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Do you understand the most recent HOS regulation changes?
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Short Haul Exemption
Property and passenger carriers using the short-haul exception in §395.1(e)(1) are not required to take a 30-minute break from driving, and are permitted to record hours on a time card, rather than a paper log or ELD.
150 air miles = 172.62 statute miles
For purposes of the logging, you must stay within 172.62 statute miles of your normal work location. It can apply for any day you drive within a 150-air-mile radius of your normal work location. You must start and end your shift in the same location and within 14 hours. You must have at least 10 hours off in between shifts. The 150-air-mile radius exception is optional, meaning it’s up to your carrier to decide whether they want to use it or have you run logs.
Adverse Driving Conditions
Adverse driving conditions go in effect when unforeseen adverse driving conditions affect your route. So how does FMCSR really define Adverse Driving Conditions? “Adverse driving conditions means, snow, ice, sleet, fog, or other adverse weather conditions or unusual road or traffic conditions that were not know, or could not reasonably be known”
Example:
Driver started his clock at midnight, drives for 3 hours & 45 minutes, is off-duty for 1 hour, drives for 4 hours, and is on-duty for 1 hour. The driver then hears that a bridge on the route ahead is closed due to a fuel spill, and the bridge is the only way to get where he needs to go. He takes 1-hour off-duty from 10 am to 11 am to wait at a truck stop while the bridge is cleared, then drives for 4 more hours to the receiver. This results in the driver driving for 11 hours 45 minutes, and also operating beyond the 14-hour driving window by 1 hour between 2 pm and 3 pm. There is no violation of either the 11 or 14 hour limit under the new HOS rule when using adverse driving conditions exception.
How do you log this? After the driver sat for one hour and prior to rolling again a remark is necessary to explain why you are going to exceed your hours. For the above example a good note would state “Extending my clock 1 hour due to Adverse Conditions from a fuel spill that caused me to shut down for 1 hour” Then log your movement on the driveline.
Split Sleeper
Hours of service regulations state that you can drive a maximum of 11 hours during a 14 hour workday. When your workday ends, you must take a 10 hour break before you can drive again. This is the way it works most of the time for most drivers. There is an exception called the split sleeper.
This option allows you to pause your 14 hour clock by splitting your 10 hours off duty into two periods of time. The split sleeper can be a valuable tool, but it’s important to fully understand how it works to make sure you use it correctly.
Here are the rules for using the split sleeper option: Although you still must take a 10 hour break, you can do it in two periods of time. One period must be at least seven consecutive hours and it MUST be in the sleeper berth. The other period must be at least two hours and can be in the sleeper berth, off duty or a combination of both. When added together, the two rest periods must equal at least 10 hours and both of those periods will not count against your 14. At the end of the second period, your 14-hour day and 11 hours of drive time are refigured.
The split sleeper option can be used continually for as long as it benefits you. However, a full break of 10 consecutive hours is needed to resume a normal work cycle. To clarify the split sleeper option, let’s look at an example of how it works.
Example:
In this example, we see how the sleeper berth provision affects both the 11 hour driving limit and the 14 hour driving window. There are no violations in this example.
The driver goes on duty at midnight after having 10 consecutive hours off duty, which means he or she can drive for up to 11 hours within a 14 hour window. The driver used those 11 hours by 5 pm then entered the sleeper berth for 7 consecutive hours. Because the driver accumulated at least 10 hours of rest using a combination of 3 consecutive hours off-duty (10 am-1 pm) and 7 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth (5 pm to midnight), the driver has not violated the 11 hour driving limit.
Because both periods are qualifying rest breaks, when used together, they can both be excluded from the 14 hour driving window, so there is no 14 hour violation. After the driver completes 7 hours in the sleeper berth he/she has a 7 hour window to drive 6 hours. Then at that time he/she can either go off duty for 3 hours and get what he/she didn’t use in between the 2 split periods OR conduct a 10 hour break to reset his/her HOS.
30 Minute Break
Per §395.3(a)(3)(ii), property-carrying CMV drivers are required to take a 30-minute break. The required break must be at least 30 consecutive minutes long. It can be taken at any time during your first eight hours of driving. The eight hours only includes cumulative driving time since your last rest break of at 30 minutes. You may perform on-duty, not driving tasks during this break. These all qualify as a 30-minute break:· Eating a meal, resting in your parked vehicle, scanning paperwork, fueling, taking a walk or exercising or any other non-work activity. The break may be logged as on duty (not driving), off duty, sleeper berth or a combination of.
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