One of the most important hours-of-service rules for truck drivers could eventually become more flexible. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is moving forward with a pilot program that will test whether participating property-carrying commercial motor vehicle drivers can safely pause their 14-hour driving window for up to three hours during certain periods when they are not driving.
The concept could address a longstanding frustration for drivers and motor carriers. A driver may spend hours waiting at a shipper or receiver, sitting through congestion, waiting for severe weather to pass, or taking an additional break. Even though the truck may not be moving, the driver’s 14-hour window generally continues running. FMCSA wants to study whether allowing drivers to pause that clock could provide greater scheduling flexibility without reducing safety.
The agency completed a small pre-test during 2026 and announced on August 27 that it is preparing for a much larger pilot program in 2027. The proposal does not increase the normal 11-hour driving limit to 14 or 17 hours. Instead, FMCSA is studying whether certain qualifying non-driving periods can be excluded from the 14-hour window. For motor carriers, it is important to understand what FMCSA is testing, what would remain unchanged, and why detention time is becoming an important part of the hours-of-service discussion.
How Does the 14-Hour Rule Work Today?
Federal hours-of-service regulations establish several limitations intended to control how long commercial drivers can operate. For most property-carrying commercial motor vehicle drivers subject to the standard HOS rules, two of the most important limitations are the 11-hour driving limit and the 14-hour driving window. After 10 consecutive hours off duty, an eligible property-carrying driver generally may drive for up to 11 hours.
However, that driving must generally occur within a period of 14 consecutive hours after the driver comes on duty. The distinction is important. The 11-hour rule limits actual driving. The 14-hour rule limits the window in which that driving can occur. Under current rules, the 14-hour window generally continues running even when the driver stops driving.
That can create operational problems when a driver loses several hours during the workday because of circumstances outside the driver’s control. FMCSA describes hours-of-service regulations as requirements governing the maximum amount of time drivers may be on duty, including driving time, along with required rest periods designed to help drivers remain awake and alert.
Why Does the 14-Hour Clock Matter So Much?
Consider a relatively simple example. A driver comes on duty at 6:00 a.m. Under the normal 14-hour limitation, the driver’s window for completing permitted driving would generally end at 8:00 p.m. Now assume the driver arrives at a receiver and waits three hours before the trailer can be unloaded.
The driver may not be driving during those three hours. But the 14-hour clock generally continues running. When the driver finally leaves the facility, three hours of the available window may have disappeared without the truck making meaningful progress toward its next destination. Similar problems can arise because of:
- Detention at a shipper
- Detention at a receiver
- Heavy traffic
- Severe weather
- Loading delays
- Unloading delays
- Operational disruptions
- A driver’s desire to take an additional break
This creates the problem FMCSA’s new Split Duty Period Pilot Program is designed to study.
What Is the Split Duty Period Pilot Program?
FMCSA proposed the Split Duty Period Pilot Program in September 2025. Under the program, qualifying participating drivers would receive temporary regulatory relief from the normal requirement that driving be completed within the 14-hour window. Participating drivers could extend that window by taking one qualifying non-driving period lasting at least 30 minutes and no more than three hours. Qualifying time may include:
- Off-duty time
- Sleeper berth time
- On-duty/not-driving time at a cargo pickup or delivery location
That final category is particularly important. It means certain detention time at a shipper or receiver could potentially be used to pause the driver’s 14-hour window during the pilot. FMCSA says the program is intended to determine whether greater flexibility can maintain or improve safety by allowing drivers to take additional rest, avoid congestion, manage severe weather, and reduce the effects of unreasonable detention.
What Would a Three-Hour Pause Actually Mean?
The easiest way to understand the proposed flexibility is through an example. Assume again that a driver begins the 14-hour window at 6:00 a.m. Normally, the driver’s window would generally expire at 8:00 p.m. Under the pilot, assume the driver takes a qualifying three-hour pause during the day. The end of the driver’s available window could potentially move from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
That does not mean the driver could drive for 17 hours. The driver would still remain subject to the applicable 11-hour driving limitation. The pilot changes the treatment of certain qualifying non-driving periods within the 14-hour window. It does not simply add three hours of driving time. That distinction is critical for carriers and drivers following the development.
Detention Time Is at the Center of the Debate
One of the most important parts of FMCSA’s proposal involves detention at pickup and delivery locations. Drivers can spend substantial portions of their workday waiting for cargo to be loaded or unloaded. Under the current framework, those delays can consume the driver’s available 14-hour window even when the driver is not moving freight. FMCSA’s pilot would allow qualifying on-duty/not-driving time at a pickup or delivery location to potentially pause the 14-hour clock.
From the driver’s perspective, the argument for greater flexibility is easy to understand. If a warehouse keeps a driver waiting for three hours, why should those three hours necessarily eliminate three hours from the driver’s available operating window? But the proposed flexibility also creates another concern. If detention no longer consumes the 14-hour window for participating drivers, could shippers, receivers, or carriers have less incentive to reduce detention?
Could drivers be pressured to use the pause to accommodate inefficient loading practices rather than for their own scheduling or rest needs? FMCSA has specifically acknowledged this issue. The agency says that during the pilot it intends to monitor shippers to determine whether increased flexibility leads to increased detention or exploitation of drivers.
FMCSA Has Already Completed the First Test
The Split Duty Period concept has already undergone a small-scale pre-test. FMCSA conducted the pre-test from May 18 through July 17, 2026. Nine drivers from three motor carriers participated. The carriers were located in:
- Minnesota
- Wisconsin
- Ohio
Each driver participated for six weeks and received $600. This initial test was intentionally small. FMCSA used it to evaluate study procedures, data-collection methods, and driver participation requirements before launching the larger pilot. On August 27, 2026, FMCSA announced that the pre-test had been completed and that the agency was reviewing the results in preparation for the larger 2027 rollout.
The Larger Pilot Is Expected in 2027
The full Split Duty Period Pilot Program is expected to be significantly larger. FMCSA says the program is expected to include 256 drivers. Participating drivers are expected to remain in the study for four months and may receive up to $1,600 for completing all required study activities. FMCSA is simultaneously preparing another HOS study known as the Flexible Sleeper Berth Pilot Program.
That program is also expected to include 256 drivers. Altogether, FMCSA anticipates approximately 512 participants across the two hours-of-service pilot programs. Motor carriers and professional drivers interested in future participation can provide their contact information to FMCSA for updates regarding the programs.
The 14-Hour Rule Has Not Changed
This is one of the most important points for carriers to understand. FMCSA has not changed the general 14-hour rule. The agency is studying a potential alternative through a controlled pilot program. A carrier cannot simply decide that its drivers will begin pausing their 14-hour clocks for detention, traffic, weather, or rest because FMCSA is testing the concept.
Drivers and carriers outside authorized pilot-program participation must continue following the existing hours-of-service requirements applicable to their operations. Carriers should make this distinction clear when discussing the program with drivers. A news article, FMCSA announcement, proposed pilot program, or future study does not itself create an industry-wide exemption from the existing HOS regulations.
FMCSA Has Considered This Idea Before
The concept of pausing the 14-hour clock is not entirely new. FMCSA considered greater flexibility surrounding the 14-hour window during previous hours-of-service rulemaking. When FMCSA revised several HOS provisions in 2020, the agency did not ultimately include a general split-duty pause in the final rule. One concern was whether carriers, shippers, or receivers might pressure drivers into using additional flexibility for purposes that did not reflect the driver’s own need for rest or scheduling control.
FMCSA subsequently proposed a Split Duty Period pilot in 2020, but that study was not ultimately initiated. The current program therefore represents a renewed attempt to answer a question that regulators and the trucking industry have debated for years: Can drivers receive more control over the 14-hour clock without increasing fatigue or reducing highway safety?
Why Could Greater Flexibility Help Drivers?
Truck drivers operate in an environment where schedules frequently change for reasons outside their control.
- Traffic is unpredictable.
- Weather can deteriorate.
- Warehouses fall behind.
- Loading appointments can take longer than expected.
- Drivers can become tired at inconvenient times.
A rigid clock can sometimes create pressure to continue moving because stopping consumes part of the driver’s available window. Greater flexibility could potentially change that calculation. A driver approaching a heavily congested city, for example, might prefer to stop and wait until traffic improves. A driver encountering severe weather might prefer to park and allow the storm to pass. A driver experiencing fatigue might benefit from taking a meaningful break. A driver detained at a receiver might be able to preserve part of the remaining driving window rather than watching it disappear while waiting for the trailer to be unloaded.
FMCSA says these are among the real-world conditions the pilot is designed to examine. The agency wants to determine whether greater driver control over scheduling can achieve a level of safety equivalent to or greater than compliance with the existing rules.
Could the Pilot Create a 17-Hour Workday?
This is likely to become one of the most debated aspects of the program. A three-hour pause could allow a 14-hour driving window to extend across as much as 17 hours of elapsed time. Again, this would not permit 17 hours of driving. The existing 11-hour driving limitation would remain. But the longer elapsed period creates legitimate questions about fatigue.
A driver who begins the day early in the morning could potentially still be completing driving much later in the evening. Safety advocates have argued that fatigue depends on more than the number of hours spent physically driving. Elapsed time awake, time of day, quality of rest, cumulative workload, and other factors can also affect alertness. This creates the central safety question surrounding the pilot.
Would allowing drivers to take additional breaks, wait out congestion, avoid severe weather, and preserve time lost to detention improve safety? Or could extending the elapsed duty window allow drivers to operate too late into an already long day? The purpose of the pilot is to gather data that can help FMCSA evaluate that trade-off.
What Would Not Change?
The proposed flexibility should not be confused with the removal of existing hours-of-service limitations. The pilot is focused specifically on the treatment of qualifying non-driving time within the 14-hour driving window. Other major HOS limitations would continue to apply to participants. Most importantly, the normal 11-hour driving limit would remain unchanged.
Drivers would also remain subject to other applicable hours-of-service requirements, including the required off-duty period and applicable cumulative on-duty limits. The pilot is also directed at qualifying drivers of property-carrying commercial motor vehicles. It is not an industry-wide replacement of the existing HOS framework.
What Should Motor Carriers Do Now?
For most carriers, the immediate answer is straightforward: Continue following the existing hours-of-service rules. The larger Split Duty Period Pilot Program is expected in 2027, and FMCSA still needs to collect and analyze data before determining whether broader regulatory changes should be considered. In the meantime, carriers should:
- Continue following applicable 11-hour and 14-hour requirements.
- Maintain compliant ELD and records-of-duty-status procedures.
- Train drivers and dispatchers on current HOS requirements.
- Avoid treating the pilot as an industry-wide exemption.
- Review detention patterns across customers and facilities.
- Monitor how dispatch and scheduling practices affect driver HOS.
- Avoid pressuring drivers to misclassify duty status.
- Maintain procedures designed to prevent driver coercion.
- Monitor FMCSA announcements regarding the 2027 pilot.
- Review future FMCSA findings before changing internal HOS policies.
Carriers should also consider what their detention data says about their own operations. If drivers regularly lose substantial portions of their 14-hour windows waiting at the same facilities, that may represent an operational issue worth addressing regardless of whether FMCSA ultimately changes the rule.
What Happens After the 2027 Pilot?
The pilot does not guarantee that FMCSA will change the hours-of-service regulations. The agency first needs evidence. FMCSA says the purpose of the program is to determine whether allowing qualifying drivers to pause their 14-hour windows can achieve a level of safety equivalent to or greater than the current regulatory requirements. The agency will also have an opportunity to evaluate unintended consequences. Those could include:
- Increased detention
- Driver coercion
- Longer elapsed workdays
- Fatigue
- Changes in driver rest patterns
- Changes in scheduling behavior
- Safety outcomes
If the evidence supports greater flexibility, FMCSA could eventually consider broader regulatory changes. If the evidence identifies unacceptable safety or operational risks, the agency could decide against changing the existing framework. That makes the 2027 study important for the entire trucking industry, even though only a relatively small number of drivers will participate directly.
A Potentially Significant Change to Hours-of-Service Compliance
The 14-hour clock is not changing yet. But FMCSA is actively studying whether it should become more flexible. For drivers, the potential benefit is greater control over real-world delays that do not necessarily involve driving. For carriers, greater flexibility could potentially reduce some of the operational consequences associated with detention, traffic, weather, and scheduling disruptions.
For regulators and safety organizations, the question is whether that flexibility can be provided without increasing fatigue or extending the driver’s day too far. The 2027 pilot is intended to help answer those questions. Until then, carriers should continue operating under existing hours-of-service requirements and monitor FMCSA closely for further developments.
Stay Current on Changing DOT and FMCSA Requirements
Hours-of-service rules are only one part of an increasingly complex federal trucking compliance environment. Motor carriers must also manage Driver Qualification requirements, ELD compliance, Drug and Alcohol Testing, Clearinghouse responsibilities, vehicle maintenance, MCS-150 information, operating authority, UCR, and other federal and state requirements.
Dakota Group works with motor carriers, owner-operators, fleets, and companies operating commercial vehicles across the United States to help manage DOT and FMCSA compliance requirements. For live assistance with DOT and FMCSA paperwork and compliance questions, contact our U.S.-based trucking compliance team at (800) 500-9295 Monday through Friday.
Sources
(Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, FMCSA Advances Hours of Service Pilot Programs for America’s Truck Drivers, https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/newsroom/fmcsa-advances-hours-service-pilot-programs-americas-truck-drivers)
(Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Hours of Service of Drivers; Pilot Program To Allow Commercial Drivers To Pause Their 14-Hour Driving Window, https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/federal-register-documents/2025-17938)
(Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Hours of Service, https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/hours-of-service)
(Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Federal Register Notice – Split Duty Period Pilot Program, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-09-17/pdf/FR-2025-09-17.pdf)
(Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, FMCSA Seeks 18 Drivers to Help Test HOS Pilot Programs, https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/newsroom/fmcsa-seeks-18-drivers-help-test-hos-pilot-programs)
(Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, FMCSA Launches New Initiatives to Improve Truckers’ Working Conditions, https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/newsroom/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-launches-new-initiatives-improve-truckers)
(Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association / Land Line, OOIDA Backs Hours-of-Service Provisions but Says Drivers Must Be in Charge, https://landline.media/magazine/ooida-backs-hours-of-service-provisions-but-says-drivers-must-be-in-charge/)
(Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Statement on Proposed Changes to Commercial Truck Safety Regulations, https://saferoads.org/statement-on-proposed-changes-to-commercial-truck-safety-regulations/)
Dakota Group Can Help
If you are searching for DOT number renewal, USDOT renewal, MCS-150 update, MCS-150 Biennial Update, FMCSA registration update, SAFER update, DOT reactivation, or DOT deactivation, Dakota Group can help review what your business actually needs.
Dakota Group helps motor carriers, owner-operators, private fleets, brokers, freight forwarders, and commercial vehicle businesses manage MCS-150 filings, USDOT biennial updates, MOTUS support, UCR, SAFER review, DOT activation, DOT deactivation, Drug and Alcohol Management, Clearinghouse support, Driver Qualification File review, and broader trucking compliance paperwork.
No AI chatbots. Talk to our team.
Dakota Group’s U.S.-based compliance specialists are available live Monday through Friday to help operators understand the filing, prepare the paperwork, and reduce the risk of penalties, public record issues, and paused operations.
Follow Dakota Group for weekly DOT and FMCSA updates, and call (800) 500-9295 to work with our team.
Thank you for reading. Click here to follow us on LinkedIn, and subscribe to our blog for new content created by logistics experts for logistics experts, created weekly.
- Call our team M-F @ (800) 500-9295 or
- Reach, Canaan Cossu-Fredericks, our Director of Sales, directly at (212) 540-5235
- Schedule a Video Call with Our Director of Sales, Canaan
- Use Our Self-Filing Portal
At Dakota Group, we offer end-to-end solutions to each and every logistics need you have. We complete all of our filings 100% in-house with our expert US-based team, transforming your relationship with DOT regulations & driver compliance. No AI, no portals, just you and your dedicated industry specialist. Delivering for those who deliver.
We’re a team of compliance specialists and industry experts headed by a former trucker who understands the realities of running an owner-operator business. We’ve built our practice around real-world experience and a deep care to help professionals who deserve it.
