34-Hour Restart Calculator
When the weekly clock resets, against what the recap gives back.
Open60 vs 70 Hour Rule
Part of Hours of Service & Logs
Every property-carrying driver lives under one weekly ceiling, and §395.3(b) gives only two: 60 hours on duty in 7 consecutive days, or 70 in 8. Which one applies is not a driver's preference. The text ties it to the employing carrier: whether it operates commercial vehicles every day of the week.
The extra ten hours look like a clear win for the 70-hour rule. Spread over the longer window they are not: the even-spread average differs by a fraction of an hour a day. The real differences are where the oldest day falls out of the window and how a hard first week plays out, which the day-by-day table below shows.
- Any truck runs every day
- 70 h in 8 days
- Fleet stands down a day a week
- 60 h in 7 days
- Either, when the hours run out
- 34-hour restart
Side by side
| Criterion | 60 hours / 7 days | 70 hours / 8 days |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs it | Carrier does not operate trucks every day of the week | Carrier operates trucks every day of the week |
| Ceiling | 60 h on duty | 70 h on duty |
| Window | 7 consecutive days | 8 consecutive days |
| Even-spread average | 8.57 h a day | 8.75 h a day |
| Oldest day drops off | Morning of day 8 | Morning of day 9 |
| What counts | All on-duty time, not only driving | All on-duty time, not only driving |
| Restart | 34 consecutive hours off, §395.3(c)(1) | 34 consecutive hours off, §395.3(c)(2) |
| Daily limits | 11 driving inside 14 | 11 driving inside 14 |
The "days" are not calendar days. §395.8(f)(8) defines the 7 or 8 consecutive days as 24-hour periods starting at the time the carrier designates for the driver's home terminal, so a window that starts at noon rolls over at noon.
How the rolling window works, day by day
One driver's ten logged days, judged under both limits. Each morning the hours left are the ceiling minus the on-duty hours of the previous 6 days (on 60/7) or 7 days (on 70/8). The day that drops out is the recap: hours coming back without a restart.
| Day | On duty | 60/7: left this morning | 60/7 result | 70/8: left this morning | 70/8 result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 1 | 11 | 60 | Fits | 70 | Fits |
| Tue 2 | 12 | 49 | Fits | 59 | Fits |
| Wed 3 | 10 | 37 | Fits | 47 | Fits |
| Thu 4 | 12 | 27 | Fits | 37 | Fits |
| Fri 5 | 11 | 15 | Fits | 25 | Fits |
| Sat 6 | 6 | 4 | Stops at 4 h | 14 | Fits |
| Sun 7 | 0 | 0 | Day off | 8 | Day off |
| Mon 8 | 11 | 9 | Stops at 9 h | 8 | Stops at 8 h |
| Tue 9 | 12 | 10 | Stops at 10 h | 8 | Stops at 8 h |
| Wed 10 | 10 | 8 | Stops at 8 h | 8 | Stops at 8 h |
Read the Saturday row. On 60/7 the driver has 4 hours left and logged 6, so driving stops partway through the day; on 70/8 the same day fits with room to spare. From day 8 on the picture flips: the 7-day window lets the first Monday's 11 hours fall off a day sooner, so the 60-hour driver briefly has more hours left, not fewer. Neither ceiling carries a pace of 11 to 12 hours a day for long. That is the job of the restart, or of a lighter day the recap can return.
60 hours in 7 days
The rule for carriers that do not operate commercial vehicles every day of the week: the Monday-to-Friday distributor, the construction hauler parked on Sundays. The shorter window is the advantage. A heavy day falls out of it a day earlier, so a driver who front-loads the week gets hours back sooner. The cost is the lower ceiling on a hard week, which is where the 34-hour restart earns its place. Local drivers on the short-haul exemption still count toward this ceiling every day; the exemption removes the log, not the limit.
70 hours in 8 days
The rule for carriers that operate commercial vehicles every day of the week. The higher ceiling absorbs a heavy first week, but every hour stays on the books one day longer before it recaps. Whether parking for a restart beats simply waiting for the recap is a question of arithmetic, and the 34-hour restart guide works it through with a full eight-day ledger.
Both ceilings count on-duty time, and §395.2 defines on duty broadly: loading and unloading, waiting to be dispatched, inspecting or servicing the truck, and even compensated work for an employer that is not a motor carrier all count, not only driving. Logging those hours off duty to save the weekly clock is a false report under §395.8(e).
Before you settle which clock you are on
- Ask whether the carrier operates any commercial vehicle every day of the week. That fact, not your own schedule, sets the limit under §395.3(b).
- Check the cycle your ELD or log is set to count against, and that it matches.
- Find the 24-hour period start time for your home terminal; it is the edge of every day in the window.
- Count every on-duty hour, including loading, waiting and inspections.
- Remember that a 34-hour off-duty period ends either window under §395.3(c), and nothing else does.
- Keep the daily clocks separate: the 11-hour and 14-hour limits apply on top of whichever weekly ceiling you run.
For a live count against either ceiling, the hours of service calculator runs the weekly clock beside the three daily ones.
Sources
- 49 CFR §395.3read 2026-09-04
- 49 CFR §395.8(f)(8), time base for the 7 or 8 daysread 2026-10-18
- 49 CFR §395.2, definition of on-duty timeread 2026-10-18
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