Hours of Service Rules for Property-Carrying Drivers

The property-carrying rules at a glance

All of this is in 49 CFR 395.3 and 395.1. The rest of this page explains how each limit plays out on a real day.

The 11-hour driving limit and the 14-hour window

After 10 straight hours off duty, you get up to 11 hours behind the wheel. Those 11 hours have to fit inside a 14-hour window that starts the moment you come on duty, including pre-trip inspection and paperwork.

The window is the rule that catches people. Off-duty time, a lunch stop, or 3 hours at a shipper waiting on a load do not pause it. Say you come on duty at 6:00 a.m., drive 4 hours, then sit at a receiver from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. You have used only 4 of your 11 driving hours, but your window closes at 8:00 p.m. You have 5 hours left to drive, no matter how much of the 11 you have left. The only routine way to stop the clock is a qualifying sleeper berth split, covered below.

The 30-minute break

You cannot drive once you have accumulated 8 hours of driving time without a break of at least 30 consecutive minutes. The break can be off duty, sleeper berth, on duty not driving, or a mix. Fueling, a DOT inspection, or waiting at a dock all count, as long as the truck is not moving under your control for 30 straight minutes. Drivers using either short-haul exception do not need the break.

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

If your carrier does not operate every day of the week, you cannot drive after 60 hours on duty in 7 consecutive days. If it operates every day, the limit is 70 hours in 8 days. Most over-the-road carriers use 70/8. Driving stops at the limit, but you can still do on-duty work.

A restart of 34 or more consecutive hours off duty starts a new 7 or 8 day period. The restart is optional. You can also let old hours fall off the back of the rolling period.

Sleeper berth splits: 7/3 and 8/2

A driver in a truck with a sleeper berth can meet the 10-hour off-duty requirement in two pieces if:

• One period is at least 7 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth.
• The other is at least 2 consecutive hours, either off duty or in the berth.
• The two periods add up to at least 10 hours.

That allows 7/3, 8/2, 7.5/2.5, and similar pairings, taken in either order. When the pair is complete, neither period counts against the 14-hour window, and you recalculate your 11 and 14 from the end of the first period. In practice this is how a driver turns 3 hours of waiting at a shipper into usable time: log those hours as off duty or sleeper berth, then take 7 hours in the berth later.

Splits are where most log math errors happen. An ELD that calculates the split for you is worth checking before you rely on it.

Adverse driving conditions

If you hit snow, ice, sleet, fog, other bad weather, or unusual road or traffic conditions that you could not reasonably have known about when you started your day (or after your last qualifying break), you may drive up to 2 extra hours. Under the current text of 395.1(b)(1), the extension applies to both the 11-hour driving limit and the 14-hour window, so you can finish the run or reach a safe place. Rush-hour traffic you drive through every day does not qualify. Annotate the log with what happened.

Personal conveyance and yard moves

Personal conveyance is moving the truck for personal reasons while off duty, after the carrier has released you from all work. FMCSA's guidance accepts trips such as going from a truck stop to a restaurant, commuting home from a drop yard, or moving to the first reasonable safe place to rest after loading or unloading. It allows a loaded truck when the load is not moving for the carrier's benefit. It rules out bobtailing to the next pickup, driving to a maintenance shop, or skipping available parking to get closer to the next stop. Carriers can set tighter limits.

Yard moves are on-duty not driving time spent moving the truck inside a yard or other area closed to public traffic. Your carrier has to enable the special driving categories in your ELD account. If it does not, you annotate the start and end yourself.

The 150 air-mile short-haul exception

Drivers who stay within 150 air miles (about 172.6 statute miles) of their normal work reporting location, are released within 14 hours, and get 10 hours off between shifts do not need logs or an ELD. The carrier keeps time records for 6 months instead. A separate exception covers non-CDL drivers. Conditions for both are on our ELD exemptions page.

Proposals that are not in effect

In September 2025 FMCSA proposed two pilot programs. One would let about 256 drivers split sleeper berth time more flexibly than 7/3. The other would let about 256 drivers pause the 14-hour window for 30 minutes to 3 hours. In October 2026 FMCSA published information collection notices for both, with comments due December 7, 2026. As of October 2026, neither has changed the rules above. Only selected pilot participants would operate under them.

Passenger-carrying vehicles

Bus and motorcoach drivers follow 49 CFR 395.5: up to 10 hours of driving after 8 consecutive hours off duty, no driving after 15 hours on duty, and the same 60/70-hour limits, with no 34-hour restart provision and no 30-minute break rule.

Keeping it straight on the road

DocuDrive's driver app logs your hours of service automatically from engine data, and Inspection Mode shows the logs an officer asks for. It is $20 per truck per month with a 14-day free trial. See who needs an ELD, what happens at an inspection, or get started.