Vehicles: safety regulations.

Existing law requires the Department of the California Highway Patrol to regulate the safe operation of certain vehicles, including buses, truck tractors, and trailers, and to adopt certain rules and regulations pertaining to the operation of those vehicles. Existing law requires these regulations to include certain maximum driving times within a work period, including a maximum driving time of 10 hours for a driver of a tank vehicle with a capacity of more than 500 gallons transporting flammable liquid, and to prohibit a driver from driving for any period after having been on duty for 80 hours in any consecutive 8 days. This bill would authorize the department to, by regulation, allow a driver to exceed these limits during a declared state of emergency if transporting fuel used for refueling aircraft used in emergency-related activities, including fire suppression.