Managing the 70 hour rule various strategies

I have a few thoughts about different time management strategies. When I was in CDL school I wondered how soon a driver would run up against the 70 hour rule. This got me to doing the math to satisfy my curiosity. I created my own spreadsheet to add up the numbers on several different options over a 28 day 4 week period. Before we get started I would like to point out that the following examples are purely theoretical, and no endorsement is expressed or implied. Also please note that some figures have been rounded to make the example clearer. In these assumptions I have included some on duty not driving time per day to account for loading, unloading, pre/post trip, etc. In the totaly legal world you are expected to log on duty all time spent waiting under load or waiting for dispatch. Some companies may give you a release letter allowing you to log off duty during those times.

Some companies may come under the 60 hours in 7 day rule, but "most" fall under this 70/8 rule.
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To review the rule for drivers for carriers who operate Commercial Motor Vehicles every day of the week.
§395.3 Maximum driving time for property-carrying vehicles.
Subject to the exceptions and exemptions in § 395.1:

(b) No motor carrier shall permit or require a driver of a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle to drive, nor shall any driver drive a property-carrying commercial motor vehicle, regardless of the number of motor carriers using the driver's services, for any period after-

(b)(2) Having been on duty 70 hours in any period of 8 consecutive days if the employing motor carrier operates commercial motor vehicles every day of the week.

(c)(2) Any period of 8 consecutive days may end with the beginning of any off-duty period of 34 or more consecutive hours.

From: FMCSA - Regulations - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

So basically this means that we can reset the 70 hour accumulation clock with a 34 hour break. This allows us to work more than 70 hours in 8 days. To put it another way: If a driver logs thirty-four (34) consecutive hours off duty then this ends one eight ( 8 ) day period and starts a fresh eight ( 8 ) day period with a complete seventy (70) duty hours available again.
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First option: Run hard and take the 34 hour reset. Starting Day 1 and driving 11 hours, on duty not driving 2 hours per day (85% of duty time driving). This leaves 5 hours for the sixth day, so take the 34 hour reset half of day 6 and day 7. This gives 70 hours available again for the 8th day. Over 28 days this yields 236 driving hours and 44 on duty not driving hours. At an average of 50 miles per hour thats 11,800 miles per month. At $0.25 per mile thats $2,950 per month and $38,350 per year. (4 weeks times 13 equals 52)

Second option: Run easy and never run out of hours. Basically thats 8.75 hours on duty per day every day for the 28 day period. At the same 85% of on duty time driving as option one that leaves 7.5 hours of driving and 1.25 hours of on duty not driving per day. Over 28 days this yields 210 driving hours and 35 on duty not driving hours. At an average of 50 miles per hour thats 10,500 miles per month. At $0.25 per mile thats $2,625 per month and $34,125 per year. This may fool some people because the total hours for the past 8 days including today will always equal 70 but we must remember that the rule is not to EXCEED 70 hours in 8 days. To calculate how many hours we have available for tomorrow we add up how many hours on duty in the las 7 days including today and that number will equal 61.25 leaving 8.75 hours for the next day. This option is 88% as efficient in terms of income as option one but sacrafices hometime to do it.

Third option: 7 days on 2 off. Difficult because you have to manage your hours for seven days, and then you get a reset. Ten hours on duty per day, 8.5 driving, 1.5 on duty not driving. Over 28 days this yields 196 driving hours and 34 on duty not driving hours. At an average of 50 miles per hour thats 9,750 miles per month. At $0.25 per mile thats $2,437 per month and $31,687 per year.

In this purely mathmatical example you see that the continuous rolling theory is only 88% as efficient as the run hard and take your reset theory. The difference is that spacing 8.75 duty hours over a 14 hour window is much easier and less stressful than trying to fit 13 duty hours in the 14 hour window. If you hit one shipper with an 8 hour wait time your running hard profitabliity goes right out the window. Of course everyday is different and theory is usually the first casualty when dealing with the real world. To each his own.

I believe that my point most of all disproves the theory that you can make more money/miles by living in the truck 365 days a year vs. spending each weekend at home providing that you live near a freight lane that will get you home.

Fourth option. Given perfect conditons (which will never happen) you could drive 13 hours in a 24 hour period if you had less than one hour of stops. Drive 11,on duty 1, off duty 10, start driving again. This gets complicated and I worked out each day (PITA) on this rolling schedule. I came out with 290 driving hours and 25 on duty not driving hours in a 28 day period. That is 92% of duty time spent driving. This yields 14,500 miles per month and $47,125 per year. I think this is closer to the imaginary numbers that recruiters use. I don't think this is possible, but again this is a theoretical discussion.

I am not trying to change anyones personal style of working, just pointing out the numbers for anyone wondering. Most of all I wanted to point out that staying away from home 3 weeks won't make you much more money than being home every weekend given these theories, unless your company has a lot of "no wait" freight as in the fourth option.