60 Hours in 7 Days or 70 Hours in 8

The every-day-of-the-week test

Read 395.3(b) as a fork, not a menu. If the employing motor carrier does not operate commercial motor vehicles every day of the week, the driver may not drive after 60 hours on duty in any 7 consecutive days. If the employing motor carrier does operate commercial motor vehicles every day of the week, the driver may not drive after 70 hours on duty in any 8 consecutive days. Both sentences prohibit driving after the limit. Both put the choice on the carrier's week, not on the driver's.

Every day of the week means all seven. A carrier that has no commercial motor vehicle in operation on Sunday does not operate every day of the week. A carrier that keeps a truck under a load, or moving, every Sunday does. The shut day has to be real. A sign on the door that says closed, while a driver is dispatched anyway, is an open day.

The 11-hour driving limit and the 14-hour window are not repeated here. They are the daily rules on OTR hours of service. Whichever weekly branch you are on, those daily rules still stop the truck first when they arrive sooner.

What operates CMVs means for a one-truck company

A one-truck carrier is still an employing motor carrier for this paragraph. There is no small-fleet exception inside 395.3(b). If that one truck does not run one day each week, the company does not operate commercial motor vehicles every day of the week, and the driver is on 60 hours in 7 consecutive days. If that one truck runs every day, the company is on 70 in 8.

Owner-operators get this wrong in both directions. Some never take a day off and still recap a 60-hour week because a forum said owner-operators are on 60. Some shut down every Sunday and still recap 70 because the ELD defaulted to 70 when they picked OTR. The truck's actual week is the test. Look at the logs. If there is driving or on-duty work every date for weeks on end, say so and use 70. If one weekday is consistently off duty for the whole fleet, use 60.

A second truck changes the test only if somebody operates a commercial motor vehicle on the day the first truck is parked. The carrier operates every day if any of its CMVs operate every day. Parking truck A on Sunday while truck B delivers is an operating day.

You do not choose the higher limit

Dispatching 70 hours when the carrier does not operate every day is not a paperwork preference. It is the wrong limit. A driver who drives after 60 hours in 7 consecutive days, on a carrier that does not run every day, has driven when 395.3(b)(1) says not to. Calling the recap a 70 does not move the driver into paragraph (b)(2).

The reverse mistake is real too. A carrier that runs every day and holds drivers to a 60-hour story may still violate (b)(2) if the true 8-day total passes 70, and it will also confuse the audit when the logs show Sunday work. Use the branch that matches the week. Do not use the branch that makes this load fit.

Load boards, brokers, and a desire to keep a truck moving are not factors in the sentence. Neither is fatigue as a slogan. The sentence is an on-duty total tied to how many days the carrier operates.

Switching cycles is not a button

Changing the operation so you can use 70 is a real change in when trucks run. The trucks have to operate every day of the week, and the logs have to show that operation. Flipping an ELD setting on Friday afternoon, while Sunday is still a shut day, does not complete the change. The next Sunday shut day puts you back on the facts of (b)(1).

Changing the other way is the same. A carrier that wants the 60-hour rule has to stop operating commercial motor vehicles one day of the week, as a practice, not as a sentence in a handbook that dispatch ignores. Drivers who work that day in on-duty status are evidence that the day was not shut.

Do not switch cycles mid-week to escape a total you have already built. Hours already on duty are on duty. A new setting does not delete Tuesday. If you are changing the operation, start the new pattern cleanly, keep the logs consistent with it, and recap the window the regulation actually gives that pattern.

A side-by-side recap

Same driver, two different carriers.

On a carrier that does not operate every day, the window is 7 consecutive days and the cap is 60. On-duty hours, oldest first: 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 8, 8. The sum is 61. The driver went past 60 inside the 7-day period. The eighth calendar day is not part of this limit. You do not get to drop day 1 and add a new day to stay at 60 while calling it a rolling 8. Paragraph (b)(1) is 7 consecutive days.

On a carrier that operates every day, the window is 8 consecutive days and the cap is 70. The same first seven days sum to 61, and an eighth day of 8 brings the total to 69. That driver may still drive, but only until the on-duty total reaches 70. An eighth day of 12 instead of 8 would make 73, which is over. The extra day is not free time. It is a longer window with a higher cap, and the cap is still a hard stop.

Put the two rows on one sheet when you train dispatch. The mistake to circle is a Sunday-off fleet using the second row. That fleet does not have an eighth day in the rule it is under, and it does not have a 70-hour cap to spend.

How this shows up in an audit

Auditors add on-duty not driving. A log that shows 7 hours of driving and an off-duty gap that matches a bill of lading at a dock will be rebuilt. The dock goes back on duty. A 60-hour carrier who looked under the cap on driving hours alone can be over once line 4 is restored. A 70-hour carrier has the same exposure. The cycle you claimed will be checked against the days the fleet actually moved.

They will also look for a Sunday, or whichever day you call shut, that contains driving or on-duty work. One operating Sunday does not let you narrate the other limit for the rest of the month. A pattern of Sunday dispatches means you operate every day. Be ready to show the recap you used and the duty-status totals under it.

Keep the recap with the logs for the retention period the logs require. A whiteboard that was erased is not the calculation. The six-month record is. If you cannot reproduce the 7-day or 8-day sum for a date they name, you did not have a cycle. You had a guess.

A driver who works for two carriers in the same week does not get two cycles. 395.3(b) still applies regardless of the number of motor carriers using the driver's services. The employing carrier's operation picks the branch, and every on-duty hour in the 7 or 8 consecutive days, including hours for the other company, goes into that one total. Ask for the other company's hours before you dispatch. A Sunday shut at your yard does not erase Sunday driving someone else required.

Frequently Asked Questions