Hi there smart drivers. Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you today about splitting up your
off-duty time in your United States log book. This is mostly for team drivers but
single drivers can do it as well.
The key to understanding how to split up your off-duty time in the USA log book
is understanding the pattern. Once you understand the pattern, it's
straightforward. My kids watch a cartoon called Umizoomi where they present a
pattern and then they get the kids to guess the next shape in the pattern. Kids
have a great time doing it. So think of this as an advanced Umizoomi. Learning how to
split up your off-duty time in your USA log book. We'll back with that.
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Hi there, Rick welcome back
talking to you day about splitting up your off-duty time in your USA log book.
Mostly for team drivers, but single drivers can do it as well.
The first stipulation about splitting up your off-duty time in the United States
is that you must have a sleeper berth unit on the back of the truck. You can't
do it with a day cab - must be a sleeper berth; must be an approved sleeper berth
unit in order to split up your off-duty time in the United States of America. It
is rigid in splitting up the 10 hours. It must be split up into one 8-consecutive
hour block...8-hour consecutive block rather ,and a two-hour block. The only
concession of splitting up your time in an American log book, is is that you no
longer have to take the 30 minute break that is required when you're running a
straight ten consecutive hours off duty at or before the eight hours. That's the only
concession in splitting up your off-duty time. What is a little bit confusing
for most is understanding the 14-hour window, because the 14-hour window moves
depending on when you take your eight hour or you take your two hour break.
It's easier to think about it in terms of the 14-hour window as a twenty
two-hour window when you take your eight hour break and a 14 hour window when you
take your two hour break because the eight hours off-duty doesn't count
towards your 14-hour window. So essentially, the eight hours off-duty, you
take that and add that to your 14 hour window. So if you start in the morning at
7 a.m.—14 hours is 9 p.m.—you don't count your eight hours so you get another eight
hours, so 9 p.m. is to 5 a.m. So you're 14 hour window extends out to 5 a.m.
Because essentially you don't count the eight hours. You see here on the log book
we started at seven o'clock in the morning—we worked for three hours—we
drove for four hours—which put us at 2 p.m. in the afternoon. At 2 p.m. in the
afternoon we took eight hours off. So essentially, we're working in a 22-hour
window from 7 a.m. to 5 a.m. the next morning because we took eight hours
off-duty. So our 14-hour window extends out to 5 a.m. the next morning. You can see on
the log book here we take eight hours off from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.,
because we've already driven four hours, we can drive another seven hours from 10
p.m. to 5 a.m. At 5 a.m. we must take another two hours off from 5 a.m. to 7
a.m. When we take the next two hours off we now have a 10-hour block from the previous
eight hours and the two-hour block. So now our 14-hour window moves forward to the
end of our most recent 8-hour block. As you can see here on the log book, which is
ten o'clock at night. And because it's the two-hour block is counted in our 14
hours, it's 10 o'clock at night to noon is our 14-hours. So essentially from 5
a.m. to 7 a.m. we take off in the sleeper berth. Because we've already
driven seven hours, we only have another four hours, so if we start driving at
exactly 7 o'clock you can drive to 11 a.m. and then you cannot drive any
longer, but you can work until noon. But you can only drive another four hours
because you're up against and 11 hours. Now if you just stop driving at 11 a.m.
and don't work any farther. You take another eight hours off, now your window—
because it's the a 8-hour block—is a 22-hour window and starts at 7 a.m. in the
morning. So essentially your window, you're working time, extends to 5 a.m.
the next morning. So that's the pattern. Everything else applies - you can find the
basic log book here. [RICK AUGUST POINTING TO CARD FOR BASIC LOG BOOK INFORMATION]
The course on 11 hours and the 14-hour window. Basic rules of driving for log books in
the United States of America. And you need to think of it as that pattern: you
come on-duty - if you take your first break as your 8-hour break, it's a 22-hour
window. And then you take your second break of two hours - the two hours is
included in the 14 hour window, so at the end of that first eight hour
break, its 14 hours. In the example we used, we started driving at ten o'clock
at night. The 14-hour window, which includes the two hour break, takes you up
to noon the next day. When we stop driving at noon the next day, our 14-hour
window resets to the end of the two-hour block, which puts us into a 22-hour
window because we don't include the
hours in the 14 hours. We simply add it on. So 7 a.m. to 5 a.m. the next day is
now our window of working time, and in that twenty two-hours we can only drive
11 hours.
The other thing that I will say about splitting off-duty time in United States
of America-if you're running team, the two log books must dovetail. What I mean
by dovetail is if one person is taking eight hours off in the sleeper berth, the
other person better be off duty as well or driving. Both drivers cannot be
driving. So make sure that when you sit down at the truck stop or the rest area, or
wherever you're sitting down to do your log books, the two log books dovetail.
Make sure that the two of you are not driving at the same time, because that
will lead to violations on the part of the authorities if they're looking
at your log books and they find out that the two of you are driving at the same time or you
violated the 11 hours and the 14 hour window... the 11 hours of driving or you've exceeded
the work hours. So keep all of that in mind. You got to recognize the pattern. If
you recognize the pattern, this is fairly straight forward.
In conclusion, the best way to think of splitting your off-duty time in
terms of the eight hours off-duty and the two hours off-duty: if the eight
hours in the 14 hour window, it's a 22 hour window because you take the 14 hour
window and add the 8 hours to it. If it's two hours, the two hours is included in
your 14 hour window, so the end of the eight hour period—
forward 14 hours, so if you start driving at ten o'clock at night, which is the end
of your eight consecutive hours on duty, that's when you start driving, it's a 14
hour window to noon the next day and within that fourteen hour window or the
22 hour window—if you've got an eight hour break in there—you can only drive a
maximum of 11 hours. Team drivers, make sure that your two log books are
dovetailing. Not exceeding all of the other rules - the 11 hours in a 14 hour
window or twenty two-hour window - you're taking the 8-hour break, in that window
or the 70 hours in 8 days. And make sure that the two log books dovetail - that the
two of you are not driving at the same time. That's how you split up the logbook
time in United States of America. If you like everything you see here, go over to my
website, the full course is available over there. All of the videos, all of the rules
and regulations for driving in the United States of America. They're all
written down. There's two exercises for you to fill out. There's questions
related specifically to the exercises to help you understand and comprehend
filling out a log book, so if you get pulled into a scale, get pulled over by
authorities and they look at your logbook you're not gonna get a fine. As
well, there's a free calculator for figuring out the 70 hours in 8 days - the work cycle -
rolling work cycle, which you also need to understand. And finally there's a
certificate of completion that you can take to your employer if you're looking to get hired.
It gives you a leg up from everybody else because you have a certificate that says
you took a certified logbook course.
Question of the day for all my smart drivers! Now that you've seen the video on
splitting your off-duty time in the United States of America on your logbook,
how likely are you to split the off-duty time in your log book? Once in awhile,
every now and again, on a regular basis?
Leave a comment down in the comment section there. It would be great to hear from you.
We'll get back to you - we'll talk to you about this. Any questions or concerns as
well, leave a comment down in the comment section.
Jump over to my website, have a look at the course. Remember comment, subscribe,
share the video, all that helps us out.
I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test. Have a great day. Thanks for watching.
Remember, pick the best answer, not necessarily right answer. Bye now.
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