Personal Conveyance under FMCSA rules lets drivers move a commercial vehicle for personal reasons without logging hours, but only in four specific scenarios: reaching a safe location, getting to a terminal, taking an off-duty meal or entertainment break, or responding to police. The key test is whether the driver is truly off-duty with no business benefit and heading to the nearest safe spot.
Today we're going to be discussing how to properly use the personal conveyance Hours of Service Status When Can a Driver Use Personal Conveyance? To see if a situation might classify as a chance to use personal conveyance, you can Simply ask these two 1. Is the driver moving a commercial motor vehicle for purely personal reasons? And 2. Can the driver engage in activities of their own choosing? If the answer to either or both questions is yes, then the movement can likely be classified as a personal conveyance move. Let's look at the most common acceptable uses of personal conveyance. Only law enforcement officers will determine if a driver is using personal conveyance correctly, so truck drivers should use PC very carefully. Most officers rely on four tests to determine if a driver is properly using personal conveyance. 1. Is the driver ill or fatigued? Does the driver's condition allow them to safely drive the vehicle? 2. Is the driver off duty? See the definition of on duty in section 395.2, which includes any work in support of the business or time involved in business activities. Unless the driver is completely released from duty and free to pursue activities of their choosing, the driver must log a move as on duty driving. 3. Is the move purely personal with no benefit to the business? A move benefiting the business would include moving closer to the driver's next pickup or delivery or a maintenance move performed to support the business. 4. Is the move to strictly seek the closest safe place to park, even if a driver has moved along the route line to the next business related location. If a driver is not ill or fatigued and can answer these other three questions with a yes, then using personal conveyance may be correct. The FMCSA has provided some guidance on what they consider to be appropriate uses of personal conveyance. Although they offer seven different scenarios, four are more common and can be remembered with the acronym ST O P S Safe location T Terminal location O Off duty meals or entertainer P Police Request Safe Location for the fmcsa, time spent traveling to a nearby reasonable safe location to obtain required rest after loading or unloading is an acceptable use of PC. The time driving under personal conveyance must allow the driver adequate time to obtain the required rest before returning to on duty driving, and the resting location must be the first such location reasonably available. A key consideration here is first such location. An officer may have a hard time believing that the first reasonably safe resting location is 100 miles away from where a driver just picked up a load. This is probably the easiest way to get in trouble for using PC incorrectly. Terminal location Commuting between the driver's terminal and his or her residence, between trailer drop lots and the driver's residence and between work sites and his or her residence can also be considered appropriate use. Just be sure that the commuting distance combined with the release from work and start to work times must allow the driver enough time to obtain the required rest as to ensure the driver is not fatigued. If a driver's normal work reporting location is their home and not a physical terminal location, don't try to use PC to get some extra time back on your hours of service clock. This is a common mistake. Off duty Meals and Entertainment Drivers can also count the time spent traveling from their en route lodging such as a motel or truck stop, to restaurants and entertainment facilities as personal conveyance. If a driver is off duty and they want to go get some food, they can switch into personal conveyance status and drive to a nearby restaurant. Police request a driver moving a CMV at the request of a safety official during the their off duty time can also be considered as PC. We all know that finding truck parking can be difficult. Unfortunately, the safest location that a driver can find to park may not be allowed by local law enforcement officials. This often leads to the driver getting an unfortunate wake up call with a request to move their truck. This isn't a complete list, but these four scenarios cover about 90% of the proper uses of this record of duty status. Hopefully you now have a better understanding of when to use personal conveyance status. Thanks for watching. Be safe out there.
