The short-haul exemption: the 150 air-mile rule and the time records it needs

Drivers who stay close to home and come back to the same yard each day can skip the record of duty status (the logs, paper or ELD) under the short-haul exemption in §395.1(e)(1). The trade is a simple time record the carrier keeps for six months. This guide sets out the four conditions, what the time record must show, the version for non-CDL trucks, and the days when the driver has to log after all.

The four conditions

Under §395.1(e)(1), a driver is exempt from the record of duty status and from the ELD rule when all four hold:

1. The driver stays within a 150 air-mile radius of the normal work reporting location. 150 air miles is 172.6 statute miles, measured in a straight line, not along the road.
2. The driver returns to that work reporting location and is released from work within 14 consecutive hours. A driver-salesperson doesn't have to return.
3. Property-carrying drivers have at least 10 consecutive hours off duty between each 14 hours on duty; passenger-carrying drivers at least 8.
4. The carrier keeps accurate time records for 6 months (next section).

Miss one condition on a day, and that day needs a record of duty status.

What the time record must show

For each driver, each day, kept by the carrier for 6 months:

• the time the driver reports for duty;
• the total hours on duty that day;
• the time the driver is released from duty;
• for a driver used for the first time or now and then, the total time for the preceding 7 days (§395.8(j)(2)).

A time card, a timesheet or an app record is fine as long as it shows these four things and is accurate. It isn't a log and doesn't need the 24-hour grid.

Non-CDL trucks: the 14/16-hour version

Drivers of property-carrying vehicles that don't need a CDL have their own short-haul rule in §395.1(e)(2): within 150 air miles, back to the reporting location at the end of each duty tour, and no driving after the 14th hour on duty on 5 days of any 7, or after the 16th hour on 2 days of any 7. The same 6-month time record applies. A driver who uses this version can't also use (e)(1), the 16-hour exception in §395.1(o) or the adverse-conditions rule in §395.1(g).

What the exemption does not change

• The driving limits still apply: 11 hours driving after 10 hours off for property carriers, and the 60/70-hour limits.
• The 30-minute break doesn't apply: §395.3(a)(3)(ii) excludes drivers who qualify for either short-haul exception.
• Everything else in the rules stays: driver qualification files, drug and alcohol testing, inspections, maintenance records.

When the driver has to log after all

On a day the driver goes past 150 air miles, or isn't released within 14 hours, the exemption is lost for that day and the driver records duty status for it. A carrier may let a driver keep that record on paper instead of an ELD when logs are needed on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period (§395.8(a)(1)(ii)(A)(1)). Past that, the driver needs an ELD.

Keep the time records where an auditor will look

When an investigator asks, the question is simple: show the time records for the last 6 months for each short-haul driver. Records kept in one place, by driver and by day, answer it in minutes. A day that broke the exemption should have its record of duty status filed beside that day's time record, so the gap explains itself. The other retention periods are in the retention guide.

You don't need software for this. A time clock, a timesheet or a spreadsheet meets the rule if it shows the four things above and is accurate. Ledger Road doesn't keep time records; it keeps the driver files, inspections and maintenance records the exemption leaves in place. If those are already in order, you don't need it.