Time Card Exception to log book and Air Miles

1. No.
2. You only need to fill out a log sheet for the day(s) you are over 100 air miles or go over 12 hours. I carry a Driver's Time Record book, comes from J.J. Keller. That has everything needed. If you need a log sheet for a particular day, there's a box to check, and I simply attach a log sheet for the day. And I only show the time sheet and any log sheets I may have in my possession to law enforcement. I do not show any logbook, or any log sheets over 7 days old to anybody.
3. That depends on who's asking. Some are real good at figuring out if you're over the 100 me mark. Generally, I use 114 miles on the ground as my limit.
4. No. State lines mean nothing in this case.

 

1. No, no documentation is required to be in the driver's possession when claiming the short haul exemption
2. Yes, you only need log pages for the days you don't meet the short haul provisions. Use loose leaf if worried
3. Depends, in my experience NY is, PA not so much. They use a mapping program to figure out the radius.
4. No, this is a common misunderstanding. Crossing state lines by itself does not require a log book, only if you don't meet the provisions of the short haul exception.

For review, to qualify for the short haul exception to maintaining a log book you must;
Leave from and return to the same place
Be relieved of duty within 12 hours of the start of your tour of duty (shift)
Stay within 100 air-miles of the work reporting location (150 air miles for non-cdl vehicles)
Complete a time record at the work reporting location (can be time card or simply a handwritten note)

See the below guidance from the FMCSA on using the short haul provision
Question 12: What constitutes the 100-air-mile radius exemption?

Guidance:

The term “air mile” is internationally defined as a “nautical mile” which is equivalent to 6,076 feet or 1,852 meters. Thus, the 100 air miles are equivalent to 115.08 statute miles or 185.2 kilometers.



Question 13: What documentation must a driver claiming the 100-air-mile radius exemption (§395.1(e)) have in his/her possession?

Guidance:

None.



Question 14: Must a motor carrier retain 100-air-mile driver time records at its principal place of business?

Guidance:

No. However, upon request by an authorized representative of the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) or State official, the records must be produced within a reasonable period of time (2 working days) at the location where the review takes place.



Question 15: May an operation that changes its normal work-reporting location on an intermittent basis utilize the 100-air-mile radius exemption?

Guidance:

Yes. However, when the motor carrier changes the normal reporting location to a new reporting location, that trip (from the old location to the new location) must be recorded on the record of duty status because the driver has not returned to his/her normal work reporting location.



Question 16: May a driver use a record of duty status form as a time record to meet the requirement contained in the 100-air-mile radius exemption?

Guidance:

Yes, provided the form contains the mandatory information.



Question 17: Is the “mandatory information” referred to in the previous guidance that required of a normal RODS under section 395.8(d) that of the 100-air-mile radius exemption under section 395.1(e)(5)?

Guidance:

The “mandatory information” referred to is the time records specified by §395.1(e)(5) which must show: (1) the time the driver reports for duty each day; (2) the total number of hours the driver is on duty each day; (3) the time the driver is released from duty each day; and (4) the total time for the preceding 7 days in accordance with §395.8(j)(2) for drivers used for the first time or intermittently.



Using the RODS to comply with §395.1(e)(5) is not prohibited as long as the RODS contains driver identification, the date, the time the driver began work, the time the driver ended work, and the total hours on duty.





Question 18: Must the driver’s name and each date worked appear on the time record prepared to comply with §395.1(e), 100-air-mile radius driver?

Guidance:

Yes. The driver’s name or other identification and date worked must be shown on the time record.



Question 19: May drivers who work split shifts take advantage of the 100-air-mile radius exemption found at §395.1(e)?

Guidance:

Yes. Drivers who work split shifts may take advan-tageofthe100-air-mileradiusexemption if:1. The drivers operate within a 100-air-mile radius of their normal work-reporting locations; 2. The drivers return to their work-reporting locations and are released from work at the end of each shift and each shift is less than 12 consecutive hours; 3. The drivers are off-duty for more than 8 consecutive hours before reporting for their first shift of the day and spend less than 12 hours, in the aggregate, on-duty each day; 4. The drivers do not exceed a total of 10 hours driving time and are afforded 8 or more consecutive hours off-duty prior to their first shift of the day; and 5. The employing motor carriers maintain and retain the time records required by 395.1(e)(5) .



Question 20: May a driver who is taking advantage of the 100-air-mile radius exemption in §395.1(e) be intermittently off-duty during the period away from the work-reporting location?

Guidance:

Yes, a driver may be intermittently off-duty during the period away from the work-reporting location provided the driver meets all requirements for being off-duty. If the driver’s period away from the work-reporting location includes periods of off-duty time, the time record must show both total on-duty time and total off-duty time during his/her tour of duty. In any event, the driver must return to the work-reporting location and be released from work within 12 consecutive hours.



Question 21: When a driver fails to meet the provisions of the 100 air-mile radius exemption (section 395.1(e)), is the driver required to have copies of his/her records of duty status for the previous seven days? Must the driver prepare daily records of duty status for the next seven days?

Guidance:

The driver must only have in his/her possession a record of duty status for the day he/she does not qualify for the exemption. A driver must begin to prepare the record of duty status for the day immediately after he/she becomes aware that the terms of the exemption cannot be met The record of duty status must cover the entire day, even if the driver has to record retroactively changes in status that occurred between the time that the driver reported for duty and the time in which he/she no longer qualified for the 100 air-mile radius exemption. This is the only way to ensure that a driver does not claim the right to drive 10 hours after leaving his/her exempt status, in addition to the hours already driven under the 100 air-mile exemption.



Question 22: A driver returns to his/her normal work reporting location from a location beyond the 100-air-mile radius and goes off duty for 7 hours. May the driver return to duty after being off-duty for 7 hours and utilize the 100-air-mile radius exemption?

Guidance:

No. The 7-hour off-duty period has not met the requirement of 8 consecutive hours separating each 12-hour on-duty period. The driver must first accumulate 8 consecutive hours off-duty before operating under the 100 air-mile radius exemption.

Note, although the guidance in question 22 states 8 consecutive hours it should read 10 consecutive hours. This guidance predates the change that required 10 consecutive hours.

 

Also, if you meet this (short haul exemption) you don't have to take the 30 minute DOT break. (as long as you get back by 12 hours). So basically you go on duty and let it run all day bouncing between driving and on duty and then go off duty at the end of the day

Same conditions as meeting the no log's. (and if you do or are going to get over 12 hours, you just take the 30 as soon s possible with an explanatory note)

 

I wish they had more guidance in to the 12.

There used to be a breakdown but apparently it don't apply anymore.

So how do they figure the 12 if the rules don't apply anymore???

 

What do you mean more guidance and breakdown of the 12? When on short haul there has never been a need to differentiate between driving and non-driving activities, or even off-duty for that matter. It is a straight 12 consecutive hour period you can work in any combination of driving and non-driving activities with no requirement for even the 30 minute break.

 

The 12 USED to be broke down as 11 drive + 30 lunch + 15 pre + 15 post.
11 being the max drive time.
Now you no longer need a 30 or a pre. So what's the determination as to how they come up with 12??? And still use it as 12.

There's all sorts of guidance on the 100 miles but nothing on the 12 hours. And it seems most drivers don't even know about the 12. All they know is the 100 miles.

 

I think the idea is that, as a local driver using the short haul provision, you would never hit 11 hours drive time. But I'm sure there's those that do.

 

Even prior to the 30 minute break being mandatory for other drivers the short haul never had any stipulations on what you could do during those 12 hours. It was assumed you would spend more time doing tasks other than driving by the nature of local work but it was never required to identify the task.

You are right, most drivers have no idea how the short haul exception actually works, they have heard of the 100 air-mile rule but don;t know the other qualifiers such as leaving from and returning to the same place and being relieved of duty within 12 hours.

Now for the thought process used by the US DOT, this exception comes from the days prior to the FMCSA, when it was the ICC then the FHWA that made hours of service regulations. This seems to be just a number picked out of the air from when we had 10 drive hours and a 15 hour duty clock that could be paused at will. So 12 was really a compromise that made it simple for local drivers, no need to do a log that looked like a heart monitor and by limiting them to 12 consecutive hours they most likely cut away time a driver could work if he maximized his off-duty periods on a log book.

Back before the rules changed in 2004 the local company I worked for didn't allow us to use this exception, actually both locals companies I worked for early on didn't, they had us log so we could work 6 to 20 hour days. The worst at this was Hudson Transit when I was a bus driver. By nature we had long periods of down time in the middle of the day doing commuter runs, these were logged off-duty and it was common to have a 20 hours or more between when you arrived at the terminal to start and when you went home but only show 11 or 12 hours on the log and never leave the 100 air-mile radius.

 

No, it didn't. It never has. And we've been over this in other threads.