What Driving Jobs Don’t Follow the Usual Work Hour Limits?

Hours of service (HOS) regulations mandate how many hours commercial drivers can be on the road. They are in place to ensure that truckers and other commercial vehicle operators are not driving while tired, which can endanger themselves and others.

These regulations shape the workday for hundreds of thousands of commercial drivers, dictating when they can drive and when they must rest. However, not every commercial driver is governed by the same hours of service rules. Making some jobs, like delivery of farm products and oilfield parts, exempt from normal HOS rules helps keep certain types of businesses running.

Exemptions from standard HOS rules sometimes come with industry-specific or state-specific rules governing how long truckers can operate their vehicles. These rules are adapted to the unique challenges faced in these contexts. For example, the challenges of making deliveries in Alaska have led to rules that only apply within Alaskan borders.

In this article, we will explore some of the driving professions that don't have to follow the usual work hour limits—and what regulations they have to follow instead.

What Are the Standard Hours of Service Laws?

Before we look at who is exempt from the usual driving limits, let’s examine the standard hours of service laws most commercial drivers must follow. HOS regulations apply to commercial drivers transporting both property and people.

Daily Driving Limits

Property-carrying drivers (like truckers hauling freight) can drive up to 11 hours after taking 10 consecutive hours off duty.
Passenger-carrying drivers (like bus drivers) can drive up to 10 hours after 8 consecutive hours off duty.

Total Workday Limits

Property drivers cannot drive beyond 14 hours after starting their shift, even if they take breaks.
Passenger drivers have a 15-hour on-duty limit but can only drive within that window. After that, they must rest.

Break Requirements

All commercial vehicle drivers must take a 30-minute break if they’ve been driving for 8 straight hours without a break. This break can be off-duty time, time in the sleeper berth, or any non-driving duty.

Weekly Limits

Commercial vehicle drivers can’t drive after 60 hours on duty in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days. They can reset this clock by taking 34 consecutive hours off (for property drivers).

Sleeper Berth Rules

Property drivers can split their 10-hour rest into two parts (one for at least 2 hours, the other at least 7 hours in the sleeper).
Passenger drivers must spend at least 8 hours in the sleeper berth, which can also be split, but no part can be shorter than 2 hours.

Standard Exemptions

If drivers face unexpected bad weather or road conditions, they can extend their driving time by up to 2 hours, both for the daily limit and total duty time.

Additionally, drivers staying within a 150 air-mile radius of their base and returning within 14 hours are exempt from logging requirements. This applies to both property and passenger drivers.

Who Is Exempt from Standard Hours of Service Rules?

While the above HOS regulations apply to most commercial drivers, certain commercial vehicle operators are exempt from these rules. Let’s take a closer look at these exemptions.

Construction Material Transportation

Commercial motor vehicle drivers who drive in the construction industry have a shorter restart period than normal commercial drivers, as long as they're transporting materials within a 75-air-mile radius. While other commercial drivers require a 34-hour restart to reset their on-duty “counter” to 0 hours, drivers who transport construction materials and equipment need only 24 hours of off-duty time to restart every 7 or 8 days.

Note that the 24-hour restart provision does not apply to drivers who transport placard-required hazardous materials.

Oilfield Drivers

Oil and gas companies need truckers to deliver equipment, piping, and supplies for servicing well operations. To facilitate more efficient oil and gas operations, federal regulations around oilfield truckers are slightly different than standard HOS rules.

Oilfield truckers have a 24-hour restart period after 7 or 8 consecutive days of work instead of the typical 34-hour restart period. Operators of pickup-style pipeline welding trucks are exempt from HOS rules, as well.

Furthermore, truckers who exclusively handle oil well servicing vehicles can log waiting periods at wells as "off-duty," essentially pausing their 14-hour on-duty clock. If the waiting time is longer than 2 hours, truckers can actually create the equivalent of a 10-hour off-duty period by logging the time as rest or sleeper berth time (similar to the split-sleeper rule).

Agricultural Industry Drivers

During the state-determined planting and harvesting season, truckers transporting agricultural goods or supplies are exempt from hours of service regulations. In addition, drivers who operate farm vehicles are exempt from HOS rules.

Utility Service Vehicle Operators

Drivers who operate, repair, or maintain public utilities, such as electric, gas, water, sanitary, or sewer services, don't have to follow standard HOS regulations. This includes linemen, sanitation drivers, and other professions, as long as the driver is engaging in activities related to delivering utility services to customers.

A related exemption allows truckers transporting groundwater drilling rigs to use a shorter 24-hour reset instead of the standard 34-hour reset after 7/8 consecutive days of work.

Christmas Delivery Within 100 Air-Miles

Yes, the federal service regulations officially give a free pass to Santa Claus—as well as any drivers who are:

a.) Exclusively making local deliveries from retail businesses;

b.) Direct to consumers, and;

c.) In the two weeks before Christmas (as long as the consumer is within 100 air-miles of the driver's "work reporting location").

Alaskan Commercial Vehicle Operators

Commercial drivers operating in Alaska have slightly different hours of service rules. Specifically, the state follows different regulations that replace the normal 11-hour driving rule and 14-hour on-duty rule.

In Alaska, drivers have a 15-hour rule and a 20-hour rule. Essentially, that means that a driver operating a commercial motor vehicle after 10 consecutive hours off-duty can only drive for a total of 15 hours before needing another 10-hour rest period. Additionally, they cannot drive after the 20th hour of being on-duty following a 10-hour rest period.

There are a few reasons for these extended rules. Alaska is an enormous state that relies on both air and ground shipping for the transportation of critical supplies. As a result, truckers are allowed to drive for longer periods to cover larger distances. Additionally, the state’s extreme weather patterns can significantly delay shipping, making it necessary for drivers to operate their vehicles for longer periods.

Railroad Industry Drivers

Railroad work often requires vehicle operators to travel long distances between duty assignments. Hi-rail vehicles (classified as a kind of commercial motor vehicle) have to travel between different maintenance assignments all over a single track. As a result, hi-rail vehicles and railroad signal employees are exempt from standard HOS rules.

Hi-rail vehicle drivers don't include their travel time to/from duty assignments as long as it's less than 2 hours (and doesn't exceed 30 hours in a single month). Railroad signal employees, or workers handling signal systems on behalf of an FRR-regulated railroad carrier, are completely exempt from HOS rules.

Movie Production Drivers

Trucking is a major factor in movie production. Transporting sets, talent, equipment, and supplies are all a part of running an efficient production site. Federal regulators understand that traveling at odd hours or for lengthy periods is key to making movies, which is why movie production commercial vehicle operators have different hours of service rules.

As long as a commercial vehicle operator is transporting people and/or property within a 100-air-mile radius of a production site, they're exempt from the usual driving limits.

Movie production drivers are generally exempt from the following rules:

The 11-hour driving rule
The 14-hour on-duty rule
The 30-minute break requirement after 8 hours

However, movie production drivers do need to spend 8 consecutive hours off-duty after no more than 10 hours of driving within a 15-hour on-duty window. Transporting production property to a shooting location long-distance doesn't apply here; that's why there's a 100-mile radius stipulation.

The Importance of Adapting Trucking Laws to Different Contexts

Ground transportation is sometimes the only way for goods, services, or people to be transported to their ultimate destination. But how transportation happens in different places or contexts requires unique rules. That’s why these exemptions exist.

However, just because a commercial vehicle operator is exempt from standard driving limits, this does not give them a free pass to drive dangerously. Driver fatigue is one of the leading causes of truck accidents in the United States and has been shown to be as dangerous as driving while impaired. Truckers and their employers always have a responsibility to follow safe driving practices. No matter what.