National Ready Mixed Concrete Association has asking the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to raise the number of on-duty hours without logging
CP Staff
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association has asking the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to raise the number of on-duty hours without logging within the exemption from 12 to 14 hours, keeping it consistent with the 14 hours of drivers’ on-duty time rule. When stuck on the jobsite due to scheduling difficulties from the pour, [past] the 12th hour on duty, the mixer driver will have to return and retroactively log time for potentially the previous seven days, notes NRMCA Director of Government Affairs Kevin Walgenbach. This is extremely time consuming for the driver and company, as well as contrary to the spirit of the short-haul logbook exemption.
The request follows the group’s participation in Hours of Service regulation hearings FMCSA has held in Davenport, Iowa; Dallas; Los Angeles; and Washington, D.C. The regulations work great for our industry, please don’t reduce the driving hours but instead modify the logbook exemption for short-haul drivers, said NRMCA Senior Vice President of Operations and Compliance Gary Mullings during one hearing. The average ready mixed concrete delivery is only 14 miles from a plant and drivers typically only spend 4-6 hours driving per day.
The association has long tried to educate federal transportation officials on the differences among commercial truck drivers, specifically that regulations imposed on long-haul tractor trailer truck drivers and their short-haul colleagues, such as mixer truck drivers, should allow for the significant differences in their respective job duties.