Federal DOT driving hours regulations cap property-carrying commercial drivers at 11 hours of driving inside a 14-hour on-duty window, and only after 10 consecutive hours off duty. A 30-minute break is required once you hit 8 cumulative hours of driving, and total on-duty time is capped at 60 hours over 7 days or 70 hours over 8 days on a rolling basis. Bus and motorcoach drivers run on different numbers. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration enforces the rules, and a driver caught violating them at a roadside inspection is placed out of service on the spot.
The 11-Hour, 14-Hour, and 10-Hour Rules for Truck Drivers
Three limits work together for property-carrying drivers. You can drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty. All of that driving must fall inside a 14-hour window that starts the moment you go on duty for anything, not just the moment you start the engine. And once that window opens, it keeps running. Meals, fueling, a nap in the cab, sitting at a loading dock: none of it pauses the clock.1eCFR. 49 CFR 395.3 – Maximum Driving Time for Property-Carrying Vehicles
The gap between driving time and duty time is where drivers get burned. You might only turn the wheel for six hours, but seven hours at a shipper before you rolled leaves you almost no window left. The 11-hour cap counts moving time; the 14-hour window counts everything from the moment you clock in.
Different Numbers for Bus and Motorcoach Drivers
Passenger-carrying drivers work under tighter driving limits but a longer window. The maximum driving time is 10 hours, and the required off-duty reset is 8 consecutive hours rather than 10.2eCFR. 49 CFR 395.5 – Maximum Driving Time for Passenger-Carrying Vehicles The on-duty window is 15 hours, and unlike the property-carrying rule, off-duty time during the window does not count against it.3Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Summary of Hours of Service Regulations A two-hour break in the middle of a bus driver’s shift comes back to the driver; the same break costs a truck driver two hours of their window.
The 30-Minute Break
Property-carrying drivers must take a 30-minute break after 8 cumulative hours of driving. The break does not have to be off duty. Any non-driving period of 30 consecutive minutes qualifies, including on-duty paperwork or fueling.3Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Summary of Hours of Service Regulations The 8-hour clock tracks driving time only, so time spent loading, waiting, or on other duties does not push you toward the break trigger.
Most drivers satisfy this without thinking about it. Four hours of driving, a 45-minute delivery stop, four more hours of driving: the delivery already qualified as the break because it was a non-driving stretch over 30 minutes.
Weekly Caps: 60 Hours in 7 Days or 70 Hours in 8
Daily limits aren’t the only ceiling. On-duty time is also capped on a rolling weekly basis. The two options are 60 hours over 7 consecutive days or 70 hours over 8 consecutive days. Carriers that operate every day of the week may use the 70/8 limit; carriers that don’t run daily use the 60/7 limit, though the choice of which limit applies to individual drivers is up to the carrier.4Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. May a Motor Carrier Switch From a 60-Hour/7-Day Limit to a 70-Hour/8-Day Limit or Vice Versa?
The rolling piece matters. Each new day, the oldest day’s hours fall off the running total. Work 12 hours today and those 12 hours will still be counted eight days from now under the 8-day cycle, then disappear.
To zero out the running total, take a 34-hour restart: at least 34 consecutive hours off duty. After that, your 60-hour or 70-hour clock starts fresh regardless of how many hours you had accumulated.3Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Summary of Hours of Service Regulations
Splitting Sleeper Berth Time
Drivers with a sleeper berth don’t have to take the full 10 hours off in one block. The split-sleeper rule lets you divide it into two periods that together add up to at least 10 hours. One period must be at least 7 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth. The other must be at least 2 hours and can be spent in the sleeper or off duty. Neither period counts against your 14-hour window, so a qualifying rest effectively pauses the clock.5eCFR. 49 CFR 395.1 – Scope of Rules in This Part
A team-driving variation allows 7 hours in the sleeper berth combined with up to 3 hours riding as a passenger in the moving vehicle. In every split scenario, driving time in the periods immediately before and after each rest segment, added together, still cannot exceed 11 hours or push past the 14-hour duty limit.5eCFR. 49 CFR 395.1 – Scope of Rules in This Part The math trips drivers up more than any other part of the rules. An ELD will do the calculation, but understanding the logic is what lets you actually plan a stop that gets your hours back.
Exceptions That Can Save a Day
Short-Haul Exemption
Drivers who stay within a 150 air-mile radius of their normal work reporting location and return there within 14 hours are exempt from keeping a full logbook or using an ELD. The 11-hour driving limit and 14-hour duty window still apply, and the carrier must maintain accurate time records at the place of business.3Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Summary of Hours of Service Regulations This covers a large share of local delivery and construction drivers.
16-Hour Duty Window
Property-carrying drivers who normally run short-haul can extend the 14-hour window to 16 hours once every 7 consecutive days. You must have been released at your normal reporting location for the previous five duty tours, return to that location within the 16-hour window, and not have used the exception in the previous 6 consecutive days.5eCFR. 49 CFR 395.1 – Scope of Rules in This Part
Adverse Driving Conditions
When unexpected weather, a major accident, or road closures make it unsafe to stop, you can drive up to 2 additional hours beyond both the 11-hour driving limit and the 14-hour window to reach a safe stopping point.5eCFR. 49 CFR 395.1 – Scope of Rules in This Part The word “unexpected” is doing real work. If the conditions were known or reasonably foreseeable before the trip began, the exception does not apply.6Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. How May a Driver Utilize the Adverse Driving Conditions Exception?
Agricultural Commodities
During state-defined planting and harvesting periods, drivers transporting agricultural commodities, farm supplies, or livestock within a 150 air-mile radius of the source are exempt from HOS regulations entirely inside that radius. Once you cross outside the 150 air-mile boundary, HOS rules kick in from the point you leave the radius, and time worked inside the radius doesn’t count against your daily or weekly limits.5eCFR. 49 CFR 395.1 – Scope of Rules in This Part7Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. ELD Hours of Service (HOS) and Agriculture Exemptions
Emergency Declarations
When the President, a state governor, or FMCSA declares an emergency, drivers providing direct assistance to the relief effort are temporarily exempt from HOS. The exemption covers the entire route to the emergency area, even through states not named in the declaration, and lasts up to 30 days unless FMCSA extends it. Drivers and carriers are still expected to avoid operating with fatigued or ill drivers, and the waiver does not lift CDL requirements, drug and alcohol testing, hazardous materials rules, or size and weight limits.8Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Emergency Declarations, Waivers, Exemptions and Permits
Personal Conveyance Is Narrower Than Drivers Think
Personal conveyance lets you log time as off duty while operating your commercial vehicle for personal reasons, but only when your carrier has released you from all work responsibility. You can drive to a restaurant, commute between a terminal and your home, or move the vehicle at a safety official’s request. The vehicle can be loaded, as long as you’re not transporting that load for commercial purposes at the time.9Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Personal Conveyance
What personal conveyance does not cover: repositioning to get closer to your next pickup, driving to a maintenance facility, bobtailing to retrieve a load, or any movement that benefits the carrier’s operations. Carriers can impose stricter rules than the federal guidance, including banning personal conveyance entirely or capping the distance.9Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Personal Conveyance
Yard moves are different. Moving a truck around a terminal or distribution center is on-duty not driving, and it counts against both the 14-hour window and the weekly cumulative hours, even though you’re on private property.
What Violations Cost
A driver caught violating HOS during a roadside inspection is placed out of service until enough off-duty time has passed to bring them back into compliance. That alone can cost a day of revenue.
Civil penalties layer on top. Individual drivers face up to $4,812 per non-recordkeeping violation. Recordkeeping violations, such as incomplete or inaccurate logs, carry penalties of up to $1,584 per day the violation continues, capped at $15,846. Motor carriers that allow or require HOS violations can be fined up to $19,246 per violation. Knowingly falsifying records to cover up a non-recordkeeping violation can reach $15,846.10eCFR. Appendix B to Part 386 – Penalty Schedule
Falsifying records of duty status can also disqualify a CDL for 60 days on a first offense and 120 days on a second. Tampering with or disabling an ELD can trigger an out-of-service order on the spot. For carriers, repeat patterns of violations feed into FMCSA’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability scoring and can eventually put operating authority at risk.