Drive for 8, 9 or 10 hours?

It depends on how you want to run. 70 hours by 8 days leaves you an average of 8.75 hours a day to use in total on duty time. If you can balance pick up/delivery times and all the other crap and running recaps is your thing that's what you try to do overall to keep balance.

Or some other variant, whatever it is that works for you personally and keeps you where you need to be when you need to be there.

 

Your 70 is your 70. How you burn through it really makes no difference in the end. Find what works for you if you have the luxury of not having to always be running to hard and fast appointments far away that dictate how your 70 is burned.

 

I've ran recap hours having to run up to within 30 minutes ofthe 70 for 20+ days just to get the job done, and I really don't care to have to run hard against recap hours but sometimes you have to.

 

Most of the time I prefer to run as close as possible to the 11 hour limit. I prefer to get the driving done as efficiently (time wise - not necessarily speed wise) as possible, so that in the event I have an issue whether it be a road closed or a mechanical issue I have more time to handle it and hopefully not have to change appointment times.
About the only time I will begin to slack off and run less hours per day is if I have been on the road for a long enough time I am eventually both mentally and physically exhausted. It helps I schedule my own pickup and delivery times. I have been known to load on a Wednesday for a Monday delivery for my usual ~2200 mile run which I normally do Thursday for Monday or it can even be done Friday for Monday.

 

Who gets to decide how many hours of driving you do over the next few days? Appointments are set and you try to meet them. It works out however it works out.

 

It doesn't matter .

What matters is how you run in that time frame . That's why I constantly run at night .

I drive a 65 mph truck and get on avg 615 miles in the 10 hours,8min pre 8 min post. I Usually tie in the fueling with one of the inspections

Run during the day ? Sometimes I barely hit 550-575 on my full 11 and all that crap adds up and will kill you the next week .

Every min counts when you have a slow truck and elogs!

 

I may be a minority of one. But I think that 70/60 hour clock is a relic from a different time in trucking. The trucks today are so much more easy to drive. I think as long as a driver gets enough rest on that 10 hour break they should be safe for extended runs. As for union shops let them work out weekly hours in their CBAs.

 

I generally feel the same way but a driver would have to learn how to keep dispatch from running them ragged. If I burn 70 hours in 6 days, I'm probably ready for a day off. That said, being able to only run some ridiculously low number of hours while weather closes in on you is stupid, too. So is waiting on midnight to run to the 08:00 appointment if you're not a night runner by preference.

I could generally run 10 hours day 7 days/wk but at some point, I need to stop for a breather.