14 Hour HOS Question

Point being, shouldn't say no exceptions, where there are plenty, including a few you already know about.

 

This has turned into another "I can kick you out of the sand box threads." @Barricadebouncer I would suggest, no implore you to contact FMCSA and get clarification from them. You will not get it here as everyone has their opinion (which are like a.z.z Holes) and they perceive themselves to be right and everyone else wrong. Personally I think you have stirred the pot to see how far the crap flies.

 

Again inaccurate. If you intend to split the berth and take either the long or short part and intend to pick up the other part later but instead end up going off duty for 10 hours you reset your 14 hour clock. You only have to stay in berth for the second part if you intend to utilize the split option. A full 10 hour break resets the 14 hour clocking

 

I quit using the split option when the 14 hr rule was imposed. The new rule isn’t that complicated. The difference is you need to comply with the 11/10, and the 14 rules. Makes it a Pita. But really not that hard to figure out if dead set on using the split.

 

What I hate about using it is that you're pretty much stuck with it for the rest of the week, unless you're willing to give up the hours of that short break anyways. At least back in the paper days you didn't have to stick with running it all week even if that's what your paper showed

 

I use Motive and my sleeper splits are calculated just like what you are saying. If I perform a 34hr restart and then do a split sleeper scenario, I have to hit the virtual switch to see my correct, updated hours. After I take the 2nd part of my split sleeper the app calculates the hours itself without having to hit the button to switch between default hours and split sleeper hours.

Mine has also been doing a thing that was discussed in another thread last year where if I perform a split for say 3 hours and then go into the sleeper again later that day Motive has combined those two sleeper periods together and given me the time back. So far the biggest I have had the Motive app combine is a 3hr sleeper and a 5 hour sleeper and give me the 8 hours back. When it does this I make sure that I only use the first sleeper time as the amount to extend my clock. Even though this situation has occurred multiple times I have only tested it once and I did not receive a 14hr log violation after my day was done and I completed the 2nd half of the split sleeper berth period. Crazy how the programming in the Motive app allows this to happen.

 

Starting next week, drivers will be able to pause their 14-hour clock under new HOS regs — here’s how

James Jaillet, CCJ executive editor
Sep 21, 2020
Updated Sep 24, 2020
Starting next Tuesday, Sept. 29, drivers will be able to effectively pause their 14-hour on-duty clocks for periods of several hours per shift under the new split-sleeper berthoptions afforded by the U.S. DOT’s updated hours of service rule.

The new regs officially take effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on that Sept. 29 date (9:01 p.m. PT, Sept. 28). Though the rule also institutes other changes to existing hours of service regulations, including greater flexibility for the required 30-minute break, the reforms’ most significant change is expanding the available options for drivers to split their off-duty 10-hour break. In addition to the existing 8- and 2-hour split options, a new 7-hour and 3-hour split option is available. And unlike current regs, the shorter break will not count against drivers’ 14-hour on-duty time. The longer split already is excluded from that calculation.

Daren Hansen, a compliance advisor at J.J. Keller, encourages fleets to study the rule and learn how to use the changes, if they choose, within their operation. “It’s still a complex rule, and it takes training and reviewing it to really figure out how to make it work,” he said. “Most carriers should be able to take advantage of some of the revisions to help their productivity. It’s such a diverse set of changes, it seems like there’s a little something for everyone.”

For drivers opting to split any duty day, they must take one split of at least 7 hours and one split of at least 2 hours, so long as both breaks total at least 10 hours. “Both of those breaks are minimums, and we did that on purpose,” said Joe DeLorenzo, head of enforcement and compliance, in late August. “The last thing we wanted to do was to disincentivize rest.” Both of those breaks would stop the 14-hour on-duty clock.

Breaks under the new HOS rule can obviously run longer than the 8/2 and 7/3 splits that add up to 10 hours. And if the longer of the two breaks in any split goes a full 10 hours, then drivers can reset their 14-hour and 11-hour clocks entirely.



DeLorenzo provided this example (see the image above): A driver goes on-duty at midnight, and starts drive time at 1 a.m. After six hours on-duty, he takes a break for three hours – which stops his 14-hour clock. When he comes back on-duty, he still has five hours of drive-time available and seven hours of on-duty time. So, he goes back on-duty at 10 a.m., resumes driving at noon and drives until 5 p.m., at which time he’s out of on-duty hours and must take a minimum seven-hour sleeper berth period to be able to go back on-duty.

The shorter split option could be longer — four, five or even six hours. But it must be paired with another break later of at least seven hours for drivers to remain compliant. When splitting off-duty time and starting a new on-duty shift, available duty and drive-time is calculated by subtracting, from the 14- and 11-hour limits, the on-duty and drive-time taken between their two most recent off-duty periods.

Another example: Say a driver starts a split by taking three hours off, then drives 5 hours and is on-duty for 7 total before taking his seven-hour break. When he comes back on-duty, he would have just 6 available drive hours, and 7 on-duty hours before he’d need to take another break of at least two hours.

But if he took that 7-hour off-duty period across the 10-hour threshold, then both drive-time and duty-time clocks reset entirely. Drivers do not retroactively lose the pause value of the shorter break — nor do they become non-compliant — if they extend their longer split all the way out to 10 hours.

Of note, on and after the Sept. 29 effective date, drivers don’t have to make any changes to their duty days if they choose not to. That’s simply the date the new options will become available.