A driving budget inside a workday
Understand the 11-hour driving limit and 14-hour window before calculating them.
The two daily limits
After at least ten consecutive hours of qualifying rest, a property-carrying driver may drive up to eleven hours. Only driving uses this eleven-hour allowance. Loading, fueling, and other non-driving work do not.
The fourteen-hour window starts when the driver first comes on-duty after that rest. It runs for fourteen consecutive hours. Work, driving, and ordinary off-duty breaks all let it keep running. Once it ends, ordinary driving must stop, even if some of the eleven driving hours remain.
Think of the eleven hours as a driving budget and the fourteen hours as a deadline. You must stay within both. This accounts for a long workday as well as time behind the wheel.
Compare the remaining driving allowance with the remaining window before planning the next leg.
Apply the limits to one day
| Measure | Used | Remaining before other limits |
|---|---|---|
| Driving allowance | 8 driving hours | 3 driving hours |
| Driving window | 10 elapsed hours | 4 window hours |
Loading also counts toward the sixty/seventy-hour cycle. Driving counts toward driving, window, and cycle limits.
Teaching timeline · Read the day from left to right
2 h
6–8 a.m.
Load: 2 window hours, no driving used
8 h
8 a.m.–4 p.m.
Drive: 8 driving and window hours
4 h
4–8 p.m.
4 window hours remain; only 3 driving hours remain
At 4 p.m., the shorter remaining daily allowance is 3 driving hours. Check cycle and break limits too.
Use the earliest limit
Before driving, check the driving allowance, window, cycle hours, and thirty-minute break requirement. The trip must fit every applicable limit.
Pause and apply
Three driving hours remain, but only one window hour. How much ordinary driving can you plan?
Read the reasoning
At most one hour. Cycle hours or the break requirement could allow less.