The 70-hour rule and 34-hour restart, explained

The 70-hour rule says you may not drive after 70 hours on duty in any 8 consecutive days, and the 60-hour version sets the limit at 60 hours in 7 days. Which one applies depends on your carrier: the 70-hour limit is for carriers that operate trucks every day of the week. A 34-hour restart (34 or more consecutive hours off duty) ends the period, so you start the next one with the full 60 or 70 hours.

60 hours in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days

Under 49 CFR 395.3(b), a property-carrying driver may not drive after:

• 60 hours on duty in any 7 consecutive days, if the employing carrier does not operate commercial motor vehicles every day of the week
• 70 hours on duty in any 8 consecutive days, if the employing carrier operates commercial motor vehicles every day of the week

The choice follows the carrier's operation, not your personal schedule. Under 395.2, the 7 or 8 days are consecutive 24-hour periods that start at a time your carrier designates, so there is no weekly reset on a fixed day.

What counts toward the total

Every hour of on-duty time counts, not just driving. Under 395.2, on-duty time includes driving, inspecting or servicing the truck, loading and unloading, attending the truck while it's loaded or unloaded, and waiting to be dispatched at a carrier or shipper facility unless you've been relieved from duty.

Off-duty time and time resting in the sleeper berth do not count. That's why a 30-minute break logged on duty adds half an hour to your total, while the same break logged off duty adds nothing.

How the rolling total works

The period moves forward one day at a time. To find the on-duty hours you have available at the start of today:

1. On the 70-hour, 8-day schedule, add your on-duty hours for the previous 7 days and subtract the total from 70.
2. On the 60-hour, 7-day schedule, add your on-duty hours for the previous 6 days and subtract the total from 60.

Each new day, the oldest day drops out of the count. Drivers often call the hours that come back "recap hours."

Example with numbers

A driver on the 70-hour, 8-day schedule has these on-duty hours:

At the start of Day 8, Days 1 to 7 add up to 63 hours, so the driver has 7 hours available. If they work all 7 on Day 8, they reach 70 and can't drive again until hours drop off or they complete a restart.

At the start of Day 9, Day 1's 11 hours drop out. Days 2 to 8 now add up to 59 hours (12 + 10 + 9 + 13 + 0 + 8 + 7), so 11 hours are available.

Those 11 are on-duty hours, not driving hours. If Day 9 starts with a 30-minute pre-trip inspection and includes a 30-minute fuel stop on duty, the driver has at most 10 hours left for driving. The 11-hour and 14-hour limits also apply every day, as the 11-hour and 14-hour rules guide explains.

How to recover hours

You get hours back in two ways.

• Let days roll off. Each morning, the oldest day leaves the count. A 13-hour day rolling off gives back 13 hours, while a day off gives back nothing.
• Take a 34-hour restart. It wipes the whole period, which helps most when you're close to the limit and the days about to roll off are light.

Accurate logging matters too. Time you're truly relieved of all work and responsibility is off duty and doesn't count, but attending your truck while it's loaded or unloaded is on duty under 395.2.

The 34-hour restart

Under 395.3(c), any period of 7 or 8 consecutive days may end with the beginning of an off-duty period of 34 or more consecutive hours. After the restart, your next period begins at zero. The current text of 395.3(c) sets no other conditions: there's no required 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. period and no limit on how often you use it.

Here is a restart with clock times:

1. A driver at 68 hours ends the shift and goes off duty at 6:00 p.m. Friday.
2. 34 consecutive hours later, at 4:00 a.m. Sunday, the restart is complete.
3. The driver comes on duty at 4:00 a.m. Sunday with 70 hours available, and the 11-hour and 14-hour clocks also start fresh, since the restart is longer than 10 consecutive hours off.

The restart is optional. If the days about to roll off hold enough hours for your next load, you may not need one.

Passenger-carrying drivers have the same 60/70-hour limits under 49 CFR 395.5(b), but the 34-hour restart in 395.3(c) is written for property-carrying drivers.

Common mistakes

• Counting only driving hours. Loading, fueling, inspections and attending the truck at a dock all count.
• Expecting a reset on Sunday or at the start of a month. The period rolls one day at a time.
• Ending the restart early. 33 hours off is not a restart, and on-duty work inside the 34 hours breaks it.
• Assuming all available hours can be driven. Cycle hours are on-duty hours, and the 11-hour and 14-hour limits still apply.
• Treating the limit as a stop-work order. At 60 or 70 hours you can't drive, but on-duty work that isn't driving is still allowed and adds to your total.

How Fort Route helps

Fort Route's trip planner checks your route against the 70-hour rule along with the 11-hour, 14-hour and 8-hour break rules. You enter your current hours (there is no ELD sync), and the planner places 10-hour resets and 34-hour restarts at real truck stops and rest areas when the trip needs them. The legal arrival time includes that time off.

The Cycle ring in the hours of service view shows the cycle hours you have left, next to the Break, Drive and Shift rings. Fort Route is a planning aid; your ELD record is the legal record of your hours.