Trucker seeks exemption from ELDs, hours of service

A truck driver with 15 years of experience wants an exemption from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s regulations for hours of service and electronic logging devices.

FMCSA published a notice in the Federal Register on Friday, Aug. 19, regarding truck driver Ronnie Brown III’s application for exemption.

Brown, who works for Gray Transportation out of Waterloo, Iowa, contends 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.

“ELD and hours of service as they make drivers, such as myself, drive tired at times without the ability to stop for a nap,” because it would force them to lose their driving hours for the day, Brown wrote.

Most truck drivers are paid by the mile and do not make money if they are stopped.

Brown said he utilizes his time stuck at loading and unloading facilities to take a nap.

“I can safely drive and know when I am tired and do not push beyond my limits of safety no matter the amount of sleep I get or the length of drive time,” Brown wrote.

He also noted that he’s never had a “preventable accident” and that his only “nonpreventable accident” was in 2007.

Brown seeks a five-year individual exemption. He noted in the application that the request does not involve his employer.

FMCSA added flexibility to the hours of service in recent years, but many truck drivers believe the changes didn’t go far enough.

The agency is requesting feedback on Brown’s ELD request. The public can comment through Sept. 19 by going here, or by going to the Regulations.gov website and entering Docket No. FMCSA-2022-0139.

“Ways to safely operate without hours of service needs to be left up to the driver of each truck since I am in full control of the truck and load while I am out on the road whether I’m driving or sleeping,” Brown wrote. LL