Check the current rules yourself
This is a plain-language overview of federal hours of service rules for property-carrying drivers, written to help you know what to look up. It is not the regulation. HOS rules change, exceptions have conditions, and some states apply different intrastate rules. Confirm the current text on the FMCSA website before you rely on any of it.
The core limits
What the clocks are
- 11-hour driving limit — maximum driving time after 10 consecutive hours off duty.
- 14-hour window — you cannot drive beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty. This clock does not stop for breaks, meals or loading. It's the one that catches people.
- 30-minute break — required after a set period of driving time, satisfied by an interruption from driving rather than necessarily going off duty.
- 60/70-hour limit — a rolling cycle over 7 or 8 consecutive days depending on whether your carrier operates every day of the week.
- 34-hour restart — resets the weekly cycle after the required consecutive off-duty period.
The exceptions people get wrong
- Personal conveyance. Genuinely off-duty movement not advancing the load. Driving to a truck stop after delivering can qualify; repositioning closer to your next pickup generally does not. This is one of the most commonly misused settings on an ELD.
- Yard move. On-duty movement within a defined property. It has to actually be a yard, not a public road you'd rather not log as driving.
- Adverse driving conditions. Extends driving time in specific unforeseen conditions. Weather you knew about before dispatch generally isn't unforeseen.
- Short-haul exception. Relieves certain drivers of ELD and logging requirements within defined radius and time conditions. Exceed the conditions on one day and the exception doesn't apply to that day.
- Split sleeper. Lets qualifying periods in the sleeper pause the 14-hour clock under specific pairing rules. Powerful when understood, an easy violation when not.
Where violations actually come from
In our experience the common causes are an ELD configured wrong at setup — wrong cycle, wrong timezone, exemptions enabled that shouldn't be — and unassigned driving time nobody clears. Both are setup and admin problems rather than driving problems, and both show up in an audit.
Answers
Frequently asked questions
What is the 14-hour rule?
You cannot drive beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty following 10 consecutive hours off. The critical part is that this clock keeps running through breaks, meals, loading and unloading — it does not pause. Long dock waits are the most common reason drivers run out of 14-hour window with driving hours still available.
Can I use personal conveyance to get closer to my next load?
Generally no. Personal conveyance is intended for genuinely off-duty movement that does not advance the load — for example driving to a nearby truck stop after delivering. Repositioning toward your next pickup advances the load. This is one of the most commonly misused ELD settings and it shows up clearly in an audit.
What causes most HOS violations?
In practice, ELDs configured incorrectly at setup — wrong cycle, wrong timezone, exemptions enabled that shouldn't be — and unassigned driving time that nobody clears. Both are administrative problems rather than driving problems, and both are entirely preventable.
Rather have someone else handle this?
This is what we do every day for carriers. Dispatch from 6% of gross or $300 a week, no contracts, first week free.