In California, the service hour rules that commercial drivers have to follow depend on whether their route is interstate or intrastate and what they are carrying. If you are engaged in interstate commerce or are carrying hazardous waste, you have to follow federal hours of service rules. Otherwise, you have to follow the rules issued by the California Department of Transportation.
Interstate versus intrastate commerce
According to the Code of Federal Regulations:
“Interstate commerce means trade, traffic, or transportation in the United States (1) Between a place in a State and a place outside of such State (including a place outside of the United States); (2) Between two places in a State through another State or a place outside of the United States; or (3) Between two places in a State as part of trade, traffic, or transportation originating or terminating outside the State or the United States.”[1]
Based on this regulation, you are an interstate driver if:
- you leave California at any point during your route, or
- your route is part of international trade.
All other commerce is intrastate.
You would follow the federal hours of service (HOS) rules if you are an interstate driver.
Hazardous waste and substances
Even if you are an intrastate driver, you would follow federal HOS rules if you are hauling:
- hazardous waste, or
- hazardous substances.
Hazardous waste is any material listed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations in 40 CFR chapter 1.[2]
Hazardous substances are:
- those listed in Appendix A to 49 CFR 172.101 and over the reportable quantity,
- for substances that are mixtures or solutions involving radionuclides, those that conform with paragraph 7 of Appendix A, above, and
- for mixtures or solutions not involving radionuclides, concentrations that exceed:[3]
| Reportable quantity in pounds | Concentration, by weight, in percent | Concentration, by weight, in parts per million (PPM) |
| 5,000 | 10 percent | 100,000 |
| 1,000 | 2 | 20,000 |
| 100 | 0.2 | 2,000 |
| 10 | 0.02 | 200 |
| 1 | 0.002 | 20 |
Federal FMCSA hours of service rules
You have to follow federal hours of service rules if you are:
- engaged in interstate commerce, or
- hauling hazardous waste or substances.
These rules are promulgated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). There are different rules for:
- drivers carrying property, and
- drivers carrying passengers.
There are also some exemptions for certain drivers and circumstances.
To ensure compliance with these rules, the FMCSA requires you to use a registered electronic logging device (ELD).[4] Paper logs are not allowed. The agency provides a list of registered ELDs that satisfy this ELD mandate.
Property-carrying truck drivers
If you are a driver transporting property, rather than people, you have to follow these federal hours of service rules:
- a daily driving shift that complies with the following:
- 10 consecutive hours off-duty before starting a shift,
- no driving beyond 14 hours after the start of the shift, and
- only 11 hours of driving during the 14-hour shift;[5]
- you must take a 30-minute break after driving for 8 consecutive hours,[6] and
- you cannot drive more than 60 hours in a 7-day period, or more than 70 hours in an 8-day period, though you can reset your string of consecutive days with a 34-hour off-duty period.[7]
The goal of these limitations is to reduce the number of truck accidents. Our personal injury attorneys have found that many of these are caused by driver fatigue.
Passenger-carrying vehicle drivers
If you are transporting people, the federal hours of service rules that you would have to follow are slightly different:
- a daily driving shift that complies with the following:
- 8 consecutive hours off-duty before starting a shift,
- no driving beyond 15 hours after the start of the shift, and
- only 10 hours of driving during the 15-hour shift;[8]
- you cannot drive more than 60 hours in a 7-day period, or more than 70 hours in an 8-day period.[9]
Note that passenger-carrying drivers do not have the 30-minute rest break requirement after 8 hours on the road.[10] However, they cannot reset their driving days.
These limitations are meant to prevent driver fatigue and prevent bus accidents.
Exemptions
The FMCSA’s hours of service rules have exemptions for:
- adverse driving conditions,
- using the sleeper berth, and
- short hauls.
Adverse conditions are:
- snow,
- ice,
- sleet,
- fog, or
- any other adverse weather conditions or unusual road conditions.[11]
You can take 2 extra hours to reach your destination or a safe stopping point if:
- you could not reasonably have known about these conditions before starting your shift, and
- they make it impossible to complete your route before your hours of service run out.[12]
Both property- and passenger-carrying drivers can use a sleeper berth to manipulate their off-duty period.
Property-carrying drivers can split their 10-hour off-duty period into 2 periods so long as:
- one of them is at least 7 consecutive hours,
- they both add up to 10 hours,
- neither is fewer than 2 consecutive hours, and
- the driving time before and after each rest period does not violate your daily driving shift limitations.[13]
Passenger-carrying drivers can split their 8-hour off-duty period into 2 periods so long as:
- neither one is shorter than 2 consecutive hours,
- they both add up to 8 or more hours, and
- the driving time before and after each rest period does not violate your daily driving shift limitations.[14]
All short-haul drivers are exempt from maintaining a driver’s log with an ELD. You are a short-haul driver if you:
- only drive within a 150 air-mile radius of your normal worksite,
- return to your normal worksite and are released from work within 14 consecutive hours, and
- had 10 hours off-duty before a property-carrying shift, or 8 hours off-duty before a passenger-carrying shift.[15]
California DOT HOS rules
You follow California’s hours of service rules if you are not in interstate commerce and not carrying hazardous materials.[16] California’s hours of service regulations are different for:
- bus and modified limousine drivers,
- truck drivers,
- school bus and farm labor vehicle drivers, and
- drivers of farm products.
However, no commercial driver’s license (CDL) holder can be on duty more than 80 hours in any 8 consecutive days. For bus, limo, and truck drivers, this driving window of 8 consecutive days ends with at least 34 consecutive off-duty hours.[17]
These rules are enforced by the California Highway Patrol (CHP). Officers can request a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) driver’s logbook of service hours or electronic records of duty status to ensure you are complying with your driving limit’s number of hours on the road. Violations of the hours of service rules are criminal offenses that carry a fine of between $100 and $1,000.[18]
Some exemptions apply to these HOS regulations.
Bus and limo drivers
In California, intrastate bus and modified limousine drivers cannot drive:
- more than 10 hours after 8 consecutive hours off duty, or
- after 15 hours of on-duty time following at least 8 consecutive hours off duty.[19]
Truck drivers
Intrastate truckers cannot drive:
- longer than a 12 hour period after 10 consecutive hours off duty, or
- after the end of the 16th hour after coming on duty following 10 consecutive hours off duty.[20]
If you are driving a tank vehicle with over 500 gallons of a flammable liquid, your daily maximum driving limit is 10 cumulative hours after 10 consecutive off-duty hours.[21]
School bus and farm labor drivers
California’s hours of service rules are different if you are driving a:
- school bus,
- school pupil activity bus,
- youth bus, or
- farm labor vehicle.
If you are driving one of these, you cannot drive:
- more than 10 hours in a work period, or
- after the end of the 16th hour after coming on duty after 8 consecutive hours off duty.[22]
Farm product drivers
If you are driving farm products from the field to the first point of processing or packing, you cannot drive:
- more than 12 hours after 8 consecutive hours of off-duty time,
- after more than 16 hours on duty, or
- after having been on duty for 112 hours in a consecutive eight-day period.[23]
Some exceptions apply.
Exemptions
California law exempts some drivers from its hours of service rules. The personal injury lawyers at our law firm have found that the most common exemptions are for:
- drivers who face adverse weather conditions,
- drivers who operate within 100 miles of their normal work reporting location and return to it within 12 hours,
- drivers of utility service vehicles,
- fire fighters,
- law enforcement,
- drivers engaged in the emergency restoration of basic essential public services and related operations, and
- tow truck operators.[24]
Note that California’s short-haul exception is smaller than the federal one. Additionally, California’s sleeper berth exemption is slightly different.[25]
Legal Citations:
[1] 49 CFR 390.5.
[2] 49 CFR 171.8.
[3] Same.
[4] 49 CFR 395.22(a).
[5] 49 CFR 395.3(a).
[6] 49 CFR 395.3(a)(3)(ii).
[7] 49 CFR 395.3(b)-(c).
[8] 49 CFR 395.5(a).
[9] 49 CFR 395.5(b).
[10] See 49 CFR 395.5.
[11] 49 CFR 395.2.
[12] 49 CFR 395.1(b).
[13] 49 CFR 395.1(g)(1)(ii).
[14] 49 CFR 395.1(g)(3).
[15] 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1).
[16] 13 California Code of Regulations (CCR) 1212.5(b).
[17] 13 CCR 1212.5(a)(4)-(5).
[18] California Vehicle Code 21702 VC.
[19] 13 CCR 1212.5(a)(1).
[20] 13 CCR 1212.5(a)(2).
[21] Same.
[22] 13 CCR 1212.5(a)(3).
[23] 13 CCR 1212(k).
[24] 13 CCR 1212.5(a) and 1212.
[25] See 13 CCR 1212(g).
