Previously in this two-part series: New hours of service rule, new perspectives on enforcement readiness, split rest
Among the more controversial aspects of the electronic logging device mandate was the increased emphasis on personal conveyance. PC became a mode that a carrier (including an independent owner-operator) could enable within any ELD to account for off-duty movement of the truck. Selecting PC mode keeps a truck’s driver on the off-duty log line when the truck is moving.
Some carriers set their own limits for acceptable PC distance/time, but generally the official guidance around it is vague other than what defines it. That’s truly personal uses of the truck outside the stream of commerce, including the addition in recent years of movement to a safe parking location if hours are exhausted by a shipper or receiver.
With the new hours of service provisions announced in May, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance took the opportunity in its petition to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for reconsideration of the rule to ask for a mileage limitation on the use of personal conveyance. CVSA has previously asked FMCSA for this — without results. As of early August, “crickets” had been the response this time around, CVSA’s Collin Mooney said.
CVSA’s request argued that some “maximum allowed distance for personal conveyance” might eliminate inconsistent enforcement among inspectors as well as confusion for inspectors and drivers. Consistency is the case in the Canadian hours of service rules, Mooney pointed out, where 75 kilometers (about 47 miles) is the limit.
“We’re not set on having that same mileage,” Mooney said. “We’re just looking for something definitive, whether it’s time or distance.”
He added that there’s a fair amount of agreement between active law enforcement and trucking-business constituencies within CVSA, but “I can’t say it’s 100% buy-in” for defining personal conveyance limits, particularly among those in the wider trucking industry.
