Should I use the 150 Air-Mile Rule or keep traditional logs?

Short answer: Use a short-haul time record only when the driver and that day’s work meet the exception. If the trip will not meet it, plan for the required record of duty status (RODS) instead. The choice is not simply “paper versus software”; it depends on the operation and what actually happens on each workday.

Check the day before choosing the record

• The driver stays within a 150-air-mile radius of the normal work reporting location.
• The driver returns to that location and is released within 14 consecutive hours of reporting. A 7 a.m. report means the short-haul return-and-release window ends at 9 p.m.; an off-duty break does not restart that clock.
• The carrier keeps the accurate time records required for the exception. A time record replaces the usual RODS only when the exception’s conditions are met.
• The separate driving and on-duty limits still apply. For passenger-carrying CMVs, FMCSA describes a 10-hour driving limit after eight consecutive hours off duty. Do not treat the 14-hour short-haul window as 14 hours of permission to drive.

Those are the federal FMCSA short-haul conditions in summary form. See FMCSA’s passenger-carrier guidance for the other passenger limits, and check the applicable state rules for intrastate work. If a day falls outside the exception, determine its RODS and ELD obligations rather than assuming the timecard covers it.

What about an ELD?

FMCSA says drivers operating under a qualifying short-haul timecard exception are not required to use an ELD for those days. A separate exception can apply when a driver needs RODS no more than eight days in any 30-day period. Count the actual RODS-required days, not just the days a vehicle stayed near home. See FMCSA’s ELD overview.

Need to keep the rest of your DOT paperwork organized? LBC Fleet’s compliance and driver-support services cover separate driver-file, hiring, and audit-preparation work. That service page is not a ruling on whether any particular trip qualifies for short-haul records.