I will have to talk to my trainer about that. I was under the understanding that if you work 14 hours, you can drive 11, but you can sleep 2 periods equaling 10 hours in the sleeper berth.

Here is what I got from safetruck.org:

Technical Amendments Clarify Sleeper Berth Regulations

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has issued technical amendments clarifying the new hours-of-service regulations. The majority of the revisions deal with clarifying the sleeper berth provisions.

Under the new rule, effective January 4, 2004, off-duty time is included in the calculation of the 14 consecutive hour on-duty limit. The only exception allowed to this provision is when a driver uses the split sleeper berth to accumulate 10 hours of rest. When taken in 2 periods, each of which are at least 2 hours (totaling at least 10 hours),

the sleeper berth time does not count towards the 14-hour limit. This means that the following must be counted toward the 14-hour limit:

* on-duty time;
* off-duty time not spent in the sleeper berth;
* sleeper berth time of less than 2 hours; and
* sleeper berth time of 2 hours or more that is not one of the 2 periods used to accumulate 10 hours of off-duty time.

A combination of consecutive sleeper berth time and off-duty time totaling at least 10 hours may be used to comply with the 10 hour off-duty requirement in sleeper berth operations.

you can only go over IF where you were headed was the Next SAFEST place to pull over in Extreme conditions. :P

So, if you can stop right at that 11 hour mark, then you have to regardless then. Kinda weird that they don't allow for a little flexibility.

.....is relative to the beholder.

To some it means 5 minutes.

To others, 12 minutes.

Then again 'to some' it might mean TWO HOURS.

There's gotta B a SOLID DRAWING line!

Seems like it's 11 hours PERIOD.

This opinion is from someone who doesn't know which end is up (and who thinks he understands/can read between the DOTTY lines).

can't believe that 7 people said it wasn't illegal

So, if you can stop right at that 11 hour mark, then you have to regardless then. Kinda weird that they don't allow for a little flexibility.[/quote]


As a professional, you are expected to plan your trip better than that. DOT will write you a citation faster than you say you ran out of hours for that.

and God forbid you got in some sort of accident after going over.
Everybody says it won't happen to them but it happens every day.

yes, anything over 11 hours of driving is illeagal. Split Sleepr Berth:"Two periods of at least 2 hours in sleeper berth totaling 10 hours (this can extend the 14-consecutive-hour period). the total driving time immediately before and after each rest period must not exceed 11 hours. The total duty time immediately before and after each rest period must not include any driving after the 14th hour." that is the sleeper berth rule word for word right out of the book.. Hope that helps..

You can only drive 11 hours without taking a 10 hour sleeper berth break. You cannot legally drive more than the 11 hours unless, as yoopr says, there are extreme conditions in which you must go on.....such as bad weather, etc., You can legally split your sleeper berth time as long as each break is a minimum of 2 hours. However, you cannot drive more than 11 hours total time without the 10 total hours sleeper berth. The best thing starting out is to plan on not driving more than 11 hours per day and take the 10 hour sleeper berth break all at one time. Plan ahead so you don't run out of hours before you make your delivery. :wink:

Okay, so let me make sure this is right.

Unless there is a situation where it can not be avoided, at 11 hours you stop. Period, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Or to make it really simple, it's illegal!