Hours of Service (HOS).

What it is

Hours of Service (HOS) is the set of FMCSA rules limiting daily and weekly driving time for commercial drivers. The core limits: an 11-hour driving cap within a 14-hour on-duty window, with a mandatory 30-minute break after 8 cumulative driving hours. Drivers must take 10 consecutive hours off-duty between shifts.

Weekly limits run on either the 70-hour rule (8 days) or the 60-hour rule (7 days) depending on whether the carrier operates every day. The 34-hour restart provision lets a driver reset the weekly clock with a continuous off-duty block. Sleeper berth split provisions (8/2 or 7/3) allow drivers to break the 10-hour off-duty period into two qualifying segments.

A short-haul exemption applies to drivers operating within 150 air-miles of their work-reporting location and finishing within 14 hours — those drivers can stay on time-card records instead of full HOS logs.

Why it matters for trucking finance

HOS violations show up in CSA scoring under the HOS Compliance BASIC and can disqualify a driver from premium loads. ELDs made HOS violations harder to hide and easier for lenders to verify.

Chronic HOS issues correlate with insurance pricing increases as BASIC intervention thresholds get breached. Fleet operators must train and monitor compliance — a single driver's pattern affects the carrier's CSA percentile for two years.

Related terms

• ELD — Electronic Logging Device that automatically records driving time, replacing paper logbooks; mandated for most CDL operators since December 2017.
• CSA Score (CSA) — FMCSA Compliance, Safety, Accountability program scoring system that rates carrier safety performance using roadside inspection and crash data.
• FMCSA — Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — DOT agency that regulates commercial motor vehicles, issues operating authority, and enforces safety rules.

Related Dispatched products

• Commercial trucking insurance