Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, April 5, 2022:
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, in a letter penned to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on March 29, petitioned the agency to amend the “personal conveyance” regulations by adding a definition for the term.
Specifically, CVSA asked the agency to define “personal conveyance” with the maximum distance and/or time a driver can operate under personal conveyance status.
“To be eligible to log personal conveyance time as off-duty, commercial motor vehicle drivers must meet several conditions as outlined in the regulatory guidance on the agency’s website,” CVSA said, including “being relieved of all on-duty activities and responsibilities and ensuring that the off-duty trip is personal in nature.”
The group said, however, that the guidance falls short by not providing distance or time limitations. Instead, the guidance gives motor carriers discretion on how to police personal conveyance.
“Motor carriers can establish personal conveyance limitations either within the scope of, or more restrictive than, this guidance, such as banning use of a CMV for personal conveyance purposes, imposing a distance limitation on personal conveyance, or prohibiting personal conveyance while the CMV is laden,” FMSCA’s guidance currently reads.
CVSA said this adversely affects safety “by allowing drivers to utilize personal conveyance to legally drive many hours beyond the hours-of-service limits and by making it difficult for inspectors to identify the misuse of the provision.”
