The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Hours of Service (HOS) Rules

Driver fatigue is one of the most consistently documented causes of commercial vehicle crashes. The FMCSA’s Hours of Service (HOS) rules exist for that reason: to limit how long a commercial motor vehicle driver can be behind the wheel in a given day and week, and to guarantee enough rest before they drive again. The rules are detailed. They interact with each other in ways that aren’t always obvious, and the penalty for getting them wrong ranges from a fine to an out-of-service order to a suspended CDL. 

This article covers every current HOS rule — for both property-carrying and passenger-carrying drivers — plus the full range of exemptions, the ELD requirements that go alongside them, the penalties for violations, and the pilot programs FMCSA launched in 2025 that could change the 14-hour window in the years ahead. If you need a quick reference for your compliance management team, the comparison table below covers the key limits side by side. 

What Is HOS and Who Does It Apply To? 

HOS stands for Hours of Service — the regulations under 49 CFR Part 395 that govern how long commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers can drive and be on duty. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation, sets and enforces these rules. Most commercial drivers operating in interstate commerce are subject to these rules.

A CMV is generally any vehicle used as part of a business that: 

• weighs more than 10,001 pounds (GVWR or GCWR) 

• is designed to transport 16 or more passengers (including the driver), not for compensation 

• is designed to transport 9 or more passengers for compensation 

• transports hazardous materials in a quantity requiring placards 

HOS rules also apply to many intrastate carriers — most states have adopted compatible regulations for commercial vehicles operating entirely within state lines. The rules differ slightly depending on whether you’re operating a property-carrying vehicle (the most common case — freight trucks, flatbeds, tankers) or a passenger-carrying vehicle (buses, charter coaches). The limits for each are covered below. 

Core HOS Rules for Property-Carrying Drivers 

These are the HOS rules that apply to the majority of commercial truck drivers. All limits work together — hitting any one of them means the driver must stop driving, even if they haven’t hit the others. 

• 11-Hour Driving Limit: A property-carrying driver may drive a maximum of 11 hours within a single duty period. Once those 11 hours are used, the driver must go off duty and cannot drive again until they’ve had 10 consecutive hours off. The 11-hour limit applies regardless of how many stops are taken during the day.

• 14-Hour Driving Window: All driving must be completed within 14 consecutive hours of coming on duty. The clock starts with any on-duty activity, such as a pre-trip inspection, loading, or paperwork, and breaks don’t pause it. A driver who starts at 6 AM must finish driving by 8 PM, even with unused driving hours left. After the window closes, the driver needs 10 consecutive hours off duty before driving again.

• 10-Hour Off-Duty Requirement: Before a property-carrying driver can begin a new duty period, they must have 10 consecutive hours off duty. This resets both the 11-hour driving limit and the 14-hour driving window. Time in a sleeper berth counts toward this requirement under the sleeper berth provision (covered below). 

• 30-Minute Break: Property-carrying drivers must take a 30-minute break after 8 cumulative hours of driving without a 30-minute interruption. Any 30 consecutive non-driving minutes count, whether on duty, off duty, in the sleeper berth, or a mix. A shorter pause doesn’t reset the count. A driver who drives 4 hours, stops for 20 minutes, then drives 4 more must take a full 30-minute break before continuing. The rule doesn’t apply to passenger-carrying drivers or drivers using the short-haul exception.

• 34-Hour Restart: A driver can reset their 60/70-hour weekly clock by taking at least 34 consecutive hours off duty. After the restart is complete, the 7- or 8-day cycle effectively starts fresh. Drivers can use the restart as often as once per week; there’s no minimum number of days between restarts as long as 34 consecutive hours off duty were taken. Note: The prior requirement that the 34-hour period include two periods between 1 AM and 5 AM was removed in the 2020 FMCSA final rule. 

60/70-Hour Weekly Limit 

FMCSA sets two weekly driving cycles for property-carrying drivers: 

• 60-hour/7-day cycle: Cannot drive after accumulating 60 on-duty hours in any 7 consecutive days 

• 70-hour/8-day cycle: Cannot drive after accumulating 70 on-duty hours in any 8 consecutive days 

Carriers choose which cycle applies to their drivers. Once a driver reaches the cycle limit, they cannot drive again until enough days have passed to bring their rolling total below the threshold — or until they complete a 34-hour restart (below). The weekly limits track on-duty time broadly, not just driving time. 

Sleeper Berth Provision 

Drivers with a sleeper berth can split their required 10 hours of off-duty time into two separate periods.

Under the current HOS rules, a valid split requires: 

• one period of at least 7 consecutive hours spent in the sleeper berth 

• one period of at least 2 consecutive hours either in the sleeper berth or off duty 

• the two periods must add up to at least 10 hours total 

Any combination meeting those three conditions is valid — for example, 7 hours in berth + 3 hours off duty (7+3=10), or 8 hours in berth + 2 hours off duty (8+2=10), or 8.5 hours in berth + 2 hours off duty (8.5+2=10.5). Neither period counts against the 14-hour driving window as long as both are used together. This flexibility was expanded in the 2020 FMCSA final rule, which reduced the minimum berth period from 8 to 7 consecutive hours. 

Property-Carrying vs. Passenger-Carrying: Side-by-Side 

Passenger-carrying drivers operate under a slightly different set of hours-of-service limits — fewer driving hours per day, a longer window, and a shorter minimum off-duty requirement. The table below shows how the two sets of rules compare. 

RULE	PROPERTY-CARRYING DRIVERS	PASSENGER-CARRYING DRIVERS
Max driving per day	11 hours	10 hours
Daily on-duty window	14 hours	15 hours
Required off-duty before driving	10 consecutive hours	8 consecutive hours
Weekly limit (7-day cycle)	60 hours on duty	60 hours on duty
Weekly limit (8-day cycle)	70 hours on duty	70 hours on duty
34-hour restart	Available	Not available
Sleeper berth split option	Yes: ≥7 hrs in berth + ≥2 hrs other, total ≥10 hrs	Yes: ≥8 hrs in berth + ≥2 hrs other, total ≥10 hrs

Passenger-carrying drivers get one fewer driving hour per day (10 vs. 11) but an additional hour in their duty window (15 vs. 14), and a shorter off-duty requirement (8 hours vs. 10 hours). Two important differences from the table: the 30-minute break rule applies to property-carrying drivers only — passenger-carrying drivers are not subject to it. And the 34-hour weekly restart is available only to property-carrying drivers; passenger-carrying drivers must wait for the rolling 7 or 8 consecutive days to recalculate before regaining availability. 

Hours of Service Exemptions and Exceptions 

Several legitimate exemptions and exceptions reduce or modify the standard rules for specific operations. Understanding which ones apply to your drivers can meaningfully change what’s required — and what isn’t. 

Short-Haul Exemption (150 Air-Mile Radius) 

Drivers who operate within 150 air miles of their normal work reporting location and return to that location by the end of every shift qualify for the short-haul exemption under 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1).

Under this exemption, drivers: 

• are not required to keep Records of Duty Status (RODS) or use an ELD 

• are not subject to the 30-minute break requirement 

• must still comply with the 11-hour driving limit and the 14-hour window 

If any of the conditions are violated on a given day — including operating even one mile outside the radius — the exemption is void for that entire shift with full HOS and ELD rules applying retroactively. This catches a lot of carriers off guard on mixed-operation days. 

16-Hour Short-Haul Exception 

Once every 7 consecutive days, a driver who starts and ends their shift at the same location can extend their 14-hour driving window to 16 hours. The 11-hour driving limit still applies; only the window is extended. To qualify, the driver must not have used the exception in the preceding 6 days. This exception is separate from the 150 air-mile short-haul exemption and can be used regardless of how far the driver operates. 

Adverse Driving Conditions 

When a driver encounters unexpected adverse conditions — severe weather, highway closures, road hazards that weren’t apparent at the start of the trip — they may extend both the 11-hour driving limit and the 14-hour window by up to 2 hours. This means a driver who would normally be limited to 11 hours of driving can drive up to 13, and the 14-hour window becomes 16 hours. The exception does not apply if the adverse conditions were foreseeable at the start of the shift. 

Agricultural Exemption 

During planting and harvest seasons, drivers transporting agricultural commodities, livestock, or farm supplies within 150 air miles of the source of the commodity are exempt from hours of service regulations. The exemption applies only during the relevant agricultural season in each state and does not cover trips beyond the 150 air-mile radius. 

Oilfield Operations 

Drivers engaged in oilfield operations under 49 CFR 395.1(d) can exclude waiting time at oil or gas well sites from their on-duty calculation. This means time spent waiting to be dispatched at a well site does not count against the 14-hour driving window or the 60/70-hour weekly limit, provided the driver receives at least 24 consecutive hours off duty after each such on-duty period.

This 24-hour requirement is a condition of the daily reset, not a substitute for the 34-hour weekly cycle restart — oilfield drivers still use the standard 34-hour restart to reset the 60/70-hour cycle. The oilfield exception applies to drivers and vehicles used in the transportation of oilfield equipment, including drilling equipment and vehicles used in support of exploration and production. 

ELD Requirements and Recordkeeping 

Most commercial drivers subject to HOS regulations are required to use an Electronic Logging Device (ELD) to record their hours. The ELD mandate has been in effect since December 2019, and FMCSA actively maintains a registered ELD list — devices not on the list, or devices whose registration has been revoked, are not compliant. FMCSA is removing revoked devices from the list at an increasing pace in 2026; carriers should verify their device status monthly on FMCSA’s ELD page. 

ELD exemptions apply to: 

• Drivers who use paper Records of Duty Status (RODS) for 8 days or fewer in any rolling 30-day period 

• Drivers operating CMVs manufactured before model year 2000 (engine model year, not vehicle year) 

• Drivers of vehicles in driveaway-towaway operations where the vehicle being towed is the cargo 

• Short-haul drivers operating within 150 air miles who qualify for the RODS exemption under 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1) 

If an ELD malfunctions during a trip, drivers have 8 days to have it repaired and must maintain paper logs in the interim. An inoperative ELD at a roadside inspection is an out-of-service violation. During inspections, drivers must be able to display or transfer their ELD records for the current 24-hour period and the previous 7 consecutive days. 

What’s Changing: The 2025-2026 FMCSA Pilot Programs 

The core hours of service rules remain unchanged as of mid-2026. However, FMCSA launched two pilot programs in September 2025 — part of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s Pro Trucker Package — that could meaningfully change how the rules work if the data supports it. Neither is in effect as a rule yet. 

Split Duty Period Pilot Program 

This pilot tests whether allowing property-carrying drivers to pause their 14-hour driving window by taking one qualifying break — ranging from 30 minutes to 3 hours — improves safety outcomes. The break can be off-duty, in the sleeper berth, or on-duty/not-driving if taken at a pickup or delivery location. The 14-hour window would pause during that period and resume when the driver goes back on duty. 

A small pre-test ran from May to July 2026 with nine drivers across three carriers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ohio. The full pilot is expected to enroll approximately 256 drivers. Highway safety advocates have raised concerns that extending how long a driver’s workday can span — even with a pause built in — could increase fatigue risk, and have argued that FMCSA should focus on reducing detention time at facilities rather than extending the window. 

Flexible Sleeper Berth Pilot Program 

This pilot tests allowing 6/4 and 5/5 sleeper berth splits, in addition to the current 7/3 and 8/2 options. The goal is to evaluate whether more rest-period combinations can better match individual sleep needs without compromising safety. A pre-test also ran in spring 2026 with nine drivers. Results from both pre-tests will inform whether the full pilots proceed and what the final rule changes, if any, look like. 

Until a final rule is issued and takes effect, these pilots do not change the HOS rules for any driver not enrolled in the study. Carriers and drivers should operate under the existing regulations. 

Consequences of HOS Violations 

Non-compliance with FMCSA rules carries real consequences for both drivers and carriers. FMCSA’s Safety Measurement System consistently identifies HOS violations as one of the most prevalent and serious compliance categories, with hundreds of thousands of violations issued annually across the industry. Most violations don’t come from drivers deliberately exceeding their limits — they come from misunderstanding the rules or poor recordkeeping. 

• Fines: $1,000 to $16,000 per violation, depending on severity. Egregious violations — driving more than 3 hours past the legal limit — carry the highest penalties and can trigger driver disqualification orders 

• Out-of-service Orders: Drivers placed out of service cannot operate until the violation is resolved and required rest is taken 

• CSA Score Impact: Violations feed into a carrier’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) score, which affects inspection prioritization, insurance rates, and carrier reputation 

• CDL Suspension or Revocation: Repeated or egregious violations can lead to suspension or revocation of a driver’s commercial driver’s license 

• Carrier Investigations: A pattern of violations can trigger FMCSA compliance reviews of the carrier, which look at whether dispatch practices are coercing or permitting violations 

Log falsification — editing or misrepresenting ELD records — compounds any underlying hour of service violation significantly. Modern ELDs pull directly from engine data, which means investigators can compare what the device recorded against what was logged. Discrepancies are treated as a separate, serious violation. 

How Workforce Management Software Supports HOS Compliance 

Staying compliant with hours of service (HOS) regulations isn’t just a driver responsibility — it’s a carrier and operations responsibility. Dispatchers who schedule drivers past legal limits can be cited just as drivers can. The FMCSA’s coercion rules explicitly prohibit carriers from pressuring or incentivizing drivers to violate Hours of Service rules. 

Workforce management software helps carriers close the gap between legal requirements and real-time operational decisions. Specifically: 

• Real-time HOS Visibility: Track remaining driving hours for each driver before dispatch decisions are made, not after 

• Automated Scheduling Compliance: Prevent assigning drivers to shifts that would create violations based on current cycle hours 

• Rest and Break Alerts: Flag when drivers are approaching the 8-hour consecutive driving threshold before the 30-minute break is due 

• 34-hour Restart Tracking: Monitor which drivers are in a restart and when they’ll be available to drive again 

• Compliance Reporting: Generate documentation for FMCSA audits, roadside inspections, and internal safety reviews 

Indeavor’s fatigue management and compliance management tools are built for complex, multi-shift industrial and transportation operations — connecting scheduling decisions directly to compliance rules so dispatchers aren’t working from memory or spreadsheets. For transportation operations managing large driver pools, the employee scheduling platform gives real-time visibility into each driver’s HOS status before any assignment is made.