Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration January 2, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

FMCSA previously announced its decision to renew the exemptions from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for 27 individuals. FMCSA has statutory authority to exempt individuals from the vision requirement if the exemptions granted will not compromise safety. The Agency has reviewed the comments submitted in response to the previous announcement and concluded that granting these exemptions will provide a level of safety that will be equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety maintained without the exemptions for these commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.

The FMCSA announces an extension of the comment period until January 25, 2008, for Dart Transit Company's (Dart) application for an exemption from certain commercial motor vehicle driver hours-of-service provisions of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations. Dart requested an exemption for 200 of its owner-operators from the prohibition against driving after the 14th hour of coming on-duty, following 10 consecutive hours off-duty, and the requirement that drivers using two sleeper-berth (S/B) periods to accumulate the equivalent of 10 consecutive hours off-duty spend at least 8 but less than 10 consecutive hours in the S/B during one of those two periods. The Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) has requested an extension of time for the public comment period because the issues involved require additional time to evaluate. The FMCSA is granting the Advocates' request.