Hours of Service - Definition of Terms

Definition of Terms

Parts of a driver's work day are defined in four terms: On-duty time, off-duty time, driving time, and sleeper berth time.

FMCSA regulation §395.2 states:

On-duty time is all time from when a driver begins to work or is required to be in readiness to work until the driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work.

On-duty time includes:

• All time at a plant, terminal, facility, or other property of a motor carrier or shipper, or on any public property, waiting to be dispatched, unless the driver has been relieved from duty by the motor carrier.
• All time inspecting, servicing, or conditioning any CMV at any time.
• Crossing a border
• All driving time as defined in the term "driving time".
• All time, other than driving time, in or upon any CMV except time spent resting in a sleeper berth.
• All time loading or unloading a CMV, supervising, or assisting in the loading or unloading, attending a CMV being loaded or unloaded, remaining in readiness to operate the CMV, or in giving or receiving receipts for shipments loaded or unloaded.
• All time repairing, obtaining assistance, or remaining in attendance upon a disabled CMV.
• All time spent providing a breath sample or urine specimen, including travel time to and from the collection site, to comply with the random, reasonable suspicion, post-accident, or follow-up drug testing.
• Performing any other work in the capacity, employ, or service of a motor carrier.
• Performing any compensated work for a person who is not a motor carrier. (This rule does not explicitly forbid a driver from obtaining a second or part-time job. It simply prevents a driver switching from a non-driving job to a driving job without the required 10 hours of rest.)

Driving time is all time spent at the driving controls of a CMV.

Sleeper berth time is any amount of time spent inside the sleeper berth (e.g., resting or sleeping). FMCSA regulation §393.76 gives the minimum requirements for a space to be defined as a sleeper berth. The simple definition is an area separate from (usually immediately behind) the driving controls that includes a bed. The rules do not explicitly require that a driver must sleep, only that a driver must take a period of "rest" within the sleeper berth or off-duty (i.e., home). A statement made by the ICC in 1937 gives the reason: "We have no control over the manner in which a driver may spend his time off-duty, although some of his spare time activities may tire him as much as any work would do. We can only emphasize, by this comment, the responsibility which is the driver’s own to assure himself of adequate rest and sleep, in the time available for this purpose, to insure safety of his driving, and likewise the employer’s responsibility to see that his drivers report for work in fit condition."

Off-duty time is any time not spent on-duty, driving, or in the sleeper berth.