amount of hrs you have to have off after a 14hr shift - Texas

Please re-read your CDL manual and the green book. Also you may want to get together with one of your fellow company drivers. One of the most talked about problems in this industry is lack of training and these questions prove that to a point.

 

just stay in the sleeper and you wont ever break any rules

 

I have been told that the magic words are "Safe" and "Legal". If they are trying to run you illegally, then you say something like "I can't safely and legally drive due to my HOS restrictions." That usually gets the job done, and them off your back.

 

The regulations my be confusing, but you'll have to get past that... and quickly. You may or may not be in an area where there is much of a DOT presence. DOT seems to leave the oilfields alone to some extent. The problem is...the DOT is the least of your concerns. In the case of an accident, the lawyers will do you much more harm than any DOT officer ever will. You are liable for the operation of the truck. You will be expected to fully understand those regulations and abide by them...or suffer the consequences.

So... your doing the right thing by asking. Now...you need to do some research. You need to find out exactly where you fit into those regulations and then study what applies directly to what you are doing. You are correct in not taking your driver managers word for it. If your company has a safety director....start there. You will still have a lot of research and verification to do. Oilfield regs and exemptions confuse a lot of people... even the people who are paid to understand them. But... in the end... YOU are responsible for the legal operation of the truck.

 

If you can't understand the written word and listen to others tell you in most situations it's 10 hrs off then maybe you shouldn't be driving a large dangerous vehicle. There are some oil and other exemptions. If you find yourself if one of those situations it will be spelled out for you.

 

mandatory 10 hour break after your 14

 

If you drive a daycab you can't use the 8-2 split. You have to take 10 hrs off after a 14 hr day.

In order for the 8-2 split to work, the 8 hr bracket MUST be logged on line 2 CONSECUTIVELY, and it's kinda hard to do that if you don't have a sleeper birth.

 

There are a ton of rules that you need to understand, and it won't happen overnight... take the time and study! BTW, don't forget about the fairly new 30-minute break rule. In most cases, we must take a 30-minute break before we hit the 8-hour point in our current 14-hour clock.

BTW2, you can indeed work more than 14-hours each day, BUT you can only drive 11 hours within the 14-hour clock. So as soon as you hit that magical 14-hour point, the rig generally needs to be shut down but you can still do "on-duty not driving" work... but I've also heard the oilfields have other rules/exemptions.

Good luck with the learning process.