Every property-carrying CDL driver works inside four federal limits at once: a 10-hour reset before the shift, a 14-hour window, 11 hours of driving inside that window, and a weekly cap of 60 or 70 hours. A fifth rule, the 30-minute break, sits inside the window. They are all in one short section, 49 CFR 395.3, and most of the confusion about them comes from mixing up which clock a given activity runs. This page takes them one at a time, then goes through the exceptions drivers actually use, with worked examples.
Who these rules cover
Section 395.1(a)(1) applies Part 395 to all motor carriers and drivers, except as provided in paragraphs (b) through (x) of the same section. Section 395.3 covers property-carrying commercial motor vehicles. Bus and motorcoach drivers are under a different set of numbers in 395.5, covered at the end of this page. Section 395.3(a) and (b) both say the limits apply "regardless of the number of motor carriers using the driver's services": time worked for a second carrier counts against the same clocks.
Three definitions the rules depend on
Section 395.2 defines the terms. Driving time is "all time spent at the driving controls of a commercial motor vehicle in operation." On-duty time is all time from when a driver begins work, or is required to be in readiness to work, until the driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work. It includes driving but also loading supervision, inspections, fuelling and waiting at a shipper when the driver is not relieved. Off duty is time when the driver is relieved of all of that. The practical point: the 11-hour limit counts only driving; the 14-hour window counts the clock, whatever the driver is doing.
Rule 1: 10 hours off before the shift
395.3(a)(1): a driver may not drive without first taking 10 consecutive hours off duty. This is the reset that starts the next window. Sleeper berth time can count toward it, and the split-sleeper option is covered on a separate page.
Rule 2: the 14-hour window
395.3(a)(2): a driver may not drive after 14 consecutive hours after coming on duty following the 10 hours off. The window does not pause. A lunch break, a two-hour wait at a dock or a nap in the cab (other than a qualifying split sleeper period) all sit inside the 14 hours. When the window closes, the driver may still do on-duty work that is not driving, but may not drive until another 10 hours off.
Rule 3: 11 hours of driving
395.3(a)(3)(i): a driver may drive a total of 11 hours during the 14-hour window. Driving time only, so the 11 and the 14 run side by side: whichever runs out first ends driving for the day.
Rule 4: the 30-minute break
395.3(a)(3)(ii): driving is not permitted if more than 8 hours of driving time have passed without at least a consecutive 30-minute interruption in driving status. The trigger is 8 hours of driving, not 8 hours on duty. The break can be off duty, sleeper berth, on-duty not driving, or any combination, so 30 minutes fuelling and doing paperwork counts, as long as it is 30 consecutive minutes out of the driver's seat. Drivers using either short-haul exception in 395.1(e)(1) or (2) are not subject to the break.
Rule 5: 60 hours in 7 days or 70 in 8
395.3(b): no driving after being on duty 60 hours in any 7 consecutive days if the employing carrier does not operate every day of the week, or 70 hours in any 8 consecutive days if it does. Most over-the-road carriers run every day and use 70/8. This is a rolling total of on-duty time, not driving time, and "7 or 8 consecutive days" means 24-hour periods as designated by the carrier for the driver's home terminal (395.8(f)(8)(ii)).
The 34-hour restart
395.3(c): any period of 7 or 8 consecutive days may end with the beginning of an off-duty period of 34 or more consecutive hours. In plain terms, 34 hours off resets the weekly total to zero. The current text has no limit on how often it can be used and no requirement for particular nights inside it.
A worked example
Example, applying the rules above. A driver comes on duty at 06:00 after 10 hours off. Pre-trip and loading until 07:00, then drives from 07:00. The 14-hour window closes at 20:00 regardless of anything else. At 15:00 the driver has 8 hours of driving and must take a 30-minute break before driving again. Suppose the break is 15:00 to 15:30 and the driver resumes. Three more hours of driving reaches 11 at 18:30, so driving ends at 18:30, before the window closes. If instead the driver spent two hours at a receiver in the afternoon, the window would still close at 20:00, and only as much of the 11 hours as fits before then can be used.
Adverse driving conditions: two more hours
395.1(b)(1): a driver who encounters adverse driving conditions and cannot, because of them, safely complete the run within the limits may drive for not more than two additional hours beyond the maximum in 395.3(a) to complete the run or reach a safe place. 395.2 defines adverse conditions narrowly: snow, ice, sleet, fog, other adverse weather, or unusual road or traffic conditions that were not known, or could not reasonably be known, to the driver immediately before the duty day or before driving after a qualifying rest, or to the carrier before dispatch. Forecast weather and the regular rush hour do not qualify.
The short-haul exceptions
395.1(e)(1), the 150 air-mile exception, exempts a driver from the log requirements of 395.8 and 395.11 if the driver stays within a 150 air-mile radius (172.6 statute miles) of the normal work reporting location, returns there and is released within 14 consecutive hours, has at least 10 hours off between each 14 on duty (8 for passenger vehicles), and the carrier keeps time records for 6 months showing reporting time, hours on duty, release time and, for new or intermittent drivers, the preceding 7 days. The driving limits themselves still apply; what goes away is the record of duty status, and with it the ELD.
395.1(e)(2) covers drivers of property-carrying vehicles that do not require a CDL: within 150 air miles and back at the reporting location each day, they may drive until the 14th hour on 5 days and the 16th hour on 2 days in any 7.
395.1(o), the once-a-week 16-hour extension, lets a property-carrying driver who has been released from the normal reporting location for the previous five duty tours extend the 14-hour window to 16 hours once, if released there within 16 hours, and not again within 6 consecutive days unless a 34-hour restart intervenes.
Other exceptions in 395.1
- (f) retail store deliveries within 100 air miles, December 10 to 25: 395.3(a) and (b) do not apply.
- (k) agricultural operations during state-set planting and harvesting periods, within 150 air miles of the source: Part 395 does not apply.
- (l), (m) ground water well drilling and construction materials: the 7 or 8-day period may end with 24 hours off instead of 34.
- (u), (v) bees and livestock: no 30-minute break while the animals are on board.
- (j) travel time at the carrier's direction counts as on duty unless the driver gets 10 hours off on arrival.
Bus and motorcoach drivers
395.5(a): a passenger-carrying driver may not drive more than 10 hours following 8 consecutive hours off, or after being on duty 15 hours following 8 hours off. 395.5(b) keeps the same 60/7 and 70/8 weekly limits. There is no 34-hour restart in 395.5 and no 30-minute break.
Where this meets parking
The rules say when to stop; they do not find the space. The 14-hour window is the one that strands drivers, because it keeps running while the driver searches. The practical habit is to plan the last stop against the window, not the 11 hours, and to have a second choice within 30 to 50 miles of the first. The truck parking and truck stop directories list public rest areas and truck stops by state and town for that purpose.
Records of duty status are kept by the carrier for at least 6 months (395.8(k)(1)), and the driver must have the previous 7 days available while on duty (395.8(k)(2)).