• When an intrastate driver operates in interstate commerce, the driver must be fully compliant with federal HOS rules before and during the interstate trip.
• The driver must continue to comply with federal HOS rules for the seven or eight days after returning to intrastate operations.

The 14/15-day rule affects drivers who usually operate within the borders of a state but sometimes need to cross state lines or otherwise perform transportation that is regulated as “interstate commerce.”

Intrastate (in-state only) drivers who operate in interstate commerce must follow the federal hours-of-service (HOS) rules (Part 395) before, during, and after each interstate trip. Specifically, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has established a so-called “14/15-day rule” designed to “keep driver fatigue within manageable bounds.”

Before the trip

Seven days before beginning a trip in interstate commerce in a commercial motor vehicle (CMV), the driver must begin preparing records of duty status (logs), unless the driver is exempt from logging under a short-haul exception in 395.1(e).

On the day the interstate trip is to begin, logs for the previous seven consecutive days must be in the driver’s possession, as required by 395.8(k)(2) (unless a short-haul exception is used). This is required even if the driver operated only in intrastate commerce during that seven-day period.

During the seven-day period prior to the interstate trip, the driver may follow state hours-of-service (HOS) limits concerning driving and on-duty time, rather than federal rules. Before the interstate trip begins, however, the driver must have the appropriate amount of off-duty time (8 consecutive hours for a property-carrying vehicle or 10 consecutive hours for a passenger-carrying vehicle) as required under 395.3 or 395.5, respectively, and must follow the 60- or 70-hour limits specified in those sections.

During the trip

During the interstate trip, the driver would be subject to roadside enforcement of the federal HOS rules. The driver would not be allowed to follow alternative state-specific HOS rules for any part of the trip.

FMCSA investigators will cite drivers for violations of the 11- or 14-hour rules (for property-carrying vehicles), the 10- or 15-hour rules (for passenger-carrying vehicles), or the 60- or 70-hour rules that are committed while on the interstate trip.

After the trip

Any driver who begins a trip in interstate commerce must continue to meet the requirements of Part 395 through the end of that day and the next seven to eight consecutive days, depending on which rule the motor carrier operates under (i.e., the 60- or 70-hour limits).

The driver must continue to comply with the requirements of Part 395 even if operating exclusively in intrastate commerce for the remainder of the 60/70-hour period (i.e., 7/8-day schedule) at the end of the interstate trip. Note that the 14/15-day policy was enacted before property-carrying drivers could get a 34-hour “restart,” so the policy does NOT say that getting a restart will eliminate the need to continue complying with federal rules for the 7/8-day period after returning to intrastate operations. Note: The 34-hour “restart” rule does not apply to passenger-carrying CMVs.

FMCSA investigators will cite drivers for violations of the federal rules that are committed during the seven or eight days after completing the interstate trip.