Restart?

Hi guys (and ladies)...I'm new to the forum but, like others, I've been reading for quite some time. I won't bore you with all my personal history here, as I put most of the important points in my profile. I'm looking at going to a company-sponsored cdl course and am currently narrowing it down. My main reason for posting right now is something I'm confused about, even after reading almost everything on the site. What exactly is the "restart" and how does it work? Maybe I would know after working through the High Road (which I plan to start doing tomorrow), but I figured I would ask after reading through all the posts on the forum.

DOT HOS rules only allow you to work a certain number of hours in a 7/8 day period before you have to "restart" your clock. Usually it's 60 hours/7days or 70 hours/8 days...so basically, if you exceed 60/70 hours in a 7/8 day period, you cannot drive again until you "restart" your weekly clock. To do this you have to be "OFF DUTY" for a period of no less than 34 hours and this MUST include 2 periods that cover 1-5 AM. A lot of people get confused by what it means to be "on duty" vs "driving" in your weekly clock. You can exceed 70 hours of ON DUTY time, but after you hit 70 hours you cannot drive until you restart. Now a lot of experienced drivers know how to keep their clock right on the edge so that they have hours available to drive if they need them but don't use so much of a cushion that they lose money because of sitting..hope this makes sense..

Welcome aboard!

Yap, you'll totally understand it after you complete the logbook section in the High Road Training Program.

Guy was spot on except I'll note one minor thing:

You can exceed 70 hours of ON DUTY time, but after you hit 70 hours you cannot drive until you restart.

You actually don't have to do a 34 hr restart before you can drive again after hitting your 70 hour but you do at least have to wait until more hours become available, which would likely be the next day.

A 34 hr restart will set your hours driven back to zero. You get to completely start over with a fresh 70 hours of drive time available for the next 8 days. If you don't do a restart, you'll simply pick up whatever hours become available each day.

Welcome aboard!

Yap, you'll totally understand it after you complete the logbook section in the High Road Training Program.

Guy was spot on except I'll note one minor thing:

You can exceed 70 hours of ON DUTY time, but after you hit 70 hours you cannot drive until you restart.

You actually don't have to do a 34 hr restart before you can drive again after hitting your 70 hour but you do at least have to wait until more hours become available, which would likely be the next day.

A 34 hr restart will set your hours driven back to zero. You get to completely start over with a fresh 70 hours of drive time available for the next 8 days. If you don't do a restart, you'll simply pick up whatever hours become available each day.

Thanks for that, Brett...In my head I knew that, I just couldn't quite put it into writing..and have it make sense..

Ok, I'm in trucking school to get my class A! I'm having trouble with how to fill out the paper log book for the 34 hr restart, my trainer kinda sucks at explaining it, he just tells me to put in the graph part of the log book. What about the monthly summary sheet part at the front of my log book when the 34 hour period hits? Do I carry the numbers from the prior days in the 8 day period until the 34 hours have passed (first 2 days off), then fill in 0 worked, 0 in last 7 days, 70 hrs avail, 0 in last 8 days (for my 3rd day off)?