During your truck-driving career, you will spend seemingly countless hours on the road, driving from one destination to the next. Not all of this time will be spent behind the wheel; you still need to spend time taking care of yourself. Understanding the Department of Transportation’s hours-of-service regulations is critical to an enjoyable and successful life on the road. The following is a guide to hours-of-service regulations from your fellow drivers at Bay & Bay Transportation in Minneapolis, MN to assist you in your truck-driving career.
You are allowed a fourteen-hour window of consecutive driving time. Let’s say you start driving at 6 a.m. You may log fourteen consecutive hours of commercial driving, so you would not be able to do any more driving after 8 p.m. You are then required to take ten consecutive hours off-duty before driving again. During these fourteen hours of driving, you may only drive for eleven hours total. You are also required to take a thirty-minute break every eight consecutive hours of commercial driving.
Your on-duty time is not just time spent behind the wheel. While on-duty, you will also be inspecting, fueling, performing maintenance on your truck, loading and unloading shipments, handling paperwork, and completing other work-related responsibilities.
Every minute of your ten-hour break is precious. Under the sleeper berth provision, the DOT requires drivers to take a minimum of eight consecutive hours in the sleeper berth. They must also take an additional two consecutive hours of time off-duty, in the sleeper berth, or both. Most likely, these ten hours will not be ten straight hours of sleep. You will want to include other things as well, like taking a shower, sitting down to eat a meal, getting some exercise, etc. Plan your off-duty time well so that you can return to the road feeling properly recharged.
The driver’s daily log is your best resource for keeping track of your driving hours and break hours. Drivers use written forms, an electronic logging device (ELD), or an automatic on-board recording device (AOBRD). We encourage our drivers to diligently record their time every single day, including all off-duty time.
Need more information about hours-of-service regulations? The Department of Transportation offers handy information in their drivers’ guide. You can also contact us at Bay & Bay Transportation in Minneapolis, MN to discover how we support our drivers in their truck-driving careers. Our drivers’ safety and success is our top priority.