Learn how to calculate your 8/2 or 7/3 Split Sleeper Rule
Split Sleeper rules are not supposed to be complicated. We took it into our hands to come up with a clear and simple guide that provides explanations and examples of how you can use split-sleeper berth provisions properly.
- Why use Split Sleeper Berth Provision?
- Split-Sleeper Berth Rule & Provision
- Calculate Split Sleeper Berth Hours (8/2, 7/3)
- Advanced Sleeper Berth Rule Tricks: Chaining Split-Sleeper Periods, Full Resets, and more.
Before you continue reading: The Split-Sleeper berth provision only applies to drivers driving a vehicle with a sleeper berth. This will be verified by the DOT/NSC during an audit!
We have also provided a quick video which explains how the Split Sleeper Berth provision works.
Why use Split Sleeper Berth Provision?
There are many reasons why a driver will use the Split-Sleeper provision, but essentially, it’s a way to split up an entire 10-hour rest period into two separate periods.
One useful example of split-sleeper is to make use of split-sleeper periods as drop-off or pick-up times, so that you have more time on the road.
The key aspects of how Split-Sleeper helps your hours is:
- Split-Sleeper berth periods do NOT count towards shift limits
- Split-Sleeper moves your Shift Window
Split-Sleeper Berth Rule & Provision
There are a few key aspects of Split-Sleeper berth periods that you have to know:
- Split-Sleeper berth periods can be split into 8/2 and 7/3
- Short Breaks can be in Off-Duty of Sleeper Berth
- Split-Sleeper berth periods do NOT count towards shift limits
This means that you’re able to use the split-sleeper provision in periods of:
- 8 hours and 2 hours
- 7 hours and 3 hours
Note: the 2 hours or 3 hours period are referred to as ‘short breaks’.
The FMCSA is looking into whether they will include 6/4, and 5/5, but currently this is not implemented yet.
7/3 Split Sleeper Example: Using 3 hours (short) & 7 hours (long)
In the situation above, the driver will have counted 5 hours driving, and 7 hours on-duty reduced towards their shift by the end of the day.
Once the split sleeper long break has been completed, the driver only needs to start counting their shift from the end of the first break (10AM in the example above).
8/2 Split Sleeper Example: Using 2 hours (short) & 8 hours (long)
In the situation above, the driver will have counted 4 hours driving, and 7 hours on-duty reduced towards their shift by the end of the day.
Once the split sleeper long break has been completed, the driver only needs to start counting their shift from the end of the first break (10AM in the example above).
Short Breaks: Off-Duty or Sleeper Berth Is OK
What’s important here is that the short break (2 hours, or 3 hours) does not have to be in Sleeper Berth duty status.
Example: Short Break using Sleeper Berth Duty Status
Example: Short Break using Off-Duty Duty Status
In both situations, you will have a valid Split-Sleeper. A couple things to remember here are:
- Your short break cannot be a combination of Sleeper Berth and Off Duty, it has to be one or the other!
- Long Breaks (7 or 8 hours) can only be in Sleeper Berth duty status.
Shift Limits: Split-Sleeper berth periods do not decrease shift time
If you’re using the split-sleeper berth provision, each of your breaks will not count towards shift limits. That means that, done properly, you can extend your shift beyond 14 hours.
Let’s look at some examples of how using the split-sleeper berth provision can extend your shift window.
Example: Using Sleeper-Berth to extend shift by 3 hours
What’s the catch?
Your breaks have to properly be matched with another break period:
- 7 with 3
- 3 with 7
- 2 with 8
- 8 with 2
If you don’t ensure that your break is matched up with the other break, then your shift hour won’t actually extend.
But how does this all affect your next shift window? See below.
Calculate Split Sleeper Berth Hours (8/2, 7/3)
This is probably the most complicated part of the split-sleeper berth provision because there are a few moving parts in this. However by using examples, we’ve made it as simple as possible. When you combine 2 break periods (8/2, or 3/7), the shift-window calculation moves to the end of the first period.
What does this mean? Let us show you in the example below: we will give some examples of how many hours the driver has left at each part of the day.
From the picture above, we can calculate the hours at different points of the day:
Midnight (Beginning of Day)
- Driving Time Remaining: 11 hours
- On-Duty Time Remaining: 14 hours
7:00 AM
- Driving Time Remaining: 5 hours
- On-Duty Time Remaining: 7 hours
10:00 AM
- Driving Time Remaining: 5 hours
- On-Duty Time Remaining: 7 hours
Shift Time increased by 3 hours
5:00 PM
- Driving Time Remaining: 0 hours
- On-Duty Time Remaining: 0 hours
Midnight
- Driving Time Remaining: 6 hours
- On-Duty Time Remaining: 7 hours
Shift window moved from 00:00 to 10:00
Shift Time increased by 7 hours
How did the shift window move?
Under CFR Title 9, it states that: "The driving time limit and the 14-hour duty-period limit must be re-calculated from the end of the first of the first of the two periods"
Here is a quote from our conversation with the DOT:
If a driver does 10 hours in the sleeper berth and has something to pair it with it can be used as a split sleeper berth…
Based on the rule, any period of time that is part of a split sleeper berth calculation is not counted towards the 14 hour window.
Safety Investigator
Washington State Division
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Advanced Sleeper Berth Rule Tricks
Extending your long break (8 or 7 hours) to 10 hours will give you full hours back.
Instead of just moving your shift to the end of the first break, it will reset to the end of the 10 hours.
From the picture above, at 24:00 (midnight at the end of the day) the driver would have:
- 7 hours driving remaining
- 8 hours on-duty remaining
From the picture above, at 24:00 (midnight at the end of the day), the driver would have:
- 11 hours driving remaining
- 14 hours on-duty remaining
Chaining Split Sleeper Periods: you can move your shift window again by completing matching another split-sleeper period the next day
Using continual split-sleeper periods, you can keep moving your shift window forward. For example, you can continually do 3 + 7 + 3 + 7 + 3 periods.
From the picture above, on the first day: At 24:00 (midnight at the end of the day) the driver would have 7 hours driving remaining, and 8 hours on-duty remaining.
From the picture above, on the Second Day: At 10:00, the driver would have 4 hours driving remaining, and 6 hours on-duty remaining
And that’s it! That is all you need to know about the split-sleeper provisions. If you’re still confused, the FMCSA has provided a very useful tool to calculate hours-of-service here:
ELD – Educational Tool for Hours of Service (dot.gov)
We know sometimes split-sleeper can be confusing, and hopefully with the examples above, they can clear the air. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Switchboard and our team is ready to answer any questions you have about Hours-of-Service.
- By Phone: 1-844-5-FLEETS (1-844-535-3387)
- By Email: support@onswitchboard.com
