Still Struggling To Understand HOS
Topic 26669 | Page 1
Read a lot of threads about management of your time on the road, but am still struggling to understand it all. I know you guys try to explain it as clearly as possible but I’m just not getting it rn. I really want to though because from what I have read it really is an important aspect of being a truck driver. I’m hoping it will sink in eventually. I feel so dumb.
I still struggle with it sometimes too, don't feel bad. It's not hard for me to manage my hours since I work a 5 day week. All I have to do is not work more than 14 hours. You need a 10 hour break between shifts.
First you have daily rules: you can't be on duty more than 14 hours. You can't drive for more than 11 and you're required to take a 30 min break before hour 8.
Weekly: you can not work more than 70 hours in a rolling 8 day period. If you hit hour 70 within those 8 days you have to take a 34 hour reset.
Recaps is where I get confused because it's hard for me to keep track of hours. I know there are apps that do it for you, all you do is plug in the numbers but I have found one that works for me. I work with a guy that works 7 days a week and never hits 70 in an 8. I'm sure people on here can explain this in a way that makes sense and do a better job of it than I can.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Joel, to be honest, it makes a lot more sense once you begin to work with it daily. I felt I had a good understanding of it before I started, but it really came to life once I began using it and actually experiencing the ways I could use my knowledge of the rules to help me be more productive.
I must have went through that section on
Learning The Logbook Rules (HOS)
at least four or five times before I began to grasp it. It's confusing at first, but if you'll work through it methodically repeating each page until your confident you've got it before moving on to the next, you'll begin to get it. The way that training program works is progressively. Each future page begins to build on what you just learned and it also reviews you on your weaknesses. Yes, it can actually recognize where you are struggling.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Logbook:
A written or electronic record of a driver's duty status which must be maintained at all times. The driver records the amount of time spent driving, on-duty not driving, in the sleeper berth, or off duty. The enforcement of the Hours Of Service Rules (HOS) are based upon the entries put in a driver's logbook.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
You'll definitely have a better idea once your out here dealing with it, the best part about electronic logs is it tells you exactly what you have
Today I spent nearly 2 hrs and 50 minutes "on duty" for pretrip and unloading at stores, and currently on my 2nd 30 minute break I'm logging off duty. I have 2:38 of remaining time available for the day and only 10 miles from the terminal so I'll easily make it back. One thing to remember is once you log on duty your 14 hour clock will not stop, or be full again until you have 10 hours "off duty" or "sleeper". Once I get to 1 hour of drive/on duty time remaining it will pop up a screen counting down the minutes. If i close out of that it will pop up every 15 minutes.
Electronic Logs:
Electronic Onboard Recorder
Electronic Logbook
A device which records the amount of time a vehicle has been driven. If the vehicle is not being driven, the operator will manually input whether or not he/she is on duty or not.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
For clarification, you're only required to take ONE 8 hour break if you're going to drive after 8 hours. I took my first one at 7 and a half hours into my shift to cover the DOT requirement but my company pays us for that break, and an additional 30 minute break which is why I'm taking 2. If you try to take your break after 5 1/2 or 6 hours you will not need to an additional one even if you have a 14 hour day.
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
For clarification, you're only required to take ONE 8 hour break if you're going to drive after 8 hours. I took my first one at 7 and a half hours into my shift to cover the DOT requirement but my company pays us for that break, and an additional 30 minute break which is why I'm taking 2. If you try to take your break after 5 1/2 or 6 hours you will not need to an additional one even if you have a 14 hour day.
I think u mean before 5 hours .
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Recaps are weird! They don’t actually match your drive time. At Prime our recaps are from 12:00 central time till 12:00. Like today I had a recap of 12:36. So how is that if u can only drive 11 hours? I drove one hour and 36 minutes after midnight, took a 10, then drove my 11 hours. Also say u only have 5 hour recap today and 5 hour recap for tomorrow. U could start driving at 19:00 and drive 10 hours cause recaps come back at 12:00 central for us.
recaps come back at 12:00 central for us.
Just for clarification... everybody's re-caps start at midnight. The time zone will be based on your home terminal's location.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
Recaps are weird! They don’t actually match your drive time.
They are the total of your drive time and on duty time combined.
Recaps are weird! They don’t actually match your drive time.
They are the total of your drive time and on duty time combined.
Old School I’ve heard different things. But I always take 15 minutes off duty at the beginning for a pretrip and 10 minutes on duty at the end for post trip. Is this DOT correct?
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
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This topic has the following tags:
Prime Inc Swift Transport Advice For New Truck Drivers CMVSA Driver Responsibilities Electronic Logbooks FMCSA Hours Of Service Logbook Questions Pre-trip inspection (PTI)
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Read a lot of threads about management of your time on the road, but am still struggling to understand it all. I know you guys try to explain it as clearly as possible but I’m just not getting it rn. I really want to though because from what I have read it really is an important aspect of being a truck driver. I’m hoping it will sink in eventually. I feel so dumb.