Earlier this year, ICSA informed its members that the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), the trade association representing commercial vehicle law enforcement, had petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for a change in FMCSA’s guidance on the use of “personal conveyance.” FMCSA has now denied that petition.
The “personal conveyance” mode on an electronic logging device (ELD) allows a truck driver to operate the vehicle while officially off-duty. The intent of the FMCSA guidance is to facilitate a driver’s access to restaurants, truck parking and places of rest. However, “personal conveyance,” per FMCSA guidance, cannot be used for business purposes, such as positioning the truck closer to the next day’s destination.
CVSA had asserted that the guidance from FMCSA was open to abuse because it placed no time or distance limits on the use of the “personal conveyance” mode. CVSA pointed to the Canadian rules, where such limits exist. Canada also does not allow a loaded vehicle to be operated under “personal conveyance.” In denying the petition, FMCSA said that CVSA had not shown a safety reason for the agency to change its guidance.
Motor carriers themselves may place conditions on a driver’s use of the “personal conveyance” mode. Commercial vehicle law enforcement will still look closely at ELD records for possible abuse of “personal conveyance.” But, for now at least, FMCSA has chosen to not place time and distance limits on “personal conveyance.”
Several lawsuits were filed challenging the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) independent contractor (IC) regulation enacted by the Biden Administration and the DOL’s Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su in early 2024.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in a Federal Register notice published April 1, denied a petition from the Institute for Safer Trucking (IST) requesting an investigation of collisions that van-type semi-trailers experience with passenger vehicles and other vulnerable road users.
ICSA representatives attended the TCA Truckload event, the preeminent event hosted by the Truckload Carriers Association, held in our hometown of Phoenix, AZ. We also attended the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS), the largest trucking show in North America, held in Louisville, KY.