CCJ

July 2018

Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal

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Registry hack delays medical certificate rule T he Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said last month it intends to postpone the implementation of a system meant to streamline its communi- cations with state licensing agen- cies regarding drivers' medical certification status. The multifaceted rule, part of which took effect in January 2015, requires FMCSA to electronically transmit to state licensing agen- cies the results of drivers' medical certifications; FMCSA receives that information from medical examin- ers. State agencies then will send the results to the Commercial Driver's License Information System to make other states aware of drivers' exam results. However, due in part to the ongoing outage of the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners following an attempted hack, FMCSA says it will postpone the requirement that it submit information to state agencies for three years, until June 2021. – Matt Cole FMCSA allows after-hours move to park while loaded T he Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration finalized changes to guidance around the 150-air-mile-radius agriculture hours-of-service exemption and use of the personal conveyance provision. Both proposed changes were put forward ahead of the Dec. 18 compli- ance deadline for the agency's electronic logging device mandate and pitched as pro- viding clarity and additional flexibility for drivers. The new interpretation of when it is legal to use a truck for personal convey- ance allows use whether the truck is loaded or not. Perhaps more significantly, the guidance answers a common question of whether it's appropriate to use personal conveyance status to get to a safe parking spot or rest loca- tion after hours are exhausted by a ship- per or receiver. "The movement from a shipper or receiver to the nearest safe resting area may be identi- fied as personal conveyance," text of the clarification reads, "regardless of whether the driver exhausted his or her hours of service, as long as the CMV is being moved solely to enable the driver to obtain the required rest at a safe location." Personal conveyance used this way should be annotated in the log. Personal conveyance also is newly allowed when a safety official requires a driver to move during an off-duty period. Such a use should be "no farther than the nearest reasonable and safe area to complete the rest period," the text reads. Regarding the 150-air-mile-radius exemption, FMCSA clarified the definition of the radius as extending from the commodity's source. Haulers using the exemption but who extend beyond the radius would not need to start hours recording until they reach the edge of the radius, the agency said. Such drivers returning empty can stop hours recording upon re- entering the radius. – Todd Dills LEADING NEWS, TRUCKING MARKET CONDITIONS AND INDUSTRY ANALYSIS commercial carrier journal | july 2018 9 Scan the QR code with your smartphone or visit ccjdigital.com/news/subscribe-to-news- letters to sign up for the CCJ Daily Report, a daily e-mail newsletter filled with news, analysis, blogs and market condition articles. The new interpretation of when it is legal to use a truck for personal conveyance allows use whether the truck is loaded or not. FMCSA said "an incident that occurred in early December 2017" led to interruptions in developing the electronic transmission process.

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