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Hello James -

Thank you for the question you posted at the Keller website. In it you asked: "I was under the impression that I could not drive more than 11 hours within a 24 hour period, I am confused because I was told that if I drive 11 hours and take a 10 hour break whether it be "OFF DUTY" or "SLEEPER BERTH" I could drive another 3 hours within that same day now how true is this? I also know that I have to show all my Safety Checks and fuel stops and also add that into my 14 hour rule but for this question I have eliminated those to make the example easier so am I legal if I Drive 11 Hours, Take 10 Consecutive off and Drive 3 More?"

Under the new hours of service rule that began being enforced on January 4, 2004, a driver has 11 hours of driving time available to him/her within a 14 consecutive hour window. After the 14th consecutive hour has passed, a driver may not begin to drive or continue driving without being in violation. The driver could continue to do other work (in the warehouse, for example) without being in violation, but he/she could not drive again without taking 10 consecutive hours off. Once the 10 hours of off-duty time is accumulated, the two "clocks" are reset, and the driver again has 11 hours of driving time and a 14 consecutive hour window of on-duty time.

Within the 14 consecutive hours, all kinds of duty is counted against the 14 hours total - short periods of off-duty (line 1) like lunch, sleeper berth (line 2) unless it is part of a split sleeper option where then it must be at least two hours long and must be one of two periods that amount to 10 hours, driving (line 3) or on-duty not driving (line 4) - this would include the safety checks, fuel stops, etc. that you mentioned.

At the bottom of all this is the fact that you could (within a 24-hour period) conceivably begin to drive again, if the appropriate off-duty time is registered to reset the 14 hour clock.

Feel free to post other questions as you have them, or you could contact me directly. We are glad to help. Have a great day!
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