Help me understand the 8 days/70 hours/34 hour reset particulars

I'm sure someone will be along to correct me if I'm wrong since I haven't been OTR for several years, but from what I remember the idea is that you always have enough hours falling off your 8 day rolling 70 to keep you from hitting 70. I assume you're perfectly clear on the 11 / 14 hour rules, so I won't bother with those.

HOS Regulations as a refresher:
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/hours-service/summary-hours-service-regulations

• If you run 10 hours every day for 7 days, you'll hit your limit of 70 hours and have to do a reset.
• If you run 8 hours per day for 8 days, you end up with 64 hours at the end of day 8.

Now, since you have 64 hours used and 6 available on the end of day 8, when day 1 "falls off" you'll gain another 8 hours which leaves your previous 7 day total at 56 hours used and 14 available. Just rinse and repeat and you'll never bump up against the 70 hours in an 8 day period and won't be required to take a 34-hour reset.

A lot of drivers in your situation would just do a 34 to reset the rolling 8-day period, but that prevents you from making any money for those 34 hours. If you only do 8 hours per day instead of 10, that gives you a "loss" of 16 hours over an 8 day span but it's fewer hours lost when compared to sitting for a full 34 hours.

 

34 hour resets are not mandatory. They come in handy if you've been burning it down the past 5 or 6 days though.

With your current hours, I wouldn't bother with a 34 assuming you have freight.

 

I think it's 8.75 hours a day and you never need a reset.

 

And to answer your question on the 34 hour reset.

There is no law that says you "must" take a 34 hour reset. It is an option that is available, if you wish to use it.
If your scheduled to be off for 34 straight hours, then you can use it to reset your 70 hour clock. But if your freight runs do not allow you to sit for 34 hours, then you run on recap and use the hours available you regain each midnight.

 

Ding ding ding...we have a winner!

 

So is the "recap" the recapturing of the hours that roll off each day from 8 days prior?

 

Exactly.

 

Yep...it lists the hours you'll have available tomorrow and since it's a rolling 8 day period, the previous 8th day drops off and you have those hours available.

 

The JJ Keller logbooks have a space on each page where you write down both the 7 and 8 day on-duty totals. I believe they do this so you can subtract the two numbers and find out what you have available tomorrow without having to flip back 7 or 8 pages in your logbook. Someone correct me if I am wrong.