The Hours-of-Service Rules Truck Drivers Must Follow, Explained

What Are Hours-of-Service Rules for Truck Drivers?

The rules apply to both trucking companies (the regulations call them motor carriers) and their drivers. A carrier can’t permit or require a driver to go over the limits, and a driver can’t drive past them, no matter how many carriers that driver works for.

A few terms come up when hours are counted:

Driving time is all the time a driver spends at the controls of a commercial motor vehicle in operation.^[2]

On-duty time is broader. Along with driving, it covers inspecting or servicing the truck, loading and unloading, waiting to be dispatched, other work for a motor carrier, and paid work for anyone else.

Off-duty time starts when the driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work. Sleeper berth time is rest in the truck’s sleeping compartment, which has to meet federal equipment standards. Both can count toward required rest, but each is logged as its own duty status.

The driving window is the 14 consecutive hours that start when a driver comes on duty after 10 consecutive hours off. Think of it as a clock that keeps running. Meals, waiting, and short breaks inside the window don’t stop it. The main exception is the sleeper berth split, which we cover below.

Current FMCSA Hours-of-Service Limits

Here’s how the daily limits play out for a driver who comes on duty at 6:00 a.m. after 10 hours off. Their 14-hour window closes at 8:00 p.m.

• 6:00 to 6:30 a.m.: They complete a pre-trip inspection. That is on-duty time, but not driving time.
• 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.: They drive for 8 hours. Now they need a 30-minute break before they can drive again.
• 2:30 to 3:00 p.m.: They supervise the loading of freight. That half hour counts as their break.
• 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.: They drive 3 more hours, which brings them to the 11-hour driving limit.

They can’t drive again that day, even though their window stays open until 8:00 p.m. If their log showed them driving again that evening, that would be a violation unless an exception applied.

Bus drivers and other passenger-carrying drivers have different daily limits. They can drive up to 10 hours after 8 consecutive hours off duty, and they can’t drive after they’ve been on duty for 15 hours following that rest. The same 60-hour/7-day and 70-hour/8-day limits apply, but the 34-hour restart and the 30-minute break rule for freight drivers don’t.^[5]

Drivers of commercial motor vehicles used in interstate commerce have to follow the federal hours-of-service rules unless an exception applies. Interstate commerce includes trips that cross state lines. It also includes in-state legs of a shipment that begins or ends in another state.^[6]

In general, a vehicle counts as a commercial motor vehicle if it meets any one of these descriptions:

• It has a gross vehicle weight rating, gross combination weight rating, or actual weight of 10,001 pounds or more. A gross vehicle weight rating is the manufacturer’s maximum loaded weight for the vehicle.
• It is designed or used to carry more than 8 passengers, including the driver, for compensation.
• It is designed or used to carry more than 15 passengers, including the driver, without compensation.
• It hauls hazardous materials in a quantity that requires placards, the hazard warning signs posted on the vehicle.

Part 395 covers every motor carrier and driver unless an exception in section 395.1 applies. The broader federal safety rules also leave out some operations entirely, such as transportation by federal, state, or local governments. Because exceptions depend on the facts, which rules apply to a driver can turn on the vehicle, the cargo, the route, and that day’s schedule.

Intrastate operations follow state rules. In Colorado, the Colorado State Patrol’s commercial vehicle rules (8 CCR 1507-1) adopt Part 395 for carriers operating in Colorado, including those that never leave the state. Colorado uses its own definition of a covered vehicle, which generally starts at 16,001 pounds rather than 10,001 pounds, and makes a few changes to Part 395. For example, Colorado treats the agricultural planting and harvesting season as the entire year.^[7]

In a crash case, sorting this out is often an early step. Before anyone can say a driver broke the rules, you need to know which rules applied to that driver on that day.

Unless an exception applies, a carrier covered by Part 395 must have each driver keep a record of duty status for every 24-hour period. This record, usually called a log, shows when the driver was off duty, in the sleeper berth, driving, or on duty but not driving.^[8]

Most drivers have to keep it on a registered electronic logging device (ELD), a device that records driving time automatically.^[9] Paper logs are still allowed for:

• Drivers who need a log on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period.
• Certain driveaway-towaway operations, such as when the vehicle being driven is itself being delivered.
• Vehicles manufactured before model year 2000, as shown by the vehicle identification number.

The ELD automatically captures the date, time, location, engine hours, vehicle miles, and driver, vehicle, and carrier identification. Drivers still enter their other duty status changes, such as going off duty, and certify that their records are accurate. Any edit to a record has to include a note explaining it.

Carriers must keep these records, along with supporting documents (business records that can be used to check the logs), for at least 6 months. Together, the ELD data and supporting documents can show what a driver’s day actually looked like, which is why they matter so much after a crash.

Many exceptions change only one or two requirements. Others take qualifying drivers outside Part 395 entirely, such as the exceptions for utility service vehicles and covered farm vehicles. If a driver doesn’t meet an exception’s conditions, the standard limits apply.^[10]

Short-haul exception (150 air-miles). This exception removes the logbook, not the limits. It covers a driver who stays within a 150 air-mile radius (172.6 statute miles) of home base, meaning the driver’s normal work reporting location. Because it’s a radius, distance is measured from home base, not by the miles driven.

The driver also has to return to home base and be released within 14 consecutive hours, and get the required off-duty time between shifts. A driver who meets all of those conditions doesn’t need a record of duty status or supporting documents.

Instead, the carrier has to keep accurate time records for 6 months showing when the driver reported for duty, total hours on duty each day, and when the driver was released. For a driver used for the first time or only now and then, the records must also show total on-duty time for the previous 7 days. Qualifying short-haul drivers also don’t need the 30-minute break. The 11-hour driving limit and the 60/70-hour weekly limits still apply.

Non-CDL short-haul exception. This version covers drivers of freight trucks that don’t require a commercial driver’s license (CDL). They have to stay within 150 air miles and return to home base at the end of each shift. They can drive until the 14th hour after coming on duty, or until the 16th hour on up to 2 days of any 7-day period. The carrier must keep the same kind of time records.

These drivers also don’t need the 30-minute break, but the 11-hour driving limit and the 60/70-hour limits still apply. They can’t combine this exception with the other short-haul exception, the sleeper berth split, or the 16-hour exception.

16-hour exception. A freight driver who regularly starts and ends shifts at the same home base can occasionally stretch the 14-hour window to 16 hours. To use it, the driver must:

• Have been released from that home base at the end of each of the last five shifts.
• Return there and be released within 16 hours of coming on duty.
• Not have used this exception in the previous 6 consecutive days. A 34-hour restart resets that count.

The 11-hour driving limit doesn’t change.

Adverse driving conditions. Unexpected bad weather or road conditions can buy a driver up to 2 extra hours. The exception applies when snow, ice, sleet, fog, other adverse weather, or unusual road or traffic conditions keep a driver from safely finishing the run within the normal limits.

In that case, the driving limit and the driving window can each be extended by up to 2 hours, so the driver can finish the run or reach a safe place. For a freight driver, that means up to 13 hours of driving within a 16-hour window.

But the exception only covers conditions the driver didn’t know about, and couldn’t reasonably have known about, right before starting the duty day or right before driving again after a qualifying rest break or sleeper berth period. The same test applies to the carrier right before it dispatches the driver. Conditions that were known, or reasonably should have been known, at those points don’t qualify.

So for a Colorado driver, a winter storm on I-70 may or may not qualify. It depends on what the driver and the carrier knew, or should have known, before the trip.

Sleeper berth split. A freight driver can split the required 10 hours off into two rest periods instead of one. One period must be at least 7 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth. The other must be at least 2 consecutive hours, spent off duty, in the berth, or both. Together, they must add up to at least 10 hours. When the two periods are paired this way, neither one counts against the 14-hour window.

The limits are then recalculated from the end of the first rest period. The driving before and after each rest period can’t add up to more than 11 hours, and no driving can take place after the 14th hour, counting the time before and after each rest period but not the rest periods themselves. Passenger-carrying drivers who use a sleeper berth follow a separate 8-hour rule.

Other specific exceptions. Section 395.1 also has narrower exceptions for agricultural transport during planting and harvesting periods set by each state, driver-salespersons, oilfield operations, groundwater well drilling, and construction materials, among others. Each comes with its own conditions.

Pilot programs are not rule changes. FMCSA is preparing two pilot programs that would test new options with approved drivers. One would test more ways to split sleeper berth time. The other would let drivers pause the 14-hour window for an extra break of up to 3 hours a day. Neither changes the rules for drivers outside the programs.

The takeaway: an exception only helps a driver who actually meets its conditions. When one is claimed after a crash, the driver’s records are the place to check.

Hours-of-service violations often start small, with time that’s miscounted, mislabeled, or pushed just past a limit. They don’t always involve a deliberate decision to break the rules. Here are some common patterns:

Waiting time that uses up the window. Hours spent waiting at a shipper or receiver count toward the 14-hour window. A driver stuck at a loading dock can run out of the window while still having driving hours left. Finishing the run anyway is a violation.

Duty status logged incorrectly. Logging loading time as off duty, logging waiting time as off duty when the driver wasn’t actually relieved from work, or marking work time as sleeper berth time can make a noncompliant day look compliant. Federal rules prohibit false reports by both drivers and carriers.

Claiming an exception that does not apply. A driver who goes beyond 150 air-miles, or isn’t released within 14 hours, can’t use the short-haul exception for that day and has to keep a regular log instead. A driver who needs a log on more than 8 days in any 30-day period generally must use an ELD. Whether the driver knew about it before the duty day began, or the carrier knew about it before dispatch, doesn’t count as an adverse driving condition.

Personal conveyance used for work. Personal conveyance means using the truck for personal reasons while off duty, like driving from a motel to a restaurant. Under FMCSA guidance, a driver can log that time as off duty only when relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work. Moving the truck to get closer to the next pickup or delivery, or to continue a trip for a business purpose, doesn’t qualify.^[11] That time counts as driving time.

Hours worked for another company. The limits apply no matter how many carriers a driver works for. Paid work for an employer that isn’t a motor carrier also counts as on-duty time.

Dispatch pressure and edited records. A carrier can’t permit or require a driver to drive beyond the limits. It also can’t coerce a driver, for example by threatening the driver’s job or work, into falsely certifying a record. And it can’t alter or erase the original hours-of-service data an ELD collects.

Wondering how investigators compare logs with fuel receipts, toll records, and dispatch data? We cover that on our page about hours-of-service violations in truck crashes.

Think one of these patterns may have played a part in your crash? Contact us or call 303-567-7981, and we can help you figure out where to start.

An hours-of-service violation can be important evidence in a truck accident claim, but it isn’t automatic proof of liability. Whether it matters depends on how the violation connects to the crash and how Colorado negligence law treats it.^[12]

After a serious crash, the driver’s hours are often among the first things reviewed. ELD records and supporting documents can build a timeline: when the driver came on duty, how long they’d been behind the wheel, and when they last had real rest. Federal rules require carriers to keep those records for at least 6 months, which is one reason they’re requested early.

In Colorado, a safety statute or ordinance can set the standard of care, meaning the level of care the law expects. For that to apply:

• The injured person must be someone the law was meant to protect.
• The harm must be the kind the law was meant to prevent.
• The violation must have caused the injury.

A violation of such a law can also be offered as evidence that someone failed to use reasonable care. Whether a federal hours-of-service regulation can play either role in a particular case is a question for the court.

Causation, meaning the link between the violation and the crash, still has to be shown. A logbook violation from several days earlier may have little to do with a crash caused by another driver running a red light. But a driver who was past the 11-hour limit when drifting across a center line raises a very different question.

Fatigue is a related but separate question. A driver can be within every limit and still be impaired by poor sleep, and a paperwork violation doesn’t by itself prove the driver was drowsy. We cover the warning signs and evidence in those cases in our guide to truck driver fatigue crashes.

When the schedule comes from dispatch, the carrier’s own conduct can matter. Direct negligence claims are claims that the company itself was careless, such as in hiring or supervising its driver. Since a 2021 amendment, Colorado law has allowed an injured person to pursue those claims even when the employer acknowledges responsibility for its driver’s negligence.^[13]