. The agency vowed to move forward on ELDs and confront the harassment issue, and Congress asked for a mandate in 2012 as part of MAP-21. If the OMB approves the proposal, the FMCSA can publish it and gather comments from the public.
Source: Transport Topics
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Getting to Know Your Board Members
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Michael Connell
Midwest Regional Manager
Bennett Motor Express
McDonough, Ga.
Michael Connell has worked in safety and dispatch. He has served as a terminal manager several times over. He has also been an operations manager and corporate vice president. And Connell was all these things before joining Bennett Motor Express in 2001.
When Connell assumed the role of Midwest Regional Manager at Bennett Motor Express 12 years ago, he brought with him 19 years of experience from his time with Pre-Fab Transit. Connell's father, Ed, had worked at the Farmer City, Ill., company since the early 1950s, and he followed in those footsteps upon graduating high school in 1982.
All the years spent working both in the trenches and at the corporate level gave Connell valuable perspective that he utilizes today when developing employees and working with customers.
"At this point in my career, I take great joy in coaching, mentoring and leading our new associates at Bennett to provide the ultimate customer service experience," Connell said. "But I have always liked to stay close to the ground on the business side because, being an owner-operator company, our contractors are just as much our 'customers' as are the shippers and manufacturers we work with."
To aid Connell's efforts and to keep his on development moving upward, he leans on TMHA for additional guidance and best practices that are gained from group sharing and the speakers at the meetings.
"All companies are facing basically the same obstacles and there are numerous ways to attack and manage them," Connell said. "By meeting regularly with other companies that are dealing with these same issues, we are able to discuss how we all collectively respond and then come up with our own company strategies."
This is part of the reason Connell "stepped up" to participate on the TMHA Board, of which he is currently second vice president. He feels his experience and knowledge could help the association grow and thrive.
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The Machinery Haulers Association
717 E. Court Avenue
Des Moines, Iowa
Phone: (515) 244-5193
Fax: (515) 244-2204
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