Advanced logging - Split sleeper berth explained

Creeping Puppets · Feb 27, 2016

I took a break for 2 hours and 56 minutes at 11:51 a.m. after having driven 8.5 hours and having only 4 hours and 9 minutes left on my 14, I resumed driving at 14:47 and drove for 1 hour and 10 minutes, at the time I stopped I put myself in the sleeper line at 15:57 having 1 hour and 20 minutes left but only 13 minutes left on my 14, I know that by 23:57 I'll have completed a split break, my question is how much time would I have to work and drive by then?

Rawlco said: ↑

Greetings folks. This is my first post here and I am going to post something that I worked up for another forum.

This thread is for advanced logging practices. I will assume that you are familiar with the 11, 14, and 70 hour limits. Disclaimer: These provisions apply only to trucks equipped with a sleeper berth. There are also various exemptions for severe weather and short haul etc that are not outlined here.

Now that you understand "regular" logging we can move on to the more confusing split sleeper berth logging. Before we dealt with a single consecutive 10 hour break. With split logging you can divide that into one 8 hour (or more) sleeper berth break that must be logged on line two as sleeper berth; and one 2 hour (or more) break on either line one off duty or line two sleeper berth. The two hour break can be logged on either line, or a
combination of the two, but it must be AT LEAST 2 hours. (Please note that you may log any increment of time on any line, but it has to be at least 2 hours to qualify for the split sleeper provision. I have had people think incorrectly that they must take 2 hours off if they are going to take a minute and that is not true.) It used to be that you could split the sleeper berth in any fashion, such as 5 hours and 5 hours, but now ONLY the 8 and 2 split is valid.
The regulations regarding split sleeper berth time are listed in section 395.1 (g)
available at FMCSA - Regulation: 395.1

For a truck that is equipped with a sleeper berth a driver

This means what I went over above. Your breaks have to be at least 8 hours and 2 hours. They can be longer. You can also take shorter breaks but they won't qualify for the split sleeper provision. I think everything above is quite simple. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
-- - - - - - - - - - - -

Now that you have your 8 hours in the sleeper and another 2 hours off duty how do you count your 11 and 14? This is where the government made it complicated.

First we have this rule:

This means that you count your 14 hour limit as usual including any off duty time UP TO 8 hours. IF you have 8 hours off duty THEN you skip that in your 14 hour calculation. More on this in a few minutes, and I'll explain with pictures.

Then comes the key to figuring the hours:

These means that you start counting for both the 11 and 14 hour rules from the END of the FIRST break. It does not matter which order you take the 8 or 2 break in, since one will always be before the other. You may also sometimes need to use the end of a ten hour break as the "previous break."
----------

Calculating the 14 hours with visual aid.

If the picture does not come through very good then get your logbook out and follow along.
I have assumed that we start at midnight the first day having had the full 10 hour break and have plenty of hours left on the 70 hour rule. Starting at midnight the 14 hour window lasts until 2pm. We start with one hour of on duty not driving followed by 4 hours of driving. We then log one hour off duty for breakfast and one hour in the sleeper for a total of 2 hours off duty. We still figure the 14 hour window starting at midnight and ending at 2pm for two reasons. First is that a 2 hour break by itself isn't enough so we need to look back for the last break of 8 hours or more. The last break of 8 hours or more ended at midnight, so that is when we start the 14 hour clock. Second is that a two hour break does not pause or interrupt the 14 hour clock, or extend it in any way.

Next we drive again for 7 hours from 7am until 2 pm. We have to stop at 2pm because that is the end of our 14 hour window. We also have logged 11 driving hours in that 14 hour window. We always have to check that we don't go over the 11 driving hours in any 14 hour window. Starting at 2pm we crawl into the sleeper berth for 8 hours. This has to be logged on line two sleeper berth to count.

Emerging from the sleeper berth at 10 pm we need to figure out the next 14 hour window. The two periods that total 10 hours are 5-7 am and 2-10 pm. According to the regs we need to start the 14 hour break at the END of the first break, so 7 am. There are 7 hours between 7 am and 2pm, then skip over the 8 hour SB break (the official reg is to subtract it from your 14 hours, but I find skipping over it is easier.) So the 14 hour window ends at 5 am on the day 2. (This is where it is easy to lose some people, so make sure you understand before continuing. 7 am plus 14 hours plus 8 hours is 5 am next day. You took the 8 hour sleeper break so it extends your 14 hours by that 8 hour increment.) The next thing to look at is that we used 7 hours of this 14 hour window already on line 3 driving, so we can only drive another 4 before the 11 hour rule catches up with us.

From 10 to 11 pm we log one hour line 4 on duty not driving, and then log 4 hours driving on line 3 before logging another one hour line 4 on duty not driving. We take 2 hours off duty from 4 to 6 am. We ran out of driving hours before our 14 hours were up. (Note that you don't have to work until the end of the 14 hour rule or 11 hour rule before taking your next break. You could take your 8 hours sleeper then work for an hour, then take 2 more hours off duty if you wanted/needed to.) At 6 am we need to figure out our new 14 hour window. Our two breaks (that add together to make 10 hours) were 4 to 6 am day 2, and 2 pm to 10pm day 1. The first break ended at 10 pm so our 14 hour window starts then and ends at noon day 2. We did not have any 8 hour breaks in that period to extend or change the 14 hour clock. We have already used 4 driving hours so we have 7 left in the 11 hour limit, BUT we only have 6 hours left in the 14 hour window.

We start with one hour on duty not driving from 6 to 7 am day 2 followed by 5 hours of driving logged on line 3. We run out of hours at noon and stop for an 8 hour sleeper berth break from noon to 8pm day 2. At the end of that break we again need to figure our 14 hour window. The two breaks (that add together to make 10 hours) are from 4 to 6 am and noon to 8 pm. Starting at the end of the first break makes our 14 hours from 6 am to 4 am day 3 (off the image, since I didn't do a 3rd day) Again you skip over the 8 hour sleeper berth break when calculating the 14 hours. (To put it another and completely different way an 8 hour sleeper berth break gives you an extra 8 hours on the 14 hour clock, making it 22 hours, but that is 22 "true" hours with nothing subtracted) We have already logged 5 hours of driving on line 3, so between 8pm day 2 and 4 am day 3 we can only accumulate 6 driving hours out of the 8 available.

Have I confused you yet?
Click to expand...

scottied67 · Feb 28, 2016

i think it's gonna be about 7 hours and 40 minutes available off the top of my head without drawing the lines out and calculating it.

Creeping Puppets · Feb 28, 2016

scottied67 said: ↑

i think it's gonna be about 7 hours and 40 minutes available off the top of my head without drawing the lines out and calculating it.
Click to expand...

I have no idea how it works, the E-Log gave me 9:50 to drive and 12:50 to work total, which works great for me I only need 6 to get to delivery and 2.5 to go home

scottied67 · Feb 28, 2016

wow I was way off lol. If I had a grid paper I could have gotten it a lot closer for you. Happy that you were able to use it to your advantage there

FwL · Mar 1, 2016

Creeping Puppets said: ↑

I have no idea how it works, the E-Log gave me 9:50 to drive and 12:50 to work total, which works great for me I only need 6 to get to delivery and 2.5 to go home
Click to expand...

You used 1:10 between your 2 and your 8. Once your 8 is done you get back what you didn't use... 9:50 drive and 12:50 shift.

Creeping Puppets · Mar 1, 2016

That explains it brother thank you

TigerShark · Mar 19, 2016

FwL · Mar 19, 2016

I didn't make it all the through that vid... But he starts off saying you gotta do the 8 first. This is wrong.

Either break can come first.

If I spend 2 hours in the sleeper at a shipper, then 3 hours driving, I can stop for 8 in the sleeper then pick up where I left off with 8 hours of driving and 11 hours of shift to work with.

Creeping Puppets · Mar 20, 2016

FwL said: ↑

I didn't make it all the through that vid... But he starts off saying you gotta do the 8 first. This is wrong.

Either break can come first.

If I spend 2 hours in the sleeper at a shipper, then 3 hours driving, I can stop for 8 in the sleeper then pick up where I left off with 8 hours of driving and 11 hours of shift to work with.
Click to expand...

Cool that makes it a lot simpler I appreciate it

importvic · Oct 15, 2016

Can I use the sleeper berth split on my 10 hour down time to reset my 11/14 drive/on duty time but fuel in between? So for example after working a full shift I go into the sleeper berth for 8 hours then on duty fuel for 15min then go back into the sleeper berth for 2hrs. Will my 11/14 drive/on duty time be reset after the 2 hours? Just trying to make a comdata fuel time and a suprise level 1 inspection time match up on a trip with paper log and this seems to be to only way to make it work. Tia.

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