After the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recently extended a public comment period for discussion of commercial driver’s license requirements, area farmers and ranchers are urging no more regulations. The FMCSA is seeking guidance on whether off-road farm machinery or equipment used to transport goods on public roads should be considered commercial vehicles. As it stands now, each state is allowed to grant exemptions of CDL requirements, which in North Dakota includes farmers and ranchers. North Dakota Farm Bureau Policy Director Sandy Clark said the FMCSA docket is concerned about uniformity, but there is no one-size-fits-all CDL regulation. “There will be differences between states, and rightfully so,” she said, adding that other states are more densely populated and have infrastructure less based in agriculture. Clark said if the proposed definition was honored, tractors, combines and pickup trucks hauling grain or livestock would have to be licensed as commercial vehicles. She added that operators would have to have a medical card and log hours of operation...more
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