Provisions in the 2015 FAST Act will extend the exemptions from hours-of-service requirements from two years to five years for certain motor carriers, according to a July 21 announcement by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
The agency’s final rule will allow five-year exemption extensions for such categories as:
- Welding trucks used in construction and maintenance of pipelines
- Drivers of ready-mixed concrete trucks and hi-rail vehicles
- Drivers of commercial motor vehicles transporting livestock and bees
“The statutory changes went into effect on Oct. 1, 2015, retroactively, and require that FMCSA make conforming changes to its regulations to ensure they are current and consistent with the statutory requirements,” the agency said.
In a separate announcement, FMCSA said it will no longer accept violation-free roadside inspections to satisfy a requirement that all commercial motor vehicles complete an annual inspection.
FMCSA said roadside inspections do not include every element of federal requirements.
“For this reason, FMCSA does not believe it is appropriate to continue to allow motor carriers to use roadside inspections conducted by enforcement officials to satisfy the annual inspection requirements,” the agency said.
A third FMCSA announcement added a definition of “major tread groove,” revised the rear license plate lamp requirement to eliminate the use of rear lamps on vehicles when there is no rear license plate present, amended regulations regarding tires to prohibit the operation of a vehicle with speed-restricted tires at speeds that exceed the rated limit of the tire and provided specific requirements regarding when violations or defects noted on an inspection report must be corrected.
The announcement also said the agency has amended two appendixes to the federal regulations to include provisions for the inspection of anti-lock braking systems and automatic brake adjusters, speed-restricted tires and motorcoach passenger seat mounting anchorages.
