Under federal Hours of Service rules, the answer to how long truck drivers are allowed to drive is 11 hours per shift for a property-carrying driver, and only within a 14-hour window that begins the moment the driver first goes on duty after at least 10 consecutive hours off. Those daily caps sit inside a weekly ceiling of 60 hours on duty in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days, depending on the carrier’s schedule.1eCFR. 49 CFR 395.3 – Maximum Driving Time for Property-Carrying Vehicles The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) writes and enforces the rules.
The 11-Hour Driving Limit
A property-carrying CMV driver can spend up to 11 hours actually driving during a single shift. Once those 11 hours are used, driving stops until the driver takes a qualifying rest period, no matter how much time is left in the workday.1eCFR. 49 CFR 395.3 – Maximum Driving Time for Property-Carrying Vehicles
The 14-Hour On-Duty Window
The 11 hours of driving have to fit inside a 14-consecutive-hour window that starts when the driver first comes on duty. That clock runs continuously. It does not pause for lunch, fuel stops, or hours spent waiting at a dock.2Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Summary of Hours of Service Regulations
On-duty time covers everything work-related: pre-trip inspections, loading and unloading, paperwork, and sitting in the cab waiting for a next assignment. Only time logged as truly off duty or in a sleeper berth falls outside on-duty status. Once 14 hours pass from the start of the shift, driving has to stop even if the driver has used fewer than 11 hours behind the wheel.
This is where drivers lose hours they thought they had. Five hours stuck at a shipper waiting for a late load is five hours out of the 14-hour window with nothing driven.
The 10-Hour Reset
Before starting any driving, a driver must have taken at least 10 consecutive hours off duty. That 10-hour break resets the daily clock. Partial breaks under the standard rule don’t count toward the requirement, so nine hours off followed by a brief on-duty task means starting the count over.1eCFR. 49 CFR 395.3 – Maximum Driving Time for Property-Carrying Vehicles
Drivers with a sleeper berth have an alternative called the split sleeper berth provision. The 10 hours can be divided into one block of at least 7 consecutive hours in the sleeper and a second block of at least 2 consecutive hours off duty or in the sleeper. Both qualifying rest periods are then excluded from the 14-hour calculation, which effectively pauses that window.3Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. What Rest Periods Qualify for the Split Sleeper Berth Provision
The 30-Minute Mid-Shift Break
A separate 30-minute break kicks in after 8 cumulative hours of driving. The count is cumulative, not consecutive: total driving time since the last qualifying break, not time behind the wheel in one stretch. Any period of at least 30 consecutive minutes off duty, in the sleeper berth, or on duty but not driving satisfies the requirement.4Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. When Must a Driver Take a 30-Minute Break
Weekly Limits: 60 Hours in 7 Days or 70 in 8
Daily driving caps sit under a rolling weekly ceiling on total on-duty time. A driver may not drive after accumulating 60 hours on duty in any 7 consecutive days, or 70 hours in any 8 consecutive days.1eCFR. 49 CFR 395.3 – Maximum Driving Time for Property-Carrying Vehicles The 70/8 rule is available to carriers whose vehicles operate every day of the week; the 60/7 rule applies otherwise. The carrier decides which rule its drivers follow and can switch between them.5Federal 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 weekly total counts all on-duty time, not just driving. Loading, inspecting, and fueling all chip away at the 60- or 70-hour bank. Once a driver hits the cap, the truck stays parked until the rolling total drops back below the limit or the driver takes a restart.
The 34-Hour Restart
A driver can reset the weekly clock to zero by taking at least 34 consecutive hours off duty.2Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Summary of Hours of Service Regulations After that break, the 7- or 8-day calculation starts fresh with the full 60 or 70 hours available.
Older versions of the regulation required the 34-hour restart to include two overnight periods between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. and capped drivers at one restart per 168 hours. Those restrictions were suspended by Congress and formally removed by the FMCSA in 2019.6Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Hours of Service of Drivers – Restart Provisions There is now no limit on how often a restart can be used and no required overnight component.
When Drivers Can Legally Go Longer
Adverse Driving Conditions
When a driver encounters unexpected hazards like sudden severe weather, an unforeseen highway closure, or a major crash blocking traffic, the adverse driving conditions exception allows up to 2 additional hours of both driving time and on-duty time. That means driving up to 13 hours within a 16-hour on-duty window to reach a safe stopping point.7eCFR. 49 CFR 395.1 – Scope of Rules in This Part The conditions have to be genuinely unforeseeable at the time of dispatch. If the carrier knew about a blizzard before sending the driver out, the exception doesn’t apply.8Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. How May a Driver Utilize the Adverse Driving Conditions Exception or the Emergency Conditions Exception
Emergency Conditions
When a genuine emergency arises during a trip that could reasonably have been completed without it, the driver may finish the run without being in violation. The emergency provision doesn’t set a specific added-time cap, but it’s narrower than the adverse driving exception because the run has to have been completable under normal circumstances.7eCFR. 49 CFR 395.1 – Scope of Rules in This Part
Time Behind the Wheel That Doesn’t Count as Driving
Two situations put a driver in the seat without eating into the 11-hour driving limit.
Personal conveyance is the use of a CMV for personal reasons while off duty and relieved of all work responsibility. Driving from a truck stop to a restaurant, commuting between a terminal and home, or moving to the nearest safe parking spot after finishing a load all qualify. The truck can even be loaded, since the cargo isn’t being moved for the carrier’s commercial benefit at that point. Motor carriers can impose their own restrictions on personal conveyance, including banning it outright.9Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Personal Conveyance
Yard moves cover truck movement within a confined private area like a distribution center, company terminal, or intermodal port. That time logs as on-duty not driving, so it doesn’t count against the 11-hour cap. Brief, incidental use of a public road during a yard move is allowed when traveling between two properties owned by the same entity, but if the purpose of the movement is to travel to a distinct new location, it becomes driving time.
Different Limits for Bus and Motorcoach Drivers
The 11-hour and 14-hour figures cover property-carrying drivers. Passenger-carrying CMV drivers operate under different daily numbers: up to 10 hours of driving after 8 consecutive hours off duty, and no driving after 15 hours on duty following that break.10eCFR. 49 CFR Part 395 – Hours of Service of Drivers The 60/7 and 70/8 weekly ceilings are the same.
What Happens If a Driver Goes Over
Most drivers who have to keep records of duty status use an Electronic Logging Device that connects to the truck’s engine and records driving time automatically, so overages leave a digital trail.11Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. General Information About the ELD Rule During a roadside inspection, officers review ELD data for HOS violations. A driver found in violation can be placed out of service on the spot, which means the truck stays parked until enough off-duty time has accumulated to bring the driver back into compliance.
Civil penalties for non-recordkeeping HOS violations can reach $4,690 per violation for drivers and $18,758 per violation for carriers. Driving during an out-of-service order carries penalties of up to $2,304 for the driver and up to $23,048 for a carrier that required or permitted the driving. Falsifying log records can trigger immediate out-of-service orders and additional fines.