Lesson 3 — HOS for Teams

The test below stays in English. You must pass the test in English.

Why this matters

Solo HOS is straightforward: 11 hours driving, 14-hour duty window, 10 hours off duty, restart on the 70 in 8 days. Team HOS adds the split-sleeper-berth option, and that is where it gets tricky.

You need to know the basics before orientation. ELD systems handle most of the math, but if you do not understand the underlying rule, you will not catch when the ELD is set up wrong or when dispatch is asking you to do something illegal.

The standard HOS rules under 49 CFR § 395 still apply to each driver individually:

11-hour driving limit. No driver may drive more than 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty.

14-hour duty window. No driver may drive after the 14th hour after coming on duty, following 10 consecutive hours off.

30-minute break. A driver may not drive after 8 cumulative hours of driving without at least a 30-minute break (which can be off-duty or sleeper berth time).

60/70 hour limit. 60 hours in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days, with the 34-hour restart available.

The split sleeper berth provision under § 395.1(g) lets a driver split the required 10-hour off-duty period into two parts — but the rules around how that split works are specific.

49 CFR § 395.1(g) allows a driver to split the 10 hours of required off-duty time into two periods, provided:

One period of at least 7 consecutive hours must be spent entirely in the sleeper berth.

The other period of at least 2 consecutive hours can be in the sleeper berth, off duty, or any combination.

Neither split counts against the 14-hour duty window. When the driver takes a qualifying split, the duty window calculation pauses for that off-duty time.

So a team driver can drive, pull into the sleeper for 7 hours while the co-driver takes the wheel, come out and drive again, then take the remaining 3 hours later — and the math still works.

The mistake new team drivers make: thinking any 10-hour break resets the clock. It does not. The two splits must meet the minimum durations. A 6-hour sleeper period plus a 4-hour off-duty period does not satisfy the rule. A 7-hour sleeper period plus a 2-hour sleeper or off-duty period does.

Each driver has their own HOS clock. The truck does not have a clock; the drivers do.

This means: at any moment one driver is on duty (driving or otherwise on-duty), and the other is off duty (in the sleeper or off duty). They swap roles. Each tracks their own 11-hour driving, 14-hour window, 60/70-hour total.

The team advantage is that the truck almost never stops. While one driver is in the sleeper accumulating off-duty time, the other is driving. So a team can legally cover roughly twice the daily miles of a solo driver — not because the rules are different, but because the truck does not have to wait for one person to rest.

The team disadvantage: if both drivers run out of available driving hours before the other can take over, the truck stops. ELD-tracked, no creative bookkeeping.

Driving after the 14-hour window without a qualifying split. This is the most common. A driver thinks the time in the sleeper counted, but the split was too short, and the ELD flags a violation.

On-duty time not logged. Pre-trip inspection, fueling, paperwork, loading checks at a customer dock — all on-duty. Logging them as off-duty is falsification and a serious CSA hit.

Personal conveyance misuse. Personal conveyance lets you move the truck off-duty for personal reasons in limited cases. Using it to position the truck for the next load is a violation.

Driving while too fatigued under § 392.3. Even if your clock says you can drive, if you are too fatigued to drive safely, you cannot drive. Pull over. Sleep. This is separate from the HOS hours and is one of the few violations that can disqualify your CDL.

49 CFR § 390.6 prohibits a carrier or dispatcher from coercing a driver to violate any safety regulation, including HOS. If a dispatcher tells you to drive past your hours, "log it as personal conveyance," or "just falsify it for this one load," that is coercion.

What to do:

Write down what was said. Time, channel (call, text, satellite message), exact words.

Refuse. Park the truck legally. Take your rest.

Report it. To PHR first, and to FMCSA Coercion Complaint if appropriate (https://nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov).

The carrier cannot retaliate against you for refusing to violate HOS. § 390.6 protects you. The ELD record protects you too — it logs what you actually did, not what dispatch wishes you had done.

• ○ Two periods of 5 hours each
• ✓ One period of at least 7 hours in the sleeper berth, and one period of at least 2 hours (sleeper or off duty)
• ○ One period of at least 8 hours, and one period of at least 2 hours
• ○ Any two periods that add up to 10 hours

• ○ 14 hours after the driver started driving
• ✓ 14 hours after the driver first came on duty following 10 consecutive hours off
• ○ 14 hours of driving time accumulated
• ○ When the co-driver has been driving for 14 hours

• ○ The team shares one combined HOS clock — 22 driving hours, 28-hour window
• ✓ Each driver has their own HOS clock; they swap roles while the truck keeps moving
• ○ Only the driver currently behind the wheel needs to track HOS; the other can ignore the rules
• ○ HOS does not apply to team operations

• ○ Off duty — it is just preparation
• ○ Sleeper berth time if done quickly
• ✓ On duty (not driving) — both fueling and pre-trip count as on-duty time
• ○ Personal conveyance — the driver is not under a load

• ○ Do it — the dispatcher will take responsibility if there is a problem
• ✓ Refuse, document the request, and report under 49 CFR § 390.6 coercion rules; the ELD record will show what actually happened
• ○ Compromise — log half the time as personal conveyance
• ○ Quit and find a new carrier