Hours of Service: The Driving, Duty and Rest Limits
Three limits run at once and each is measured differently. One counts driving, one counts elapsed time from the moment duty began, and one counts everything across a rolling multi-day period that no clock in the cab displays.
The rule in short
Under 49 CFR 395.3 a property-carrying driver may drive up to eleven hours after ten consecutive hours off duty, may not drive beyond the fourteenth consecutive hour after coming on duty, and must interrupt driving for thirty minutes after eight cumulative hours of driving. Weekly limits are sixty hours in seven consecutive days or seventy in eight, and thirty-four consecutive hours off duty restarts that calculation.
Three clocks run at the same time and they do not reset together. The driving clock counts only time behind the wheel. The window counts elapsed hours since duty began, regardless of what happened in them. The weekly total counts everything on duty across a rolling period. A driver can be legal on two and out of compliance on the third, which is how most violations happen.
The daily limits for property carriage
Section 395.3 permits driving for a maximum of eleven hours following ten consecutive hours off duty. The same section prohibits driving after the fourteenth consecutive hour has passed since coming on duty, again following ten consecutive hours off. The fourteen-hour figure is a window, not an allowance of work: off-duty time taken inside it does not extend it, so a three-hour break at a dock consumes three of the fourteen hours and returns nothing.
The third daily requirement is the interruption of driving. A driver may not drive if more than eight hours of driving time have passed without at least a thirty-minute interruption. The interruption may be satisfied by any thirty consecutive minutes of non-driving time, whether recorded as off duty, sleeper berth or on duty not driving. That last option matters at a dock: a driver supervising a load for thirty minutes has satisfied the requirement without leaving the premises.
The weekly totals and the restart
Section 395.3 also caps on-duty time across multiple days. A driver may not drive after having been on duty sixty hours in seven consecutive days, where the carrier does not operate every day of the week, or seventy hours in eight consecutive days where it does. The period is rolling: each day the oldest day drops off and the newest is added. Nothing about this total appears on a dashboard, which is why it is the limit most often exceeded by accident.
A driver may restart the calculation by taking thirty-four or more consecutive hours off duty, in the sleeper berth, or in a combination of the two. The restart is optional. A driver who never takes one simply continues on the rolling count, and for many local operations that is the ordinary state of affairs.
The most expensive misunderstanding in this part is the belief that the required thirty minutes buys thirty minutes back. It does not. The interruption is subtracted from the fourteen-hour window like any other elapsed time. A driver who plans eleven hours of driving plus a thirty-minute break plus loading and fueling has already committed more than fourteen hours of the window on paper, before the first delay.
Sleeper berth splits and adverse conditions
The sleeper berth provision allows the required ten hours to be accumulated in two periods rather than one. One period must be at least seven consecutive hours in the sleeper berth. The other must be at least two consecutive hours, spent off duty, in the sleeper berth, or in a combination. The two periods must total at least ten hours, and neither counts against the fourteen-hour window, which is the whole point of using the split.
Section 395.1 supplies the adverse driving conditions relief. Where a driver encounters conditions that could not have been known before the run began, the driving limit and the window may each be extended by up to two hours. The condition must be genuinely unforeseeable: snow forecast before dispatch is not adverse driving conditions, and neither is congestion on a route the carrier runs daily.
| Limit | Property carriage, 49 CFR 395.3 | Passenger carriage, 49 CFR 395.5 | What resets it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum driving | Eleven hours | Ten hours | The required consecutive off-duty period |
| Duty window | Fourteen consecutive hours | Fifteen hours on duty, not consecutive | The required consecutive off-duty period |
| Required off duty before driving | Ten consecutive hours | Eight consecutive hours | Completion of the period itself |
| Interruption of driving | Thirty minutes after eight hours driving | No equivalent requirement | Any thirty consecutive non-driving minutes |
| Multi-day total | Sixty in seven or seventy in eight | Sixty in seven or seventy in eight | Thirty-four consecutive hours off duty |
The exceptions, and what a violation costs
Section 395.1 carries the exceptions that matter operationally. The short-haul provision relieves a driver of the record of duty status where he operates within a one-hundred-fifty air-mile radius of his normal work reporting location, returns to it, and is released within fourteen consecutive hours, provided the carrier keeps time records showing the start, release and total hours. A separate provision allows a property-carrying driver to extend the window to sixteen hours once in any period of seven consecutive days, on conditions the section states.
Enforcement operates in two places. At roadside, driving in excess of the limits places the driver out of service until enough time has passed to return to compliance, as described in the inspection levels and out-of-service criteria. In the office, the violations feed a percentile calculation discussed in the safety measurement and intervention system. How the underlying record is captured, corrected and defended is governed by the logging rules in the electronic logging exemptions, edits and malfunction procedures, and the driver's own eligibility to be behind the wheel at all rests on the qualification file the carrier maintains.
Points to carry away
- The eleven-hour driving limit resets only after ten consecutive hours off duty.
- The fourteen-hour window is elapsed time and does not stop for meals, fuel or loading.
- A thirty-minute interruption of driving is required after eight cumulative hours of driving.
- The weekly limit is sixty hours in seven days or seventy in eight, depending on the operation.
- Thirty-four consecutive hours off duty restarts the weekly calculation.
- Adverse driving conditions may extend both the driving limit and the window by up to two hours.
Questions readers ask
Does time spent waiting at a dock count against the limits?
It depends on the duty status, and both answers hurt. Time at a shipper where the driver must remain with the vehicle and is not relieved of responsibility is on-duty time, which counts toward the fourteen-hour window and the weekly total. Time recorded as off duty requires that the driver actually be relieved of all responsibility and free to pursue activities of his own choosing. Detention that is recorded as off duty when the driver could not leave is a falsification issue rather than a clever use of the rules.
Can a driver finish a trip after the fourteenth hour?
Not by driving. The rule prohibits driving beyond the window, not being on duty beyond it. A driver who reaches the fourteenth hour may continue to work: complete paperwork, fuel, unload, move to a berth on private property under some interpretations. He may not operate the commercial motor vehicle on a highway. Roadside enforcement treats driving past the limit as a violation that places the driver out of service, and the trip ends where the inspection happens rather than at the terminal.
How is the short-haul exception lost mid-week?
The exception in 49 CFR 395.1 relieves a driver of records of duty status if he operates within a one-hundred-fifty air-mile radius of the normal work reporting location, returns to it, and is released within fourteen consecutive hours. Exceed any of those on a given day and the exception is unavailable for that day, so the driver must have a record of duty status for it. Carriers that dispatch a short-haul driver on one long run generate a missing-log violation for that single day.
Sources
- eCFR — 49 CFR 395.3, Maximum Driving Time for Property-Carrying VehiclesThe eleven-hour, fourteen-hour, thirty-minute and weekly limits and the restart provision.
- eCFR — 49 CFR 395.1, Scope of the Rules in This PartThe adverse driving conditions relief, the short-haul exception and the other carve-outs.
- eCFR — 49 CFR 395.5, Maximum Driving Time for Passenger-Carrying VehiclesThe separate ten-hour and fifteen-hour limits applying to passenger operations.
- eCFR — 49 CFR Part 395, Hours of Service of DriversThe complete part, including recordkeeping, exemptions and the electronic logging subpart.
- Cornell Legal Information Institute — 49 U.S.C. 31502, Requirements for Qualifications and Hours of ServiceThe statutory authority to prescribe maximum hours of service for employees of motor carriers.
- Cornell Legal Information Institute — 49 U.S.C. 31136, United States Government RegulationsThe mandate that the regulations ensure drivers are not impaired by fatigue.
Lawwise is a publication, not a law firm. This article states general rules and cites its sources; it is not advice about any particular case, and the law differs by state and changes over time.
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