One of the joys of driving semi-trucks for a living is taking to the open road and letting the miles fly by. Listening to your favorite songs, admiring the scenery, and relishing the fact that you’re not stuck behind a desk from 9 to 5 each day, you might not even notice the miles slipping past. But, of course, you’ll need to look at the odometer — and the clock — from time to time. And not just so you can figure out when to eat lunch! To comply with federal law, you must adhere to hours-of-service regulations. So, how many miles can a trucker drive in a day?
Federal Driving Limits for Truck Drivers
Let’s look at the federal regulations that affect how many miles a truck driver can cover in a day. According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), long-haul property-carrying drivers must comply with the following regulations:
- 11-Hour Driving Limit: You may drive a maximum of 11 hours after you have taken 10 consecutive hours off duty.
- 14-Hour Limit: You may not drive beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty, following 10 consecutive hours off duty. Off-duty time does not extend the 14-hour period.
- 30-Minute Driving Break: You must take a 30-minute break when you’ve driven for a period of 8 cumulative hours without at least a 30-minute interruption. This break can take many forms; it simply must be a non-driving period of 30 consecutive minutes. You could be on-duty not driving, hanging out in your sleeper berth, grabbing lunch somewhere — whatever you like!
- 60/70-Hour Limit: You may not drive after 60/70 hours on duty in 7/8 consecutive days. You can restart the 7/8 consecutive day period after taking 34 or more consecutive hours off duty.
- Adverse Driving Conditions: You can extend the 11-hour maximum driving limit and the 14-hour driving window by up to 2 hours if you encounter adverse driving conditions. So, give yourself some leeway if you’re driving through a storm. As always, the safety of everyone on the road (including yourself!) should be your top priority.
You might have noticed that these rules revolve around the time you spend driving, not the mileage you cover. That’s because the hours you spend behind the wheel (versus sleeping or doing other non-driving activities) matter a lot more than how many miles you drive when it comes to safety. Plus, how many miles you can drive will heavily depend on the speed limit, traffic, road conditions, weather, and more.
But let’s say you really want to figure out the answer to the question, “How many miles can a trucker drive in a day?” You simply need to do a little math.
If you drive for the full 11-hour limit at 65 mph, you’d reach 715 miles. But it’s unlikely you’ll be driving on an interstate highway at 65 mph all day, right?
So when you account for the fact that you may have traffic or pass through slower areas, you might average 50 mph. At 50 mph for 11 hours, you’d reach 550 miles. More realistic, but still not quite there.
Subtract a little more to take into account your 30-minute break, loading/unloading time, and variables like the weather. Now you’re somewhere around 500 miles per day. That’s a more likely scenario. But of course, it’s still just a guess! Taking that number and broadening it a bit, you could say that you will likely drive around 400-600 miles daily, depending on the job, the route, the traffic, the weather, and more.
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So, how many miles can a trucker drive in a day? That depends on a number of different factors. But perhaps you’d like to find out for yourself . . .
If you want to become a truck driver, contact BLC Transportation today. We have opportunities for both company drivers and lease-purchase drivers. With our lease-purchase program, you can make 90 percent of the line haul while driving new trucks that provide comfort, fuel efficiency, and reliability. Plus, we offer bonuses and incentives, a health insurance subsidy, a friendly passenger/pet policy, assistance with registering for an LLC, and more. Join our team today!