Hours of Service (HOS) Rules: A Practical Guide for CDL Drivers

Hours of Service (HOS) Rules: A Practical Guide for CDL Drivers

Hours of Service rules are the single most-cited driver violation on the road and the single most-misunderstood regulation in trucking. Get them wrong and you lose hours, pay, and eventually your CDL. Get them right and you protect every paycheck you drive for.

Last verified: 2026-04-17 against 49 CFR Part 395 and the FMCSA Hours of Service topic page.¹²

Key Takeaways

• 11 hours of driving, 14-hour on-duty window, 10 hours off-duty to reset. Those three numbers run your day.¹
• 30-minute break required after 8 cumulative hours of driving — it can be any non-driving status (on-duty not-driving, off-duty, or sleeper berth).³
• 60 hours in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days, depending on whether your carrier operates every day of the week. A voluntary 34-hour restart resets that clock.¹
• Split sleeper berth: 8/2 or 7/3. Two periods that add to at least 10 hours — one of them at least 7 hours in the sleeper, the other at least 2 hours in sleeper or off-duty.³
• Adverse driving conditions can extend your 11 and 14 by up to 2 hours — but weather you could have anticipated doesn't count.³
• ELDs are non-negotiable for most interstate CMV drivers. Paper logs survive only in narrow exceptions.⁴

The six rules that actually run your day

Every FMCSA Hours of Service limit traces back to 49 CFR Part 395. For a CDL driver operating a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle (CMV) in interstate commerce, the core limits are:¹

Every other provision in this guide — short-haul, adverse driving, split sleeper — is either an exception to one of these rules or a way to use them more flexibly.

The 11-hour driving limit

You can drive a maximum of 11 hours after taking 10 consecutive hours off-duty. Once you hit 11, you're done driving until you take another 10 consecutive off-duty.¹

The 11 hours are driving hours, not on-duty hours. Driving is a specific duty status logged under Line 3 on a paper log (or equivalent ELD status). Time spent loading, fueling, on pre-trip inspections, paperwork, and waiting at a dock counts toward the 14-hour window (below) but does not count against the 11-hour driving limit.⁵

Common trap: drivers think "I've only been on the clock 8 hours, I have plenty of time." Check your driving line — if 11 driving hours are logged, you're cooked, regardless of on-duty total.

The 14-hour on-duty window

After 10 consecutive hours off-duty, you have a 14-hour window in which you can drive. Any on-duty activity — driving, pre-trip, post-trip, loading, fueling, detention, dispatch calls — starts the 14-hour clock. Once the 14 hours expire, you cannot drive again until you take another 10 consecutive hours off-duty.¹

The 14-hour window is a consecutive-hour count from the moment you first go on-duty after your 10-hour break. It does not stop for meal breaks, traffic, detention, or sleeper-berth time under 2 hours. The clock runs whether you're working or not.

Example: You go on-duty at 06:00 for a pre-trip. Your 14-hour window ends at 20:00. If you spend 4 hours at a shipper's dock in on-duty not-driving status, those 4 hours still burn your window. You can't extend past 20:00 by taking a 1-hour nap.

The only way to pause the 14-hour clock meaningfully is the split sleeper berth provision (below).

The 30-minute break rule

After 8 cumulative hours of driving time, you must take at least a 30-minute break before you can drive again. The break can be taken in any non-driving status: off-duty, sleeper berth, or on-duty not-driving.³

This is a 2020 change worth understanding. Pre-2020, the 30-minute break had to come within the first 8 hours of on-duty time and had to be off-duty only. The current rule (49 CFR 395.3(a)(3)(ii), as revised) is more flexible:³

• It's tied to driving time — not on-duty time
• It can be on-duty not-driving — so loading, fueling, paperwork count
• The 30 minutes must be continuous

Practical read: if you spend 45 minutes loading at a shipper, that single on-duty not-driving block satisfies the 30-minute break — you do not have to separately go off-duty.

The 60/70-hour weekly limit and 34-hour restart

You cannot drive after accumulating:¹

• 60 on-duty hours in any 7 consecutive days (if your carrier doesn't operate commercial motor vehicles every day of the week), or
• 70 on-duty hours in any 8 consecutive days (if your carrier does operate every day).

This is the "weekly" clock. Unlike the 14-hour and 11-hour, this one rolls. Each day, the oldest on-duty hours drop off the back and new ones count toward the limit.

The 34-hour restart (voluntary)

You may reset the 60/70-hour clock by taking at least 34 consecutive hours off-duty (or a combination of off-duty and sleeper berth).¹ The restart is optional — you can also just let the rolling clock recycle naturally. Most drivers use it at the end of a week to start fresh Monday morning with a full 60 or 70 available.

Worth knowing:

• The 34-hour restart does not reset the 11-hour driving or 14-hour on-duty clocks — those are reset by 10 consecutive off-duty, not 34.
• Congress and FMCSA have tinkered with restart requirements (two-night provisions, once-per-week caps) over the last decade; those add-ons are not currently in effect. Use the baseline 34-hour restart in 49 CFR 395.3(c).¹
• Your carrier's policy may be stricter than the regulation. The regulation is the floor, not the ceiling.

The split sleeper berth provision

The split sleeper berth lets you split your required 10 hours off-duty into two qualifying periods so you can legally pause your 14-hour on-duty window.³

The 8/2 split

• One period: at least 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth
• One period: at least 2 consecutive hours off-duty, in the sleeper berth, or a combination
• The two periods must total at least 10 hours

The 7/3 split (added in the 2020 rule)

• One period: at least 7 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth
• One period: at least 3 consecutive hours off-duty, in the sleeper berth, or a combination
• The two periods must total at least 10 hours

Either split qualifies. Both periods must be valid on their own — a 6-hour sleeper berth does not count toward a split pair.

How the split pauses the 14-hour clock

When you complete a qualifying split pair, your 14-hour on-duty window "rewinds" to the end of the earlier of the two rest periods. Your 11-hour driving clock also rewinds to the same reference point.

Example: You drive 5 hours, take a 7-hour sleeper berth, drive 6 hours, take a 3-hour off-duty period. After the 3-hour ends, your 14-hour window is measured from the end of the 7-hour sleeper, not from when you originally came on-duty. You've effectively paused the clock through the 7-hour period.

This is one of the most misunderstood provisions in HOS — work through it carefully with your ELD provider's training before relying on it in the field.

The adverse driving conditions exception

If you encounter adverse driving conditions you did not know about before starting the trip (or the most recent break), you may extend:³

• The 11-hour driving limit by up to 2 hours (to a maximum of 13)
• The 14-hour on-duty window by up to 2 hours (to a maximum of 16)

Adverse driving conditions per 49 CFR 395.2 mean snow, ice, sleet, fog, or other unusual road or weather conditions the driver (or the carrier dispatching the run) did not know about when the run began.⁶

What it isn't: foreseeable weather. If you leave Chicago with a blizzard warning already in the forecast, you cannot use the adverse driving exception when you hit the blizzard. The exception is for unanticipated conditions only.

How to document it: note the conditions and timing in your log remarks. A dispatcher note, a weather report screenshot, or a photo of road conditions makes the record defensible if an audit questions the extension.

The short-haul exception (150 air-miles)

Some CDL drivers never leave a 150-air-mile radius from their normal reporting location. If that's you, you may qualify for the short-haul exception, which exempts you from certain logging requirements.⁷

To qualify, for each day you use the exception:⁷

• You must start and end the duty day at the same location
• You must not exceed 150 air-miles from that location
• You must not exceed a 14-hour on-duty period
• Your carrier must retain time records showing start/end times and total hours on-duty (paper or electronic)

In 2020 FMCSA raised the radius from 100 to 150 air-miles and the window from 12 to 14 hours, bringing the short-haul exception in line with standard HOS.³

You still observe the 11-hour driving limit, the 30-minute break, and the 60/70-hour weekly limit. The short-haul exception reduces paperwork — it does not expand driving limits.

If you exceed the 150-air-mile radius or the 14-hour window even once in a day, you must keep a full duty-status log for that day (and an ELD is required if you do this more than 8 days in any 30-day period).⁴⁷

ELDs and the HOS record

Most CDL drivers are required to record duty status electronically via an ELD (Electronic Logging Device) under 49 CFR Part 395 Subpart B.⁴

Exceptions (among the most commonly cited):

• Drivers who qualify for the short-haul exception every day they drive
• Drivers who use paper logs 8 or fewer days in any 30-day period
• Driveaway-towaway operations (vehicle being delivered is the commodity)
• CMVs with engines model year 1999 or older (age of the engine, not the chassis, per FMCSA interpretation)

Outside those exceptions, an ELD is required and must be on the FMCSA Registered ELDs list.⁴

The ELD automatically records driving time based on vehicle movement. Supporting documents (bills of lading, receipts, fueling records) must be retained per 49 CFR 395.11 to back the record.⁸

Supporting documents you must keep

Carriers retain — and can be compelled to produce during an audit — supporting documents for each day you drive. These include bills of lading, dispatch records, expense receipts, electronic payment records, and GPS data.⁸

Each document category: the carrier keeps up to eight per driver per 24-hour period under 49 CFR 395.11, retained for six months.⁸

For the driver: this mostly matters in the rare audit. The ELD is the primary record. Keep your paperwork organized in case your dispatcher asks for it or you need to verify a timeline against an ELD edit request.

Scenarios: how this plays out on a real run

Scenario 1 — standard OTR day

06:00 — on-duty, 30-min pre-trip 06:30 — start driving 11:30 — 5 hours driving, 30-min lunch break (satisfies the future 30-min break requirement) 12:00 — drive 3 more hours 15:00 — 30-min fuel + paperwork (on-duty not-driving) 15:30 — drive 3 hours (8 total driving — 30-min break already satisfied earlier) 18:30 — 15-min break 18:45 — drive remaining 2.5 hours 21:15 — arrive, 15-min post-trip 21:30 — off-duty

Driving time: 10.5 hours ✓ (under 11) On-duty window: 15:30 elapsed ✗ (OVER the 14-hour limit at 20:00)

Violation: you exceeded the 14-hour window. Dispatch should have routed shorter or staged a relay. This is why drivers hit the wall before the 11-hour driving limit — the 14-hour window almost always bites first.

Scenario 2 — using the split sleeper

06:00 — on-duty pre-trip 06:30 — drive 5 hours 11:30 — 7-hour sleeper berth 18:30 — drive 6 hours (6 + prior 5 = 11 driving total — but wait) After the 7-hour sleeper, your driving clock rewound to the end of that sleeper. You had only 5 driving hours counted up to the 7-hour break. After the 7-hour break, you have 11 more driving hours available — up to 22:30 if needed, though the 14-hour window runs from the end of the 7-hour break too. 00:30 — 3-hour off-duty period (completes the split pair) Effective reset point: your 10 hours off-duty (7+3) satisfies the full-break requirement

This is the simple case. Real-world splits get complex — always verify with your ELD's split-sleeper guidance before relying on one.

Scenario 3 — adverse driving conditions

You leave Denver eastbound at 06:00 with clear forecast. At 14:00 a sudden whiteout hits I-70 in Kansas — not in any forecast when you departed. You've driven 8 hours and used 8 hours of your 14. You stop until 16:00 when visibility returns.

Your 11-hour driving limit is 11 + 2 = 13 (adverse extension). Your 14-hour window is 14 + 2 = 16, ending at 22:00 instead of 20:00. You have until 22:00 to drive safely to the nearest reasonable stop.

What defends the extension at audit: your log remark noting the whiteout, timestamped NWS / dispatch weather evidence showing it wasn't forecast when you began, and your carrier's written adverse-driving policy.

What violations cost

HOS violations are both driver- and carrier-facing. The CSA BASIC category Hours of Service Compliance is one of seven used to score carriers and drivers under the Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program.⁹

• Driver consequences: points against your PSP (Pre-Employment Screening Program) record, possible suspension or disqualification depending on severity, downstream impact on hireability.
• Carrier consequences: CSA score damage, increased audit and roadside-inspection frequency, insurance cost impact, potential intervention by FMCSA.

For the driver, the practical read: HOS hits follow you via the PSP record, which every carrier pulls pre-hire. Consistent HOS accuracy is a career asset.

A note on honest logging

This guide walks through what the regulations allow. It does not cover — and will never cover — how to falsify, edit, conceal, or circumvent the HOS record. Log falsification is a federal violation — 49 CFR 395.8(e) expressly prohibits false reports on a driver's record of duty status — career-ending for a CDL driver, and potentially criminal.¹⁰

If your carrier pressures you to drive past your hours, document the pressure (text, email, screenshot) and report per 49 CFR 386 or your carrier's whistleblower policy. The Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) protects CDL drivers from retaliation for refusing to violate HOS.¹¹

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does a 10-hour off-duty period reset everything? A: A 10-hour off-duty period (or a qualifying split sleeper pair totaling 10 hours) resets the 11-hour driving limit and the 14-hour on-duty window. It does not reset the 60/70-hour weekly clock — only a 34-hour restart does that.¹

Q: If I drive 10.75 hours and take a 10-hour off-duty, can I then drive 11 more hours? A: Yes. After any 10 consecutive hours off-duty (or a qualifying split), the 11-hour driving and 14-hour on-duty clocks reset. Your 60/70-hour weekly total still accumulates, though.

Q: Can I count the 30-minute break as part of my 14-hour window? A: Yes — the 30-minute break runs concurrently with your 14-hour window. It does not extend the window. The only way to pause the 14-hour window is a qualifying split sleeper pair.³

Q: Does a personal conveyance drive time count toward the 11-hour driving limit? A: No. Time in personal conveyance (PC) is logged as off-duty, not driving. But PC is narrowly defined by FMCSA: movement from a shipper/receiver to the nearest safe rest, for example. Abuse of PC is a common violation found in audits. Follow your carrier's PC policy carefully.¹²

Q: Does yard move time count toward driving hours? A: Yard move time is logged as on-duty not-driving under a yard-move special status. It counts toward the 14-hour window but not the 11-hour driving limit.⁴

Q: What's the difference between 60/7 and 70/8? A: A carrier that does not operate CMVs every day of the week uses the 60-hour / 7-day rule. A carrier that operates every day uses the 70-hour / 8-day rule. Most line-haul and OTR carriers are 70/8. Ask your dispatcher which your carrier uses.¹

Q: Am I required to use an ELD? A: Yes, unless you fit a specific exception (short-haul every day, 8-days-or-fewer paper logs, driveaway-towaway, pre-2000 engine). The exceptions are narrow — most CDL drivers are on ELDs.⁴

Q: How do I handle detention time at a shipper or receiver? A: Log detention in on-duty not-driving status. Detention burns the 14-hour window. If you're stuck long enough that you'll run out of hours, notify dispatch early — they can often route a relay or reschedule the pickup. Some carriers pay detention; check your pay structure.

Q: If I make a logging mistake, can I edit my ELD log? A: Edits are allowed, but every edit leaves an audit trail on the ELD. You (the driver) must certify the edit. Malicious or false edits are a violation under 49 CFR 395.8. When in doubt, add an explanatory remark to the record rather than editing an entry.⁴

Q: Do HOS rules apply if I'm only driving across one state? A: Yes, if you're in interstate commerce — meaning your load, at some point in its journey, crosses a state line, even if your specific leg does not. Purely intrastate drivers follow state HOS rules, which closely mirror federal but can differ in details. Confirm with your state DOT.

Sources verified on 2026-04-17

This guide was verified against the primary regulatory text and FMCSA's published topic pages on 2026-04-17. It will be re-verified quarterly per ResumeGeni's editorial policy.

This guide is educational. It is not legal advice. Regulations change; verify anything driving-critical against FMCSA's current posting or your carrier's safety department. If you spot an error on this page, email [email protected] — corrections are logged publicly per our editorial policy.