Another trucker asks FMCSA for hours-of-service exemption

Citing his decades of experience, another truck driver is asking the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration for an exemption from portions of the hours-of-service regulations.

Wayne Moore Jr. recently submitted an application for a five-year exemption from four provisions in the hours of service. The notice of exemption is scheduled to publish in the Federal Register on Thursday, Dec. 1, and the public will have 30 days to comment.

Moore, who works for a transportation company in Indiana, has been a truck driver for more than 25 years. As part of his application, Moore said he believes that his safe driving record and experience would demonstrate an equivalent level of safety.

Specifically, Moore wants exemptions from the requirement for 10 consecutive hours off duty, the 14-hour driving window, the 30-minute break requirement, and the 70 hours in eight days limit.

According to FMCSA, Moore said he would like the ability to split off-duty time into periods that are more conducive to proper rest and sleep without having to comply with the current hours-of-service regulations. The exemption would apply only to Moore.

Once the notice is published, the public will have the opportunity to comment by going to Regulations.gov and entering Docket No. FMCSA-2022-0199.

Previous applications

Moore isn’t the only individual trucker who has asked FMCSA for an hours-of-service exemption.

In June, Leland Schmitt Jr. asked the agency for a five-year exemption from several of the provisions in the hours-of-service rules. Schmitt pointed to his safe driving record and 30 years of experience as reasons for the exemption. He noted that he has not been involved in any crashes and that he has accumulated more than 3 million safe driving miles during his career as a trucker.

FMCSA denied Schmitt’s request earlier this month.

“FMCSA analyzed the application and public comments and determined that the exemption would not achieve a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level that would be achieved absent such exemption,” the agency wrote in the notice.

In August, another truck driver asked for an exemption, citing his experience.

Ronnie Brown III, who works for Gray Transportation out of Waterloo, Iowa, argued that FMCSA’s hours-of-service regulation is a one-size-fits-all rule that doesn’t mesh well with his natural sleep patterns.

He said that a regulation telling truck drivers when they can’t drive is simultaneously forcing truckers to work during the allowed window, regardless of fatigue. Brown requested a five-year individual exemption from the hours of service and the electronic logging device mandate.

As of Nov. 30, FMCSA had not announced a decision on Brown’s application. LL