Hours-of-service rules for truck drivers: federal limits and Texas intrastate rules

A driver of a property-carrying truck in interstate commerce must take 10 consecutive hours off duty before starting a shift. After that, the driver gets a 14-hour window and up to 11 hours of driving inside it, with a 30-minute interruption required once 8 hours of driving have passed. No driving is allowed after 60 hours on duty in 7 days, or 70 hours in 8 days. A driver may reset either limit by taking 34 or more consecutive hours off.¹

Those limits, in 49 CFR 395.3, were last amended by a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rule that took effect Sept. 29, 2020, and the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR) shows no change to them since.^1,2 Texas sets its own limits for carriers that operate only inside the state: 12 hours of driving after 8 hours off, no driving after 15 hours on duty, a 70-hour weekly cap and no 30-minute break.³

Federal and Texas hours-of-service limits at a glance

The table covers drivers of property-carrying vehicles. Bus and motorcoach drivers follow separate limits, described further down.

What the 11-hour and 14-hour rules allow

The two daily limits work together. The 14-hour clock starts when the driver comes on duty after 10 consecutive hours off, and it runs on consecutive clock hours. Off-duty time taken during the day does not stop it. Only a qualifying sleeper berth period, described below, is left out of the 14-hour count.^1,4

Inside that window, driving time may total 11 hours (§ 395.3(a)(3)(i)). A driver who reaches 11 hours of driving at hour 12 must stop driving. So must a driver who reaches hour 14 after only 9 hours of driving. The limits restrict driving: other on-duty work can continue after the window closes.¹

The 30-minute rule (§ 395.3(a)(3)(ii)) is triggered by driving time, not by time on duty. Once 8 hours of driving have accumulated without a 30-minute interruption, the driver must stop for at least 30 consecutive minutes. Off-duty time, sleeper berth time, on-duty time spent not driving, or a mix of the three all satisfy it. Drivers using either short-haul exception are exempt.¹

The 60-hour and 70-hour limits and the 34-hour restart

The weekly limits count all on-duty time, not just driving. A carrier that does not operate every day of the week falls under the 60-hour, 7-day limit. A carrier that operates every day falls under the 70-hour, 8-day limit (§ 395.3(b)). Either period can be reset by an off-duty stretch of 34 or more consecutive hours (§ 395.3(c)).¹

Sleeper berth splits: the 7/3 and 8/2 options

A driver with a sleeper berth can meet the 10-hour off-duty requirement in pieces. Under § 395.1(g), the driver may take two periods, neither shorter than 2 consecutive hours, one of them at least 7 consecutive hours in the berth, adding up to at least 10 hours. Driving before and after the two periods together may not exceed 11 hours or break the 14-hour limit, and the qualifying periods do not count against the 14-hour window.⁴

FMCSA describes the result as a “7/3” or “8/2” split, or anything in between.⁵ The same section also allows at least 7 consecutive hours in the berth combined with up to 3 hours riding in the passenger seat of the moving truck.⁴

Short-haul exceptions and the 16-hour day

Two short-haul exceptions in § 395.1(e) exempt local drivers from keeping records of duty status under §§ 395.8 and 395.11. Section 395.8 is also where the electronic logging device requirement sits.^4,6

• Drivers with a commercial driver’s license (CDL). The driver must stay within a 150 air-mile radius (172.6 statute miles) of the normal work reporting location, return and be released within 14 consecutive hours, and have 10 consecutive hours off between shifts (8 hours for bus drivers). The carrier must keep time records for 6 months.⁴
• Drivers of trucks that need no CDL. Within the same 150 air-mile radius, and returning to the work reporting location at the end of each duty tour, these drivers must stop driving by the 14th hour on duty on 5 days of any 7, and by the 16th hour on the other 2. They are also exempt from the 14-hour window itself.⁴

A separate 16-hour exception in § 395.1(o) lets a property-carrying driver stretch the 14-hour window to 16 hours once in any 6 consecutive days, or again after a 34-hour restart. The driver must have been released from the normal work reporting location for the previous 5 duty tours and must be released within 16 hours of coming on duty. The exception lifts only the 14-hour window; the 11-hour driving limit still applies.⁴

Adverse driving conditions and emergency relief

A driver who runs into adverse driving conditions may take up to 2 extra hours beyond the limits in § 395.3(a) or § 395.5(a) to finish the run or reach a safe place (§ 395.1(b)(1)). The rule defines those conditions as snow, ice, sleet, fog, other adverse weather, or unusual road or traffic conditions that the driver did not know, and could not reasonably have known, before starting the duty day or the last qualifying break, or that the carrier could not have known before dispatch.⁴

Emergency declarations suspend the limits for drivers giving direct assistance. As of Oct. 5, 2026, relief under a regional declaration by a governor or FMCSA lasts for the emergency period or 30 days from the initial declaration, whichever is less. It was previously 14 days.^7,8 Relief under a local emergency declaration lasts up to 5 days.⁸

Hours-of-service limits for bus and motorcoach drivers

Passenger-carrying drivers work under § 395.5. They are limited to 10 hours of driving after 8 consecutive hours off, with no driving after 15 hours on duty, and they share the same 60-hour and 70-hour weekly limits.⁹ With a sleeper berth, they may split the 8 hours off into two periods of at least 2 hours each, provided driving before and after totals no more than 10 hours and no driving falls after the 15th hour.⁴

Electronic logging devices: dates and exceptions

Carriers had to install and require electronic logging devices (ELDs) by Dec. 18, 2017.⁶ FMCSA published the ELD rule on Dec. 16, 2015, and it took effect Feb. 16, 2016. Carriers that had installed older automatic on-board recording devices (AOBRDs) before the 2017 deadline could keep using them until Dec. 16, 2019.¹⁰

Paper logs remain allowed in four cases: drivers who need records of duty status on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period, two kinds of driveaway-towaway operations, and trucks built before model year 2000.⁶ Drivers must submit their records to the carrier within 13 days.⁶

On July 22, 2026, FMCSA dropped the requirement to carry the ELD user’s manual in the truck. Drivers must still carry an instruction sheet for transferring data, an instruction sheet for malfunctions and 8 days of blank paper log grids.¹¹ In federal fiscal year (FY) 2025, before the change, Texas roadside inspections recorded 1,079 violations for a missing ELD user’s manual.¹²

Texas intrastate hours-of-service rules

Texas adopts most federal motor carrier rules by reference in 37 Tex. Admin. Code § 4.11, as amended through Sept. 1, 2022, then carves out exceptions for intrastate carriers in § 4.12.^3,13 The hours-of-service differences:

• Driving and duty limits. Section 4.12(a)(2) states that § 395.3 does not apply to intrastate commerce. Intrastate drivers get 12 hours of driving after 8 consecutive hours off, with no driving after 15 hours on duty. A driver who breaks either limit is placed out of service for 8 consecutive hours.³
• No 30-minute break. The break is part of § 395.3, and § 4.12 contains no break requirement of its own.³
• Weekly limit. A single cap of 70 hours worked or driven in any 7 consecutive days, reset by 34 or more consecutive hours off. Drivers of oilfield equipment and of construction materials and equipment can reset after 24 hours off.³
• Sleeper berth. Two periods of at least 2 hours each, adding up to 8 hours, with no more than 12 hours of driving around them and none after the 15th hour.³
• Short haul. No records of duty status within a 150 air-mile radius if the driver is released within 14 hours and has 8 hours off between shifts.³
• ELDs. Unless exempt, intrastate carriers must install ELDs and require drivers to use them under Part 395.³

The Texas rules reach fewer vehicles. Federal rules cover interstate trucks with a weight rating of 10,001 pounds or more.¹⁴ Texas applies the federal rules intrastate to vehicles over 26,000 pounds, farm vehicles of 48,000 pounds or more, vehicles carrying more than 15 passengers including the driver, and vehicles carrying placarded hazardous materials.¹³

Texas also allows intrastate drivers as young as 18, and exempts intrastate drivers hauling agricultural commodities within 150 air miles during planting and harvesting seasons, which § 4.11 defines as Jan. 1 to Dec. 31.^3,13

FMCSA’s 2025 pilot programs have not started

In September 2025, FMCSA announced two pilot programs that would relax the hours-of-service rules for enrolled drivers only. They are not rules, and neither has begun.

• Split duty period. Participants could pause the 14-hour window with a single off-duty, sleeper berth or on-duty-not-driving period of 30 minutes to 3 hours, taken at a pickup or delivery location. It would cover about 256 drivers of property-carrying trucks.¹⁶
• Flexible sleeper berth. Participants could shorten the longer sleeper period from 7 hours to as little as 5, allowing “5/5” and “6/4” splits. It would also cover about 256 drivers.¹⁷

Comments on both notices closed Nov. 17, 2025.^16,17 On Oct. 6 and 7, 2026, FMCSA announced it would seek approval from the Office of Management and Budget for the studies’ data collection and invited comments through Dec. 7, 2026, under dockets FMCSA-2026-2081 and FMCSA-2026-2080. Each driver would take part for 16 weeks.^5,18 The truck driver fatigue page explains what the studies would measure.

How often drivers are put out of service for hours of service

Hours-of-service violations were the leading reason drivers were placed out of service during International Roadcheck, an annual three-day inspection event run by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA), in both 2024 and 2025.^19,20

In the 2025 event, U.S. inspectors alone recorded 992 hours-of-service out-of-service violations, 31.6% of the U.S. driver total.²⁰ False logs, a separate category, made up another 10.0% across Canada and the U.S.; falsified records of duty status were that year’s driver focus area.²⁰

Year-round federal data point the same way. In FY 2025, three of the five most cited driver violations nationwide involved logs: ELD form and manner (56,245), false report of duty status (54,170) and failure to certify ELD records (46,775).¹² In Texas, “record of duty status not current” ranked fifth among driver violations, with 3,393.¹² For the full Texas inspection picture, see commercial vehicle safety in Houston.

What to watch next

• The pilot programs. Comments on the data collection close Dec. 7, 2026. Texas Mobility Outlook found no Federal Register notice that either program has begun.^5,18
• English proficiency enforcement. An FMCSA proposal published Aug. 10, 2026 would make failing the English proficiency requirement an out-of-service violation; comments were due Oct. 9, 2026.²¹ Other 2025 and 2026 changes are tracked on the FMCSA rule changes page.

Hours-of-service rules govern how long drivers work, not why trucks crash. For what crash investigations have found, see the leading causes of commercial truck crashes and the Houston truck crash statistics.