Short-Haul Exemption
An exemption from ELD and RODS requirements for drivers operating within 150 air-miles of their normal work reporting location and returning each day.
To qualify, the driver must: (1) report and return to the same reporting location each day; (2) return within 14 consecutive hours of coming on duty; (3) not have varied start time by more than 1 hour in preceding 5 days; (4) receive at least 10 consecutive hours off duty after each on-duty period. Qualifying drivers must keep time records (start and end times) but not full RODS. The 14-hour on-duty limit still applies.
All four qualifying conditions must be met
The short-haul exemption requires that ALL four conditions are met: (1) the driver operates within a 150 air-mile radius of the normal work reporting location; (2) the driver returns to the same reporting location and is released within 14 consecutive hours of coming on duty; (3) the start time has not varied by more than 1 hour on more than 5 of the past 7 days the driver worked; and (4) the driver receives at least 10 consecutive off-duty hours after each shift. If any condition is not met on a given day, full HOS rules apply for that day.
Short-haul record requirements
Qualifying drivers are not required to use an ELD or maintain full RODS, but they must still keep time records: the time they report for duty and the time they are released. These time records must be retained for 6 months. If the driver operates outside the exemption parameters on a particular day, they must maintain full HOS records for that day and have records for the previous 7 days available at inspection. The carrier must be able to produce the time records during a compliance review.
Last updated: May 28, 2026
When this definition matters
This term usually matters when a driver, owner-operator, or small carrier is deciding whether a federal rule applies, preparing a compliance file, or checking a state CDL step. Use this definition as a starting point, then confirm the controlling requirement in the official source listed below before making a licensing, hiring, dispatch, or recordkeeping decision.
The related terms above are included because they often appear in the same compliance workflow. Reviewing them together can prevent common mix-ups, such as treating a state licensing step as a federal carrier obligation or confusing a driver record with a separate employer record.