The short-haul exemption lets a local driver skip the logbook and the ELD, not the hours limits. Under 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1), a driver who stays within 150 air-miles of the normal work reporting location, is back and released within 14 hours, and gets 10 hours off between shifts is exempt from the record of duty status, as long as the carrier keeps a daily time record for 6 months. A second exception, 395.1(e)(2), gives drivers of non-CDL trucks a 14-hour day on 5 days and a 16-hour day on 2.
The two exceptions side by side
| 395.1(e)(1): 150 air-mile radius driver | 395.1(e)(2): non-CDL property vehicle | |
|---|---|---|
| Who can use it | Any property or passenger driver who meets the conditions | Drivers of property-carrying CMVs for which a CDL is not required under Part 383 |
| Radius | 150 air-miles (172.6 statute miles) of the normal work reporting location | 150 air-miles of the location where the driver reports and is released |
| Return | Return to the reporting location and be released within 14 consecutive hours | Return to the reporting location at the end of each duty tour |
| Daily window | 14 hours, then released | No driving after the 14th hour on 5 days, and after the 16th hour on 2 days, in any 7 consecutive days |
| Rest between shifts | 10 consecutive hours off (property), 8 (passenger) | Not restated; 395.3(a)(1) still requires 10 hours off before driving |
| Exempt from | 395.8 (record of duty status) and 395.11 (supporting documents) | 395.3(a)(2) (the 14-hour limit), 395.8 and 395.11 |
| Also exempt from | The 30-minute break, by 395.3(a)(3)(ii) | The 30-minute break, by 395.3(a)(3)(ii) |
| Cannot combine with | 395.1(e)(1), the split sleeper berth in (g), and the 16-hour extension in (o) | |
| Carrier’s time record | 6 months: reporting time, hours on duty, release time, and the previous 7 days for new or intermittent drivers | Same four items, 6 months |
The 150 air-mile exception, condition by condition
Section 395.1(e)(1) says a driver "is exempt from the requirements of §§ 395.8 and 395.11" if four things are true. All four, every day the exception is used.
(i) Within a 150 air-mile radius
The driver operates within a 150 air-mile radius of the normal work reporting location. The rule itself converts that to 172.6 statute miles. It is a straight-line radius, not road miles, so a route can run well over 150 road miles and still stay inside the circle. The radius is drawn around the reporting location, not the customer and not the driver’s home.
(ii) Back and released within 14 hours
The driver, except a driver-salesperson, returns to the work reporting location and is released from work within 14 consecutive hours. The 14 hours run from the start of work, including loading and paperwork, not from the moment the wheels turn.
(iii) 10 hours off between shifts
A property-carrying driver has at least 10 consecutive hours off duty separating each 14 hours on duty. A passenger-carrying driver needs at least 8.
(iv) The carrier keeps a time record
The employing carrier maintains and retains for 6 months "accurate and true time records" showing:
- the time the driver reports for duty each day;
- the total number of hours the driver is on duty each day;
- the time the driver is released from duty each day;
- for drivers used for the first time or intermittently, the total time for the preceding 7 days, as described in 395.8(j)(2), which is a signed statement from the driver giving the total time on duty in the previous 7 days and when the driver was last relieved from duty.
That is the "time sheet" drivers ask about. The rule prescribes the content, not a form. A timecard, a payroll record or an electronic time system all work if they show those items and are accurate.
What the exception does not exempt you from
This is the part most often misread. Section 395.1(e)(1) names two sections: 395.8 (the record of duty status, and with it the ELD requirement that sits inside 395.8(a)) and 395.11 (supporting documents). It does not exempt the driver from 395.3. So a short-haul driver still may not drive more than 11 hours, still may not drive after the 14th hour on duty (and in any case must be released by then), and is still bound by the 60-hour/7-day or 70-hour/8-day limit and the 34-hour restart in 395.3(b) and (c). The one limit in 395.3 that falls away is the 30-minute break: 395.3(a)(3)(ii) applies "except for drivers who qualify for either of the short-haul exceptions in § 395.1(e)(1) or (2)."
It also does not touch anything outside Part 395: medical certification, drug and alcohol testing, vehicle inspection reports and the rest of the safety rules apply as usual.
The non-CDL exception: 14 hours on 5 days, 16 on 2
Section 395.1(e)(2) is for drivers of property-carrying commercial motor vehicles "for which a commercial driver’s license is not required under part 383." In practice that is the band of trucks from 10,001 pounds (where the federal safety rules start, under the CMV definition in 390.5) up to the CDL threshold. The driver is exempt from 395.3(a)(2), 395.8 and 395.11 if:
- the driver stays within a 150 air-mile radius of the normal work reporting location;
- returns to that location at the end of each duty tour;
- does not drive after the 14th hour after coming on duty on 5 days of any 7 consecutive days, and after the 16th hour on 2 days of any 7;
- and the carrier keeps the same four-item time record for 6 months.
A driver using (e)(2) is "ineligible to use the provisions of § 395.1(e)(1), (g), and (o)," so no split sleeper and no separate 16-hour extension on top. The 11-hour driving limit, the 10 hours off before driving in 395.3(a)(1) and the 60/70-hour limit still apply, because (e)(2) exempts only 395.3(a)(2).
The once-a-week 16-hour day: 395.1(o)
Property-carrying drivers who come back to base every day have a separate extension (not available to drivers using (e)(2)). Under 395.1(o), a property-carrying driver is exempt from the 14-hour limit in 395.3(a)(2), and may be released within 16 hours, if the driver was released from the normal work reporting location for the previous five duty tours, is released there within 16 hours this time, and has not used the exemption in the previous 6 consecutive days (unless a 34-hour restart came in between). It is not a short-haul logging exemption: the day it is used, the driver is past the 14 hours in (e)(1) and needs a record of duty status for that day.
The day you go past the limits
The exception is judged day by day. If on a given day the driver goes beyond 150 air-miles, or is not released within 14 hours, the conditions of 395.1(e)(1) are not met that day, and the ordinary record-keeping rule in 395.8 applies to it. The 30-minute break applies as well, because the driver no longer qualifies for the short-haul exception.
Whether that record can be on paper depends on 395.8(a)(1)(ii)(A)(1): a carrier may have a driver log manually, rather than with an ELD, when the driver needs a record of duty status on not more than 8 days within any 30-day period. FMCSA made the same point when it expanded the exception in 2020 (85 FR 33396): drivers who normally use the short-haul exception but occasionally exceed it "can already drive within a 14-hour window for up to 8 days in any 30-consecutive day period without ELDs, provided they utilize paper RODS, or for more than 8 days in any 30-day consecutive period with an ELD." How to fill in the paper grid for those days is on the paper logbook page.
A practical consequence: the record for the day has to cover the whole day, including the hours before the driver realized the day would run long. The carrier’s time record has the reporting time; the paper log picks up from there.
Crossing state lines
Nothing in 395.1(e) mentions state lines. The limit is the radius. A driver based near a border can cross into another state and back and still use the exception, provided the whole day stays inside 150 air-miles of the reporting location and the other conditions hold. Whether the trip is interstate commerce matters for whether Part 395 applies at all (390.5 defines interstate commerce by the origin and destination of the trade, not by the driver’s own route), but once it does apply, the short-haul exception applies the same way.
What changed in 2020
The current wording comes from the hours-of-service final rule published June 1, 2020 at 85 FR 33396, effective September 29, 2020. The summary of that rule says it "expands the short-haul exception to 150 air-miles and allows a 14-hour work shift to take place as part of the exception." Before that, the radius was 100 air-miles and the day was 12 hours. Older training material and some company handbooks still carry the old numbers.
Worked examples
Example 1, applying 395.1(e)(1). A Class A driver reports to the yard at 05:00, runs three deliveries, the farthest 128 air-miles from the yard (about 160 road miles), and is released at 18:30. That is 13.5 hours, inside 150 air-miles, and the driver had 10 hours off before 05:00. No log and no ELD entry is needed for the day. The driver drove 9 hours, so the 11-hour limit is met, and there is no 30-minute break requirement. The carrier’s timecard shows 05:00 in, 13.5 hours on duty, 18:30 out.
Example 2, same driver, next day. A breakdown at the last stop means the driver is released at 19:40, 14 hours 40 minutes after reporting. The exception is lost for that day. The driver needs a record of duty status covering the whole 24 hours. If this is one of no more than 8 such days in the last 30, it can be a paper log; the ELD is not required.
Example 3, applying 395.1(e)(2). A driver of a 24,000-pound box truck that needs no CDL reports at 07:00. On Monday and Thursday the route runs long and the driver stops driving at 22:30, within the 16th hour. On the other days the driver finishes driving by 20:30, within the 14th hour. That is 2 long days and 5 standard days in the 7, which fits (e)(2). The 11-hour driving limit still applies on each day.
Common mistakes
- Treating short-haul as no limits. The 11 hours and the 60/70 are still there. The exception removes paperwork, not rules.
- Measuring the radius by road miles. It is air-miles, 172.6 statute miles in a straight line. Road miles overstate the distance, which is harmless; measuring from the wrong point, such as a customer, is not.
- No time record. Without the 6-month record showing in, out and total hours, the exception is not available at all, whatever the driver actually did.
- Forgetting the long day. A driver who ran past 14 hours needs a log for that day; the timecard does not replace it.
- Mixing the non-CDL rule with the split sleeper or 395.1(o). (e)(2) rules both out.
- Old numbers. 100 air-miles and 12 hours stopped being the rule on September 29, 2020.
Tools
The HOS calculator tracks the 11, 14 and 60/70 clocks for the days you do log. For the full set of limits that still apply, see hours of service rules; for when an ELD is required, see the ELD rule.