Hours of Service regulations are the framework that governs every CDL-A driver's workday. They determine when you can drive, when you must stop, how long you need to rest, and how your weekly hours accumulate. Get them right and they're just part of the daily routine. Get them wrong and you're looking at fines, out-of-service orders, CSA points, and potentially your career.
The FMCSA issued 321,000 HOS violations in 2024, up 15% from the prior year. Most violations weren't from drivers trying to cheat the system — they were from misunderstanding the rules or poor record-keeping. Rocky Transport Inc.
This article breaks down every core rule, the key exemptions, the common mistakes, and what's changing in 2026.
The Four Core Rules
1. The 11-Hour Driving Limit
Property-carrying drivers may drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty. No driving is allowed beyond the 11th hour of driving time. Suburban Seats
The 11-hour clock counts only time behind the wheel. Pre-trip inspections, fueling, paperwork, waiting at docks — none of that counts against your 11. What resets it is 10 consecutive hours off duty.
2. The 14-Hour On-Duty Window
The workday begins when the driver first comes on duty. All driving must be completed within the 14-hour on-duty window. This total includes all periods of driving and all time spent on duty without driving. Simpletrucktax
This is the rule that surprises most new drivers. The 14-hour clock doesn't pause. Once it starts — the moment you go on duty — it runs until it hits 14 hours, period. If you start at 6:00 AM, you must stop all work by 8:00 PM regardless of how much driving time you have left. You could have 4 hours of driving time remaining and not be allowed to use it if the 14-hour clock has expired.
On-duty time includes any work performed for a motor carrier: inspections, paperwork, loading, unloading, fueling, or waiting at docks. All of it runs against your 14-hour window. Simply Fleet
The 14-hour window does not reset with a break or a nap in a rest area — only with 10 consecutive hours off duty (or the sleeper berth provisions covered below).
3. The 30-Minute Break
After 8 cumulative hours of driving time have elapsed, a driver must take a 30-minute break before continuing to drive.
The 30-minute break must interrupt driving but can be logged as off-duty, sleeper berth, or on-duty not driving. Simply Fleet
This is the rule most often misapplied by new drivers. The 30-minute break is about driving hours, not on-duty hours. If you've been driving 5 hours and then spent 4 hours on-duty at a dock (not driving), your driving time is still at 5 hours — you haven't triggered the 8-hour requirement yet, and the 30 minutes you spent waiting at the dock doesn't count as your break since you weren't stopping driving.
Plan your break before the 8-hour driving mark, not after. Eating a meal, fueling, or a rest stop all qualify as long as you're off duty for 30 consecutive minutes.
4. The 10-Hour Off-Duty Requirement
After any combination of driving and on-duty time that triggers the end of your window, you need 10 consecutive hours off duty before you can drive again. This resets both your 11-hour driving limit and your 14-hour window.
Those 10 hours must be consecutive. An 8-hour sleep and a 2-hour break later don't count — they have to be continuous.
The Weekly Limits: 60/7 and 70/8
These rules govern how many total on-duty hours a driver can accumulate over a rolling window of days.
The 70-hour rule restricts drivers from working more than 70 hours in any 8 consecutive days. The 60-hour rule limits drivers to 60 on-duty hours in any 7 consecutive days. Which rule applies depends on whether the carrier operates every day of the week — most OTR carriers use the 70/8 cycle. Simply Fleet
These weekly limits operate alongside the daily rules — a driver must comply with both. Running under the 70-hour limit doesn't mean you can ignore the 11-hour or 14-hour daily rules, and vice versa.
The 34-Hour Restart. A continuous off-duty period of at least 34 hours resets the 7-day or 8-day cumulative cycle back to zero. Simply Fleet This is the tool experienced drivers use to rebuild their weekly hours when they're approaching the 70-hour cap. Taking your 34-hour restart at home after a run is a good way to go into the next week with a clean slate.
Sleeper Berth Provisions
For OTR drivers with a sleeper berth, there's a mechanism to split the required 10-hour off-duty period across two breaks — which gives you more flexibility in how you schedule rest.
The standard split option is 8/2 — a minimum of 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth and at least 2 consecutive hours either off duty or in the sleeper berth. The 2-hour period can happen before or after the 8-hour period.
This rule allows you to divide your required 10-hour off-duty time into two qualifying periods. For example, you could rest for 7 hours in the sleeper berth and later take a 3-hour off-duty break to meet the full requirement under the 7/3 split. Suburban Seats
The key benefit: neither half counts against the 14-hour window. When you use the sleeper berth split, time in the berth doesn't eat into your driving window the way it would if you simply parked and waited.
There's an important technical point here: neither period individually qualifies as your 10-hour restart. They work together — both periods must be completed to reset your 11-hour and 14-hour limits.
What's coming in 2026. FMCSA is piloting a Flexible Sleeper Berth program that would expand the available split options to include 6/4 and 5/5 splits in addition to the existing 8/2 and 7/3 options. The goal is to give drivers even more flexibility in scheduling driving hours around rest needs. FMCSA This is currently in early pilot stage, not yet broadly available — but worth tracking.
Key Exemptions That Apply to OTR Drivers
Adverse Driving Conditions
FMCSA hours of service rules allow extending the 11-hour driving limit and 14-hour duty window by up to 2 hours if you encounter weather or traffic conditions that could not have been anticipated before the trip began. Suburban Seats
This is not a routine tool — it's an emergency provision for genuinely unexpected conditions that developed after departure. Driving into a storm you knew about before you left does not qualify. A sudden ice storm or unexpected road closure that traps you mid-trip does.
Document the conditions and the reason for the extension. Inspectors can and will ask.
Short-Haul Exemption
Drivers operating within 100 air miles of their work location and returning to the same location within 12 consecutive hours can use the short-haul exemption. Under this exemption, drivers do not need to maintain ELD logs, but must keep time records showing daily start and end times and total hours. Rocky Transport Inc.
If you exceed 100 air miles or work more than 12 hours even once in a month, you must use an ELD for that entire month. The short-haul exemption is all-or-nothing once violated in a monthly period.
Emergency Relief
Certain emergencies — natural disasters, national emergencies — trigger temporary HOS exemptions. FMCSA may lift or modify rules to allow drivers to deliver essential supplies or services without delay. Suburban Seats
These are issued at the federal or state level in response to declared emergencies. When they apply, they're typically communicated through FMCSA alerts and carrier compliance channels.
ELD Requirements and What's Changed in 2026
Electronic Logging Devices record your driving time automatically and are mandatory for most CDL drivers. They eliminated paper log manipulation and made HOS enforcement more objective — and more precise.
In February 2026, FMCSA removed multiple ELD devices from its approved list, requiring carriers and drivers to verify device compliance and update hardware where necessary. Using a non-approved device may lead to documentation violations during HOS-related inspections. Melton Truck Lines
If your carrier uses an ELD that was recently delisted, that's not the driver's fault — but the driver is the one at the inspection window. Know whether your device is currently FMCSA-approved and raise the issue with your carrier if there's any uncertainty.
FMCSA also formally issued a rule recognizing electronic Driver Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIRs) as compliant with federal requirements, including acceptance of electronic signatures and digital retention. This resolves prior ambiguity and supports streamlined, paperless compliance. Melton Truck Lines
Roadside inspections now include more thorough ELD data analysis. Officers are checking not just current status but looking back at patterns that might indicate hours manipulation or device tampering. Rocky Transport Inc.
The Most Common HOS Violations — and How to Avoid Them
Exceeding the 11-hour driving limit. Usually happens when a driver pushes to make a delivery rather than stop. The fix is planning your day around the clock, not around the destination.
Violating the 14-hour window. Often happens when a driver counts on a break resetting the window (it doesn't) or doesn't account for on-duty time before driving. Start your clock awareness from the first moment you go on duty, not from when you start the engine.
Missing the 30-minute break. Easy to let slip when the load is moving well. Set a reminder at 7.5 hours of driving time.
Log falsification or ELD tampering. Inspectors are looking at patterns, not just the current log. Systematic patterns of logs that perfectly max out hours every day, or ELD data that doesn't match vehicle movement records, are red flags. Rocky Transport Inc.
Personal conveyance misuse. Personal conveyance must be genuinely personal — moving your truck for your own benefit, not your employer's. You can use personal conveyance to drive to nearby restaurants, truck stops for parking, or home if you're an owner-operator. Using it to advance the load is a violation. Rocky Transport Inc.
Practical Day-Planning Around HOS
The drivers who rarely have HOS problems plan their day around the 14-hour clock first, not around the delivery window. A few habits that make a real difference:
Know your start time to the minute. The 14-hour clock starts when you go on duty — not when you start driving. If you spent 45 minutes on pre-trip before pulling out of the yard, those 45 minutes count.
Check your weekly hours before planning each run. Knowing you have 58 hours left on a 70-hour cycle is critical information for accepting a multi-day load.
Build the 30-minute break into your route planning before you need it, not as a scramble at hour eight.
If dispatch is pressuring you to run past your hours, that pressure is documented in your logs and on your ELD. A pattern of being pushed to violate HOS is a carrier problem, and it's one that inspectors take seriously.
At OTR Express Group, we connect CDL-A OTR drivers with carriers that run legitimate, well-structured operations where HOS compliance is supported, not undermined. If you want to work with a carrier that respects the clock, reach out.
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