NU-FLT-314 — HOURS OF SERVICE: THE 150 AIR-MILE SHORT-HAUL RULE
Tier 2/3/4 — Procedure + Field Card + Record · Rev DRAFT · August 2, 2026 · Owner: [Adam: name the owner — the Supervisor runs it daily, the Office keeps the records]
Parent: NU-FLT-300 Equipment & Fleet Program · Safety authority: NU-SAF-100 · Testing: NU-SAF-120 (not yet built — NU-GOV-000 Part 4.1 gap) · Driver files: NU-FLT-313.
Regulatory basis: 49 CFR Part 395 (hours of service), with Part 391 (driver qualification), Part 392 (driving rules), and Part 396 (inspection/DVIR) sitting alongside it.
STEP ZERO — THE DOT NUMBER (nothing below this line is optional once this is fixed)
Nova holds USDOT 4221697, and as of 8/1/26 the record shows INACTIVE in SAFER — almost certainly a lapsed MCS-150 biennial update (49 CFR 390.19). An inactive number does not mean the rules stopped applying; it means Nova is operating on a dead registration, which is its own violation and its own roadside problem.
Office task, this week: file the MCS-150 update and reactivate the number. [Adam: assign — this is a 30-minute online filing, not a project.]
Everything in this document is drafted as applying to Nova: 7 trucks pulling equipment trailers, combinations routinely over 10,001 lb and often over 26,001 lb GCWR, which makes them commercial motor vehicles and makes Nova a motor carrier. Nova runs intrastate Georgia today; Georgia applies the federal safety rules to intrastate carriers through the Department of Public Safety, so the federal standard is the standard we write to. [Adam: have the GA intrastate variances confirmed when the MCS-150 gets filed — same phone call.]
The actual GVWR/GCWR numbers per combination are still [Adam: door stickers] and the Fleet Register is still [fill] — see NU-FLT-310 §2 and §12. Until those are filled, every driver is assumed covered by this document.
THE GATE
No driver runs a day without a time record: when he reported, when he was released, total hours. The record IS the exemption. A short-haul driver with no time record is, in the eyes of a roadside inspection, just a driver with no log — and that is an out-of-service order and a fine, on the spot.
Record: the daily time record in
[Adam: name the timekeeping app — open since v0.2]or the NU-FLT-314-F timesheet (§8). One or the other exists for every driver, every day, kept 6 months.
The short-haul exemption is the right answer for almost every Nova day. It is also conditional — and the conditions are cheap to meet and expensive to fake.
1. WHO THIS COVERS
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Which vehicles | Any truck or truck-and-trailer combination with a GVWR/GCWR of 10,001 lb or more. Per NU-FLT-310 §2, that is most of the fleet most days — assume covered unless the Fleet Register says otherwise. |
| Which drivers | Everyone who drives one — CDL and non-CDL alike. Hours of service is not a CDL rule; it is a commercial-vehicle rule. |
| Who decides CDL vs non-CDL | The licensing table in NU-FLT-310 §1, which is gated on the same missing weights. The variant table in §3 below depends on it. |
| What else rides along | Being a motor carrier also pulls in DQ files (NU-FLT-313), DOT drug & alcohol testing for CDL drivers (NU-SAF-120), and the written DVIR (the DVIR book already on the trucks — see NU-FLD-200 (Driver, ch. 2)). |
2. THE SHORT-HAUL EXCEPTION IN PLAIN ENGLISH — 49 CFR 395.1(e)(1)
If a driver's day meets all four of these, he does not need an ELD, does not need a paper log, and does not need the 30-minute break. That's the whole prize.
| # | Condition | What it means at Nova |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stay inside 150 air-miles of the yard | Air miles are straight-line miles, not road miles — 150 air-miles is about 172 statute (ordinary) miles — still measured as a straight line, not driving distance from the normal work reporting location. Draw the circle from the yard. [Adam: confirm the yard address that counts as the "normal work reporting location" — the whole circle hangs on it.] |
| 2 | Start and end at the yard | The driver reports to the yard and returns to the yard the same duty day. An overnight near the job = no exemption that day. |
| 3 | Released within 14 hours | From the minute he reports until the minute he is released from work — driving, digging, fueling, waiting on locates, all of it — 14 consecutive hours, then done. |
| 4 | 10 hours off before the next shift | Released at 21:00 means he does not report before 07:00. No exceptions for "we're behind." |
And one limit that rides inside every day regardless: 11 hours maximum driving (§5).
The circle, on a Georgia map (straight-line from an Atlanta-metro yard, approximate)
| Destination | ~Air miles | In or out |
|---|---|---|
| Macon | ~70 | IN |
| Columbus | ~95 | IN |
| Augusta | ~125 | IN |
| Rome, GA | ~100 | IN |
| Valdosta | ~180 | OUT |
| Savannah | ~190 | OUT |
How to check any job: Google Maps → right-click the yard → "Measure distance" → click the job. That number is the straight-line distance. Under ~172 statute miles = inside the circle. When in doubt, treat it as out and run a log (§4).
CDL and non-CDL variants
| CDL drivers | Non-CDL drivers | |
|---|---|---|
| Rule | 395.1(e)(1) — the four conditions above | 395.1(e)(2) — same circle, same return-to-yard, plus a stretch allowance |
| Daily window | Released within 14 hours, every day | May drive up to the 14th hour on 5 days of any 7, and up to the 16th hour on 2 days of any 7 |
| ELD / paper log | Not required | Not required |
| 30-minute break | Not required | Not required |
Nova's standard is the (e)(1) rule for everybody — one rule, one clock, no tracking who used a stretch day. The non-CDL 16-hour allowance exists and is legal; treat it as a Supervisor-approved exception, logged on the time record, not a habit. [Adam: confirm you want the one-rule standard, or allow the 16-hour stretch for non-CDL drivers as written.]
3. WHAT NOVA MUST DOCUMENT ANYWAY (the part everyone gets wrong)
"Exempt from logs" does not mean exempt from records. Under 395.1(e)(1)(v), Nova must keep a time record for every short-haul driver, every day, showing:
- Time he reports for duty
- Time he is released from duty
- Total hours on duty that day
- For a driver used for the first time or intermittently — total time on duty for the prior 7 days
Kept for 6 months. That's it. Four fields. This is what the [Adam: name the timekeeping app] clock-in/clock-out already produces — or the NU-FLT-314-F timesheet in §8 produces on paper. Either is the record; having neither is the violation.
An inspector at a roadside stop asks a short-haul driver for his log. The correct answer is: "I run short-haul out of our yard in [yard city] — my carrier keeps my time records." The driver only survives that answer if the record actually exists back at the office.
4. WHEN THE EXEMPTION BREAKS — AND WHAT THAT DAY LOOKS LIKE
The exemption is evaluated one day at a time. A broken day doesn't poison the week; it just means that day needs a real log.
The three ways a Nova day breaks it
| Break | Example | The tell |
|---|---|---|
| Out of the circle | A job in Savannah or Valdosta | Known before the truck leaves — check the map at dispatch, not at the scale house |
| The 15-hour day | Report 06:00, job runs long, back at the yard 21:30 | The 14-hour clock started at 06:00 and ran out at 20:00. The last 60 minutes (1 hour) happened outside the exemption |
| No return to the yard | Crew overnights near a multi-day job (a Macon run that stays over) | The driver never returned to the work reporting location that duty day |
The Macon math (worked example)
Macon is inside the circle (~70 air miles) — the radius is not what breaks a Macon day. The clock is. Report at the yard 06:00, roll 06:30, on site 08:00, work 10 hours, load out, back at the yard 20:30, released 21:00 — that's a 15-hour duty day. The job was legal by distance and illegal by clock. On long-haul-ish days inside the circle, the 14-hour release is the condition to plan around: either the crew day gets capped, or that day runs on a log from the start.
What the broken day requires
That driver, that day, completes a record of duty status — the standard paper log grid per 49 CFR 395.8: the 24-hour graph, duty statuses, locations, total miles, signed. The 30-minute break rule also comes back that day (after 8 cumulative hours of driving, 395.3(a)(3)(ii)).
Paper vs ELD: a driver who needs a log on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period may use paper (395.8(a)(1)(iii)(A)). The 9th broken day in a rolling 30 puts that driver on an ELD. At Nova's current radius of work, paper should cover it — but the fallback needs deciding before the first Savannah-distance job, not after:
[Adam: decide the fallback — Option A: a paper log book in every truck binder (per NU-FLT-301), drivers trained to fill the grid, Office counts broken days per driver per 30. Option B: a phone-app ELD on standby for planned out-of-radius or overnight work. A is cheaper; B is what you'll want if the Macon/Savannah-distance work becomes regular.]
Either way: dispatch decides at assignment, not the driver at the on-ramp. A job outside the circle or planned past 12 hours gets flagged on the work order and the driver starts the day on a log.
5. THE LIMITS THAT NEVER GO AWAY
Short-haul waives the paperwork, not the physics. These apply to every driver, every day, exemption or not (49 CFR 395.3):
| Limit | Plain English |
|---|---|
| 11-hour driving limit | Maximum 11 hours behind the wheel after 10 consecutive hours off. At Nova, a driver near 11 hours of actual driving has had a dispatch problem, not a driver problem — but the limit is his to refuse on. |
| 14-hour window | No driving after the 14th consecutive hour since reporting for duty. The window does not pause for lunch, fueling, or waiting on locates. Breaks don't extend it. |
| 10 hours off duty | Between duty periods. Non-negotiable. |
| 60 hours / 7 days | A driver who hits 60 on-duty hours in 7 consecutive days stops driving CMVs until he drops back under. This is the one the time records exist to prove — five 12-hour days is 60, and week six of a push is exactly when it bites. A 34-hour consecutive off-duty stretch resets the count. (The 70-hour/8-day version only applies to carriers running trucks every day of the week — Nova runs on the 60/7 rule. [Adam: confirm — if crews ever run 7 days, this line changes.]) |
The Supervisor checks the week's running totals every Friday against the time records — that is a 5-minute scan in [Adam: name the timekeeping app], and it is the difference between the 60-hour rule being a rule or a surprise.
6. WHO DOES WHAT, DAILY
- Driver — clocks in when he reports, clocks out when released. Same motion as the Daily Truck Log pad and the DVIR book he's already touching at both ends of the day (NU-FLD-200 Driver ch.). If the app is down: NU-FLT-314-F on paper, turned in same week.
- Supervisor — flags any day planned outside the circle or past 12 hours at dispatch and puts that driver on the fallback log. Watches the 14-hour clock on long days the same way he watches weather.
- Office — keeps every time record 6 months. Counts broken-exemption days per driver per rolling 30 (the 8-day paper limit, §4). Files the paper logs behind the driver's DQ file (NU-FLT-313). Until NU-FLT-313 exists, file paper logs and time records in a driver folder in the Office — do not wait on the DQ file system to be built.
- After any accident — the day's time record and log status go into the incident file with everything else (NU-SAF-121, post-accident testing per NU-SAF-120). The first document a plaintiff's attorney requests after a crash is the driver's hours.
7. FIELD CARD — THE DRIVER'S POCKET VERSION (Tier 3)
HOURS — THE SHORT-HAUL DEAL
- Clock in when you report. Clock out when you're released. Every day. That record is what keeps you from needing a logbook.
- Stay inside the circle — 150 air-miles from the yard. Macon: in. Augusta: in. Savannah: OUT — that day runs on a log, dispatch will tell you.
- Start at the yard, end at the yard. Overnighting out = log day.
- 14 hours from report to release. Then you're done. Watch it on long days — call the Supervisor at hour 12, not hour 14.
- 11 hours max actual driving. 10 hours off before your next report.
- Roadside inspection asks for your log? Say: "I run short-haul from our yard — my carrier keeps my time records." Then call the Supervisor.
- Never guess, never round, never backfill. If the day broke the rules, say so — a bad day is fixable, a false record is not.
8. THE DAILY TIME RECORD — NU-FLT-314-F (Tier 4)
The record behind the gate. The [Adam: name the timekeeping app] clock-in/out satisfies it field-for-field; this paper form is the app-down and new-hire backup. Retention: 6 months, Office.
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Driver name | |
| Date | |
| Truck # / combination | |
| Work reporting location (yard) | |
| Time reported for duty | |
| Time released from duty | |
| Total hours on duty today | |
| Prior-7-days total on-duty hours (first-time or intermittent drivers only) | |
| Day inside the short-haul exemption? (circle) | YES / NO — if NO, paper log or ELD attached |
| Driver signature |
9. THE NEVER LIST
- Never run a day with no time record. No record = no exemption = a no-log driver at roadside.
- Never falsify, round, or backfill a time record or a log. An hours violation is a fine; a falsified record is fraud, and it converts every future incident into a company-killer. 49 CFR 395.8(e) treats it that way and so does Nova.
- Never drive past the 14th hour "to get the truck home." Park it, call the Supervisor, solve it — a truck recovered in the morning is cheap.
- Never dispatch an out-of-circle or overnight job without the log decision made first. The driver finds out at assignment, not on the shoulder of I-16.
- Never let a driver past 60 hours in 7 days keep driving. The time records are checked weekly precisely so this is never discovered by an inspector first.
10. DONE WHEN
- USDOT 4221697 shows ACTIVE in SAFER.
- Every driver's every day produces a time record — app or NU-FLT-314-F — with report time, release time, and total hours, and the Office can pull any driver's last 6 months in one motion.
- Any day that broke the exemption has a signed paper log (or ELD record) filed behind it, and the Office count shows no driver past 8 paper-log days in any 30.
- The Friday 60-hour scan is happening and initialed.
- Dispatch flags out-of-circle and long days on the work order before the truck rolls.
11. WHAT THIS DOCUMENT NEEDS FROM ADAM
- Reactivate the DOT number — file the MCS-150 (Step Zero). Everything else in the fleet series assumes it.
- Name the timekeeping app. Open since register v0.2. The app's clock-in/out is the time record — until it's named and every driver is on it, NU-FLT-314-F on paper is the record.
- Decide the broken-day fallback (§4): paper log books in every truck binder, or a standby phone-app ELD. Decide before the first out-of-circle job books.
- Confirm the yard address that serves as the normal work reporting location — the 150 air-mile circle is drawn from it, and a second yard someday means a second circle.
- Confirm the one-rule standard (§2): everyone on the 14-hour (e)(1) rule, with the non-CDL 16-hour stretch as Supervisor-approved exception only.
- Confirm 60/7 vs 70/8 (§5): 70-in-8 is only available if Nova operates trucks every day of the week.
- Feed the weights — GVWR/GCWR off the door stickers into the Fleet Register (same ask as NU-FLT-310 §12; it decides who is CDL, which decides who NU-SAF-120 tests).
NU-FLT-314 · Rev DRAFT · Nova Underground · Parent: NU-FLT-300 · Cross-refs: NU-FLT-310 · NU-FLT-313 · NU-SAF-120 · NU-SAF-121 · NU-FLD-200 · Uncontrolled when printed.