HOS rules for Team Driving in a Day Cab

Running teams in a day cab? Why would you do that? This kind of crap drives rates down.

 

Actually, in a day cab this is wrong.
In a moving vehicle a driver has to be on-duty in the passenger seat. There is an exception of up to three hours of off duty, IF it's logged before or after 7 hours in a sleeper berth. No sleeper berth, no exception.

From 395: Federal Register :: Request Access
On-duty time means all time from ...
(4) All time in or on a commercial motor vehicle, other than:
(iii) Up to 3 hours riding in the passenger seat of a property-carrying vehicle moving on the highway immediately before or after a period of at least 7 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth;

 

Make sure you are also following the cabotage laws. I get the sense that y'all are chasing a high revenue lane that may not be entirely legal.

 

To answer the question, there is no regs for team driving in a day cab. All the 8/10/14/70 hour clocks apply to both people, with a minor caveat.. The passenger can be off duty while the driver is working when the truck is parked. For example paperwork, loading, etc. The passenger has to be on duty while the truck is moving.
So the max in a day cab is still 14 hours for both drivers, with a slight fudge factor.
Example again is the driver can spend 15 minutes pre-trip, then both get in the truck and while the driver now has 13.75 hours left, the passenger has the full 14.

 

The HOS don't measure days in 24 hour periods, for the most part. They have the 11 hour Drive clock. They have the 14 hour On-Duty clock. They have the 10 hour clock for off-duty/sleeper and the 8 hour/sleeper clock. You have to comply with ALL of those clocks. Without a FMCSA compliant sleeper berth I don't see any practical benefit to trying to run teams in a day cab. For the team drivers without a FMCSA sleeper berth, not just some space to sleep, you would need a hotel room.

 

The other advantage is if the 1st driver runs his 11 hour out straight, the other driver would have 2.50 hours to finish his shift!

 

Applies to day cabs and hotshots without a DOT sized sleeper.