Hours of Service of Drivers: Timberdoodle Company's Application for Exemption

Larry W. Minor
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
April 8, 2014

[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 67 (Tuesday, April 8, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19411-19412]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-07805]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2013-0069]


Hours of Service of Drivers: Timberdoodle Company's Application 
for Exemption

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of final disposition; denial of application for 
exemption.

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SUMMARY: FMCSA announces its denial of Timberdoodle Company's 
(Timberdoodle) request for an exemption from section 395.3(b)(1) of the 
``Hours of Service [HOS] of Drivers'' regulations (49 CFR part 395). 
Section 395.3(b)(1) prohibits the operation of a

[[Page 19412]]

commercial motor vehicle (CMV) by anyone who has accumulated 60 hours 
of on-duty time in a period of 7 days. Timberdoodle requested that its 
drivers be allowed to exclude from this calculation all on-duty time 
other than time actually driving a CMV. FMCSA concluded that 
Timberdoodle has not demonstrated how its CMV operations under such an 
exemption would be likely to achieve a level of safety equivalent to or 
greater than the level of safety that would be obtained in the absence 
of the exemption.

DATES: FMCSA denied the application for exemption by letter dated 
December 9, 2013, after notice and opportunity for public comment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Thomas Yager, Chief, FMCSA Driver 
and Carrier Operations Division; Office of Bus and Truck Standards and 
Operations; Telephone: 202-366-4325. Email: MCPSD@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Docket

    You may read background documents or comments filed to the docket 
of this application for exemption by going to www.regulations.gov at 
any time, or to Room W12-140, DOT Building, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE., 
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays.

Background

    FMCSA has authority under 49 U.S.C. 31315 and 31136(e) to grant 
exemptions from certain parts of the FMCSRs. The Agency is required to 
publish a notice of each exemption request in the Federal Register [49 
CFR 381.315(a)]. FMCSA must provide the public an opportunity to 
inspect the information relevant to the application. The Agency must 
also provide an opportunity for public comment on the request. FMCSA 
reviews the public comments and determines whether granting the 
exemption would be likely to achieve a level of safety equivalent to or 
greater than the level of safety that would be obtained in the absence 
of the exemption (49 CFR 381.305). The decision of the Agency must be 
published in the Federal Register with the reasons for denying or 
granting the application [49 CFR 381.315(b) and (c)].

Application for Exemption

    Timberdoodle uses commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) to transport its 
products to conferences and conventions, where it sells them. It wants 
to use its CMV drivers as salespersons at these events, but the 
definition of ``on duty time'' in 49 CFR 395.2 requires that both the 
driving time and the sales time of its drivers be treated as ``on duty 
time.'' The result is that Timberdoodle's drivers are frequently 
ineligible to drive its CMVs because they have exceeded the limit of 60 
hours on duty in a period of 7 consecutive days. Timberdoodle asked for 
exemption from Section 395.3(b)(1) and proposed that its drivers be 
prohibited from operating a CMV only after they accumulate 60 hours of 
driving time in any 7-day period. Thus, ``on duty/not driving'' time 
would be removed from the calculation of total hours on duty in a 7-day 
period. A copy of Timberdoodle's application for exemption is in Docket 
FMCSA-2013-0069.

Public Comments

    On May 3, 2013, FMCSA published notice of this application and 
asked for public comment (78 FR 26104). Four individuals and Advocates 
for Highway and Auto Safety submitted comments. All opposed the 
application for exemption.

Agency Decision

    FMCSA reviewed Timberdoodle's application and the public comments. 
By letter dated December 9, 2013, FMCSA denied the application because 
the Agency concluded Timberdoodle's operations were not likely to 
achieve a level of safety equivalent to or greater than the level of 
safety that would be achieved in the absence of the exemption [49 CFR 
381.310(c)(5)]. Its drivers could accumulate up to 98 hours of on-duty 
(driving and not driving) time in a 7-day period before other HOS rules 
would bar their operation of a CMV.
    Timberdoodle did not offer any measures to offset the excessive 
driver fatigue that would no doubt be generated by such a schedule. 
Further, while Timberdoodle may prefer to operate in the manner 
outlined in its application, other practical approaches to its 
convention sales that would not require its CMV drivers to exceed the 
on-duty limits of 49 CFR 395.3(b)(1) may be available. A copy of the 
denial letter is in Docket FMCSA-2013-0069.

    Issued on: April 1, 2014.
Larry W. Minor,
Associate Administrator for Policy.
[FR Doc. 2014-07805 Filed 4-7-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P