HARRISBURG – At the direction of Gov. Tom Corbett, PennDOT has extended a temporary waiver on certain restrictions on commercial drivers to allow for continued smooth delivery of road salt supplies.
“Though we are entering March, the forecasts call for more winter weather and extending the waiver for drivers of salt trucks will help us overcome the challenges a huge surge in salt demand has placed on the delivery systems,” said PennDOT Secretary Barry J. Schoch.
The waiver, now in place through March 31, extends the limits on hours of service for salt delivery drivers. Drivers usually must take a mandatory rest period after 11 hours behind the wheel. Under the waiver, the limit for driving hours is extended to 14 hours. The first waiver was put in place Feb. 3 and was to expire March 2.
Exemption is also granted from the requirements of the 60/70-hour limits rule. This rule requires drivers to stop driving upon accumulating 60 or 70 on-duty hours (including all on-duty and driving time) over a period of seven or eight consecutive days, respectively. Any period of seven or eight consecutive days may end with the beginning of any off-duty period of 34 or more consecutive hours.
