Split Breaking Instructions

Roy, I'm also a been-off-the-road-a-while driver. I drove under the 10-15-70 rule and found the new rules a bit confusing at first. The best thing you can do for yourself is to get these three things:

1) A laptop computer with DDL Lite installed on it. This is a computerized log program that makes "getting creative" easy as pie. Google "DDL Daily"... it'll be in the top two links.

2) A printer to print your log sheets so you don't need to use loose leaf.

3) A good GPS unit to help you calculate mileages when you're getting "creative". I use a TomTom One but I've heard good things about the Garmin Nuvi's.

I am in complete agreement with your statement that the 14 hour rule is BS. Those who have never driven a truck for a living, should not be the ones making the laws regarding HOS.

For example, yesterday, I split my break 8 then 2 then had to take another 8 hour break early in the afternoon because the shipper took too long to load me. 4:45am was quitting time and I didn't think I was going to make it that long driving—the last eight hour break really wasn't spent sleeping because I wasn't tired. I just wasn't going to waste five hours already shown in the sleeper, so I had to take an additional three.

Midnight rolls around and I have a four hour leeway to make my 7am appointment. Although I was tired and really needed a nap, I had to push on because that 14 hour clock was ticking and quitting time was 4:45am.

Under the old rules, I'd have been able to take a four hour nap when I needed it... and still made my 7am drop.

 

you don't need a fancy GPS dingus.. spend $25 or so on a GPS antenna and hook it up to your laptop. There are add-ons for DDL that will read it and fill in fields for you..

 

Thanks,

I'll look at DDL Daily but I think (if & when I last with this company,.. more below) once I'm able to get a laptop with wireless I'm going to eBay and get a copy of Co-Pilot. I've asked a couple drivers at truck stops to show me routes and it works very well for big trucks. I may alo try and find a "cheap" copy of PC MIler.

I just got back to my terminal today and saw my pay stub. They took $464.00 from my check for a tire and wheel that had to be replaced after I curbed the trailer tandems on an 8" to 10" curb coming out of a truck stop at 5:00 am. I was starting to swing wide to make the turn and another truck cut me off so I went straighter than I wanted to. (yes I know, drivers are responsible!) But there was no mention of me being responsible for the cost and I was never advised (or told) this would be deducted from my check ALL AT ONCE!!!

I'm a former Supervisor in the Postal Service and I know labor law requires the employer to provide a letter of indebtedness and then ask the employee how they want to pay the "owed" money back. This wasn't done. So if I raise the amount of hell I want to,.. do you think I'll get any good paying loads??? No! I'm also wondering if there;s a DOT violation here somewhere... this company sucks the more I'm around them!

 

I don't know why its so hard for me to understand the 11 and 14 hour rules.....the problem I have is when the violation occurs....on the 11th or the 14th hour...I feel like I am duh......I understand there has to be a 10 hour break between driving times....like I said I can't seem to get when the violation occurred, if there is one...

 

You can drive for a maximum of 11 hours, within a 14 hour period. You can not add to that 11 hours maximum driving time.

As you've stated, you have to have a 10 hour break before you can drive again. You can work on-duty not driving as long as you like, you just have to have that 10 hour break before driving again.

You can extend the 14 hour period (suspend the clock) by 8 hours if you take that time consecutively in the sleeper. Therefore, while you can still only drive 11 hours, if you take an 8 hour (consecutive) sleeper break, the driving can be completed within what is now (effectively) 22 hours. You still have to take the remaining 2 hours of your 10 at some point as well. The 2 hour portion has no effect on the 14 hour period other than being the remaining part of your 10 hour required break. BTW, the 2 hours does not have to be in the sleeper.

 

The easiest way to understand how to split (for me anyway) is to look at the driving time as a continuation of the 11 hours:

Drive for 5 hours... sleep 8.

Then drive for 6 hours... break for 2.

Drive for 5 hours... sleep for 8.


Whatever amount you drove in one period gets deducted from 11 for the next period.

Example:

Drive 3 hours... sleep 8.

Then drive 8 hours... break for 2.

Drive 3 hours... sleep 8.

Of course, in the real world, the splits might not always be even. You could drive 5.5, then sleep eight, then only drive 3 hours before taking a two hour break. The next period would then be 8 hours allowed driving.

Basically whatever you drove in your last period, subtract that from 11 to get what you're allowed to drive in the next period.

Keep in mind that the 14 hour clock runs from the start of the first on duty/driving period when splitting. So putting more than one hour on line 4, or oversleeping your breaks may cut into your driving time.

Example: (log this on paper so you can see what I'm talking about)

Start driving at exactly midnight

Sleeper berth at 5am

Driving at 1:30pm

Sleeper berth at 7pm

Driving at 10:15pm

Your 14 hours will be up at 3:30 am even though the 11 hour driving period ends at 3:45. You have to quit driving at 3:30am.

This is because you overslept your second rest period by one hour and fifteen minutes. Remember that you only have one additonal hour in any two periods... anything over that cuts into your driving time.

Download the evaluation copy of DDL and you'll see the light.

 

No computer to track us, its a small company and they want us to run as hard as we can. I don't mind to a point because I was out of work for 4 months and have to catch up financially, I just don't want to get caught, it IS my CDL!!! I get paid aggregate, not miles so if I can squeeze in another load before payday cutoff, its a bigger check that week.

I had a talk with the safety director today, (I'm home after 15 days on the road) and he wants me to cut down on the off duty/sleeper hours. I had a couple days where I put 14 to 17 hours in that category to keep my on duty/driving time around 8.25 - 8.75 hours a day to keep my recap from hitting 70. As he explained the recap will take care of itself even if I log 10 - 11 hours a day....


Roy

 

OK can someone let me know if I am correct here as I last drove in 03 the HOS rules all seemed to have changed and I am trying to get all caught up.

So on a fresh start with a new 70 hours.

Point 1
I can drive 11 out of 14.
I cannot add to the 11` without a Full 10 minimum.(Either 8 consecutive in sleeper followed or preceded by 2 off duty or 10 straight in either off duty or sleeper) which would not be adding but rather resetting or making a new11 available.

Point 2
The 14 can be split and extended by a minimum of 2 in sleeper or off duty and will only be extended by the amount of time in the sleeper or off duty.(This will not count towards gaining a new 11 or resetting the 14 unless the 10 consecutive has been met).

Point 3
I cannot log more than 70 hours in 8 days but this can be reset by taking 34 consecutive hours off Duty? or is it a combination of off duty/sleeper as I am sure this would very often be done on the road and require you to camp in your rig so would you log that time as sleeper or just stay off duty?


ok let me know if I am tracking on this so far.

Cheers,
DirtDart