Introduction
The short-haul exemption is an FMCSA provision that excuses certain commercial drivers from keeping hours-of-service records and using an ELD, provided they operate within a 150 air-mile radius of their home base and return there within 14 hours. It exists specifically to reduce the compliance burden on drivers who never leave their local area long enough to need the same tracking a long-haul driver does.
The logic behind the radius and time limit isn’t arbitrary. A driver working a tight local loop and back within a single shift poses a very different fatigue and compliance risk than one driving cross-country for days, so FMCSA scoped the exemption to match that lower-risk pattern rather than applying the same rules universally.
It’s a narrow exemption, not a blanket one. Miss the 150-mile radius, exceed the 14-hour window, or fail to return to the same reporting location, and the driver falls back under standard HOS and ELD requirements for that day. Carriers running a mix of local and long-haul drivers often need to track which exemption applies to which driver, and get it wrong, and it’s a compliance gap waiting to surface in an audit.
For fleets where drivers move between exempt short-haul work and longer routes, DriveTime ELD tracks HOS status automatically, so a driver who crosses back into standard ELD requirements on a given day isn’t relying on someone remembering to flip a manual setting.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What's the exact radius and time limit for the short-haul exemption?
150 air-miles from the driver’s normal work reporting location, with the driver returning to that same location within 14 hours.
Does the short-haul exemption apply to all drivers automatically?
No. It only applies to drivers who meet all the specific conditions, radius, return time, and reporting location, every single day. A driver who breaks any condition on a given day loses the exemption for that day.
Are short-haul exempt drivers exempt from all regulations?
No, just the RODS (record of duty status) and ELD requirements. Other FMCSA safety regulations still apply.
What's the difference between short-haul and long-haul in this context?
Short-haul generally means routes within roughly 150 miles of a home base with a same-day return; long-haul covers greater distances, often requiring overnight stays and full HOS/ELD compliance.
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