11 Hours

11 Hours

11 hours may not sound like much. When you think about it, we are usually awake for 12-18 hours every day at work or at home or somewhere in between. So what is the significance of eleven hours? Not much to most people, but to a truck driver, 11 hours is the rule of the land.
The Federal Government imposes rules on employees that work on the transportation industry. Whether you drive a bus or truck, run a train, or fly a plane, you have to abide by a specific set of rules that relate to your training, fitness for duty, and as will be covered here, hours of service.
“Hours of Service” refers to the amount of work you can do in a day legally. As a truck driver, there are four different times I must observe daily. Type one is called “Off Duty” and is basically anything I do away from the truck. I can be at home, on vacation, sitting in a terminal, etc and the hours of service do not apply. Once I get to my truck though, things change a bit. The next kind of time is called “Sleeper Berth”. This is time I spend (as the name implies) back in the sleeper of the truck. Usually this time is spent sleeping, but it can also be spent reading and relaxing. The Fed requires that I have certain amounts of “Off Duty” and “Sleeper Berth” time between driving shifts as I will outline below.
The last two kinds of time are, of course, my working time. First is “Driving”, which is pretty self explanatory. This is any time I spend behind the wheel. Finally, “On Duty, Not Driving” rounds out my day and usually consists of things like loading or unloading trailers, fueling, and time spent doing company required tasks at Terminals (simulator, etc).
So what’s all the fuss about 11 hours? 11 hours is the maximum amount of time I can drive in a 14 hour window. That’s where the money is. That’s where I cash in. Basically I can drive up to 11 hours (split up however conditions warrant) in a 14 hour period. After 14 hours, I am required to take a 10 hour break (in the sleeper or off duty) before I can drive again. Now, I know that 11 hours doesn’t sound like much, but consider that in 11 hours, I can drive approximately 650 miles. That’s like driving from Philadelphia, PA to Chicago, IL or from Harrisburg, PA to Savannah, GA….Everyday.
Not many truckers drive straight 11 hours every day. We stop, take breaks, eat meals, get showers and do laundry. That’s where the 14 hours come in. Lets say I drive for 6 hours, then I stop and eat some lunch, get a shower and watch some TV for 2 hours, then I drive another 5 hours…. Still legal, but now I have to stop and take that 10 hour break.
Complicated huh? Well folks, that’s your tax dollars at work. It actually gets a bit more complicated (It’s called the split-sleeper rule) but I won’t go into that here. If you have any questions about Hours of Service or being a trucker, just drop me a line!