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The drivers of all trucks in the U.S., including ready-mix trucks, must comply with the hours of service regulations issued by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. And starting in December, some drivers will need to comply with the new Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) requirements. An ELD is a device that is in the truck cab and automatically and securely records driving time.

During a recent webinar, Gary Mullings and Kevin Walgenbach with the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association described what ready-mixed concrete drivers must do to comply—it’s confusing! To begin, note that although the federal rules apply only to interstate drivers, if they cross a state line, all states have adopted the FMCSA regulations, although some have added some minor exceptions (tolerance guidelines).

NRMCA has been very successful at getting some special exemptions for ready-mix drivers, but there are still a lot of rules that apply. Understanding some of the terminology is a good place to start, although most are self-explanatory:

  • On-duty time is all the time when a driver is on the clock, whether driving or not.
  • Driving time is when he or she is at the controls of the truck.
  • Off-duty is off the clock.
  • And then there’s on-duty, not driving, which for ready-mix drivers is typically 55% to 75% of their on-duty time.

Here are a few of the basic requirements:

  • Drivers can be on-duty for 14 hours a day; ready-mix drivers can be on-duty for 16 hours one day per week.
  • Drivers can be on-duty a total of 60 hours over a 7-day period or 70 hours over an 8-day period.
  • The maximum non-consecutive driving time in a 14-hour day is 11 hours; but as noted above most ready-mix drivers are only driving 25% to 45% of the time so that’s seldom an issue.
  • Between “weeks,” a driver must be off duty for 24 hours after a 6-day week (including one 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. period) or 34 hours after a 7-day week (including two 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. periods).
  • Drivers must keep a log of on-duty and driving time (Record of Duty Status or RODS), except they are exempt from this requirement if they stay within a radius of 100 air miles (equal to 115.8 statute miles). This is an exception just for ready-mix drivers.
  • Drivers must have a 30-minute break after 8 hours on-duty. But another special exemption for ready-mix drivers is that a 30-minute wait time at the job site or the plant can count towards the required 30-minute break.
  • The ELD requirements go into effect on December 18, 2017, but most ready-mix drivers may be exempt through the 100 air mile exemption. Drivers are also exempt from ELDs if they drive over the 100-mile limit fewer than 8 days in a rolling 30-day period. If those exemptions don’t apply or a company simply wants to use ELDs, there is a checklist on the FMCSA web site (www.fmcsa.dot.gov) to help choose the right model for a given circumstance. ELDs aren’t cheap—typically $600 to $1000 per truck per year.

All of this information, and a lot more, is available in NRMCA’s 2017 Drivers’ Hours of Service Compliance Guide.

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