WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is giving gasoline and diesel haulers more hours behind the wheel for the next three months, arguing fuel supply and price pressure justify a temporary break from normal trucking rules.

On Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced a 90-day waiver allowing eligible drivers moving gas and diesel to operate up to 16 hours within a 24-hour window, up from the usual 14, so long as they still take required rest breaks, Reuters reported.

FMCSA said it acted “in anticipation of the need for greater hours-of-service flexibility” to answer “global supply disruptions” and expected late-summer and fall demand for gasoline and diesel — and to blunt impacts on fuel costs and availability for freight, farms, and the public.

What the waiver does — and does not

The extra two driving hours are not a blank check. Motor carriers with conditional safety ratings are excluded, Reuters reported, as are carriers under active out-of-service orders in related coverage. Drivers who need immediate rest must take 10 consecutive hours off duty before returning to work. Fatigued drivers are still expected to stop.

Similar emergency hours waivers have been used for hurricanes, wildfires, winter storms, and the early COVID relief period. This one is framed around energy logistics rather than a named natural disaster.

Why now

Reuters tied the timing to tight global diesel markets — limited spare refining capacity, Russia’s export curbs, approaching winter demand — and to energy-market fallout from the U.S.-Israel war on Iran and Ukrainian strikes on Russian refining. Those geopolitical claims belong to the wire’s reporting context; the waiver text itself centers on supply disruptions and anticipated fuel demand.

Pump prices are elevated by recent standards. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update (release dated Sept. 15, 2026) showed U.S. regular gasoline at about $4.48 a gallon and on-highway diesel at about $5.60 a gallon. Reuters separately cited a higher diesel print in its story; EIA’s weekly survey is the primary government series used here.

The tradeoff

Hours-of-service rules exist because tired drivers crash. Stretching the clock for fuel tankers is a bet that moving product faster matters more than the fatigue risk for 90 days — with carve-outs for the worst-rated carriers and a hard stop when a driver needs rest. Whether that bargain holds will show up in delivery queues, retail racks, and, eventually, crash data.

Dated Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026: DOT/FMCSA 90-day HOS waiver (effective Sept. 16) lets eligible gas/diesel haulers drive up to 16 hours in 24; conditional ratings excluded; 10-hour immediate-rest rule remains — Reuters; EIA prices Sept. 15 release.

Sources