Yard moves are short vehicle movements in private areas like terminals and distribution centers. They count as on-duty time toward your 14-hour limit but not your 11-hour driving limit, so they help you save driving hours. You must select yard-move status in your ELD before moving and switch back to driving when you leave the private area.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration developed the yard move duty status as a special driving category within the Hours of Service regulations. But, what's considered a yard move under the regulations has never been defined by the FMCSA. Of course, that leads to confusion and uncertainty. To clear things up a bit, let's use this definition: Yard move status can be used when a commercial motor vehicle is being moved within a confined area, such as a yard, terminal, or other private property, and not on public roadways. Here's a detailed overview of the FMCSA yard move duty status. Yard move duty status: Yard moves are recorded as on-duty, not driving time. This is also known as Line 4 time. While yard moves are considered on-duty time, they do not count toward your 11-hour driving limit, but they will count toward your 14-hour on-duty limit. Yard Move status is intended for situations where you are maneuvering your truck within a private property or facility, such as: moving a truck within a private terminal, drop yard, or distribution center area; shifting trailers inside a fenced yard; positioning a truck for loading or unloading at a private terminal or dock; moving the truck to an on-site fueling station within a secured terminal; picking up or dropping off intermodal containers inside a secured port facility. The key here is that the yard location shouldn't be accessible to the public. The location needs to have a gate, prohibitive signs, or some other form of access control. This means that you usually can't use this duty status at truck stops, mall parking areas, gas stations, public truck repair shops, unsecured terminals or docks, and other areas open to the public. Under FMCSA regulations, Yard moves must be accurately logged in your ELD. Your ELD should have a special driving category for yard moves to differentiate them from on-road driving activities. You must manually select the yard move status on your ELD before beginning a yard move. Just choose the yard move option from the available duty statuses on your device. Once the yard move is complete and you're ready to return to normal operations, you must switch the ELD status back to driving or another appropriate duty status. If you fail to update your duty status correctly, be sure to update it as soon as possible and make a comment on your ELD regarding the error. Your ELD admin should work with you to edit your log if possible. This may not prevent you from receiving a log falsification violation, but it will show law enforcement officers that you documented the mistake correctly. The FMCSA Yard Move Duty Status is a helpful tool for accurately recording on duty, not driving activities within private properties. By understanding and correctly using this duty status, you can increase your available driving hours and enhance the efficiency of your operations.
