Personal conveyance rules for truck drivers: what counts, what doesn't, and how to log it (plus yard moves)

Allowed: FMCSA's examples

From FMCSA's 2018 guidance (83 FR 26377). The list is examples, not a complete list.

• From your en route lodging (motel or truck stop) to restaurants and entertainment.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Commuting between home and your terminal, a trailer-drop lot or a work site. Your release and start times still have to leave room for your required rest.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• To a nearby, safe place to rest after loading or unloading. It has to be the first reasonable spot available, and you still get your full required off-duty time before you drive again.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Moving the truck at a safety official's request during your off-duty time.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Hauling your own personal property while off duty.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Going home after working at an offsite location, if your carrier authorizes it.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Motorcoach without passengers to lodging or restaurants and back. Other off-duty drivers on board don't count as passengers.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Moving from one parking space to another at a shipper or port, or going to a truck stop or rest area while you're off duty, can also count. Go no farther than the nearest reasonable, safe spot.^[7] Source: FMCSA FAQ 12: When can a CMV movement during an off-duty period be personal conveyance? (opens in a new tab)

Not allowed: FMCSA's examples

• Anything that helps the carrier's operations, like passing up open places to rest so you're closer to your next pickup or delivery.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Repositioning, bobtailing or pulling an empty to get the next load, or moving equipment because the carrier told you to.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Driving after you've been placed out of service for hours-of-service violations to reach a rest spot, unless the officer at the scene tells you to move.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Going to your carrier's terminal after loading or unloading.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Taking the truck in for maintenance.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• After you drop a towed unit, going back for another one at the carrier's direction.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Driving a passenger vehicle with passengers on board, or delivering luggage after passengers get off.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• An on-duty move, like pulling up a short way while you wait to load, is a yard move or driving, not PC.^[7] Source: FMCSA FAQ 12: When can a CMV movement during an off-duty period be personal conveyance? (opens in a new tab)

Is there a mileage limit?

• No federal limit. FMCSA set no distance or time cap for PC. When commenters asked for one, FMCSA said that was outside the scope of the guidance.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Your carrier can set one. Carriers may ban PC, cap the distance, or bar PC while loaded, and those company rules apply to you.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• The real limits are purpose and rest. For the after-loading case, that means the first reasonable safe spot, with time left for your full break.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• If you can't park at the nearest spot and have to go on to another, FMCSA recommends noting it on your log.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Why parking matters here: our column on the 2,403 new spots.

How to log PC on an ELD

• If your carrier turned on PC: select the personal conveyance special driving category before you move and deselect it when you're done. Add a note when the ELD prompts you.^[2] Source: 49 CFR 395.28: Special driving categories; other driving statuses (eCFR) (opens in a new tab)
• If your carrier didn't turn it on: switch to Off Duty, note when PC starts, then note when it ends and anything that happened in between.^[3] Source: FMCSA ELD FAQ: How must personal-use driving time be recorded? (opens in a new tab)
• Forgot to select PC? You can't edit that driving time into off duty later. Add a note giving the real start and end of the PC period instead.^[4] Source: FMCSA ELD FAQ: Forgot to indicate PC or YM, can it be edited later? (opens in a new tab)
• While PC is selected, the ELD records your location less precisely, within about a 10-mile radius, and shows the PC time with a different line style on the graph.^[5] Source: FMCSA ELD FAQs: Recording HOS data (yard moves, PC display, editing limits) (opens in a new tab)
• Enforcement officers consider your annotations and GPS coordinates to determine whether there's a violation.^[5] Source: FMCSA ELD FAQs: Recording HOS data (yard moves, PC display, editing limits) (opens in a new tab)

Yard moves: the other special category

• A yard move is moving the truck inside a yard. It's logged as on duty not driving, not off duty and not driving.^[5] Source: FMCSA ELD FAQs: Recording HOS data (yard moves, PC display, editing limits) (opens in a new tab)
• Under FMCSA's current guidance, jockeying trucks in a yard on private property is recorded as on duty (not driving).^[6] Source: FMCSA guidance, 49 CFR 395.2 Question 9: Yard time is on-duty (not driving) (opens in a new tab)
• Selecting it: if your carrier enables yard moves, you choose the start and end yourself. Carriers can also set up when the option is available.^[5] Source: FMCSA ELD FAQs: Recording HOS data (yard moves, PC display, editing limits) (opens in a new tab)
• Turning the truck off ends it. Under the ELD technical rules, yard move resets when the engine or ELD is turned off and back on, so you select it again after restarting.^[9] Source: 49 CFR part 395, subpart B, Appendix A, section 4.3.2.2.2(e) (eCFR) (opens in a new tab)
• Some carriers keep it on through restarts. An FMCSA exemption that runs through Oct. 21, 2027 lets any carrier set its ELDs so yard move stays on after the truck is turned off. The ELD then has to switch you to driving if you select driving, go over 20 mph or leave the carrier's geofenced facility.^[10] Source: FMCSA: Hours of Service; United Parcel Service Inc.; Application for Exemption Renewal, 87 FR 64837 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Like PC, you can't turn missed yard time into on-duty-not-driving later. Add a note with the start and end.^[4] Source: FMCSA ELD FAQ: Forgot to indicate PC or YM, can it be edited later? (opens in a new tab)
• FMCSA's rules don't define "yard." A 2021 FMCSA proposal listed yards as intermodal or port facilities, a carrier's place of business, a shipper's private lot, and public roads only while traffic control like gates or flaggers blocks public access. Public roads without that control and public rest areas weren't yards. That proposal is still not final.^[8] Source: FMCSA: Proposed Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Yard Moves, 86 FR 179 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)

Common violations at roadside

• Logging a trip toward your next pickup or delivery, or a repositioning move, as PC.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Using PC to reach a rest spot after an hours-of-service out-of-service order without an officer telling you to.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Passing up available safe parking under PC to get closer to your next load.^[1] Source: FMCSA: Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Personal Conveyance, 83 FR 26377 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Using yard move on open public roads or at public places like rest areas. Under FMCSA's 2021 proposal those aren't yards.^[8] Source: FMCSA: Proposed Regulatory Guidance Concerning the Use of a CMV for Yard Moves, 86 FR 179 (Federal Register) (opens in a new tab)
• Trying to edit already-recorded driving time into PC or yard move. The ELD rule doesn't allow it.^[5] Source: FMCSA ELD FAQs: Recording HOS data (yard moves, PC display, editing limits) (opens in a new tab)