How many hours can a truck driver drive before taking a break?

Question

All I know is that they get to rest for 10 hrs. but can those 10 hrs. be broken down.

Answer 1

Legal drive time is 11 hours of driving with 10 hours of break thereafter.  The NEW rules require that after 14 hours from your begin time in a given day you have 10 hours break no matter how many miles you've driven.  Up to 70 hours in an 8 day period.  With NO overtime required to be paid after 40 hours.  After 34 hours off duty they may RESET their 70 hours to regain a full 70 hours for the new week.  

Answer 2

even if you know how to split break, it gets you in deeper trouble.  DOT will see you are split breaking, they will break out thier fine tooth comb and WILL find something to get you on

Answer 3

the new hours of service laws are:

You may drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty.

You may not drive beyond the 14th hour after coming on duty, following 10 consecutive hours off duty.

You can search keywords Hours of Service for more info.

UPDATE************************** ******************************** ********************************* ******************************

I found a site that is probably correct!! I'll put it in my sources. It states that split breaks ARE accepted but ONLY if you take 8 consecutive hours in the sleeper then you can wait to get your other 2 consecutive hours off duty or sleeper. (Or vice versa)

So in other words you could start your 14 hour clock by driving 5 hours then stop the 14 hour clock by taking an 8 hour sleeper break (the only way to stop your 14 hours from running is by taking at least 8 hours off) then you could drive up to 6 more hours then take a 2 hour off duty or sleeper break.

Similarly, you could drive 5, take 2 off, then drive the rest of your time before your 14 runs out, then take the 8 sleeper hours.

This works as long as you dont run your 14 hour clock all the way out or drive more than 11 hours in two consecutive periods. So this could get somewhat tricky =)

check out the site from Werner Enterprises and click the link that says "split break example"