Updated October 22, 2026

Team Driving and Split Sleeper Stops

A team does not park the same way a solo driver does, because the two rest periods in a split are different lengths and only one of them has to be in the berth. This page is the parking side of that rule for property-carrying drivers. It is general information, not legal advice. Your company can be stricter than FMCSA. The sentences below were checked against FMCSA on October 22, 2026.

The split, as FMCSA states it

FMCSA’s hours-of-service summary says property-carrying drivers may split their required 10-hour off-duty period, as long as one off-duty period (whether in or out of the sleeper berth) is at least 2 hours long and the other is at least 7 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth. All pairings must add up to at least 10 hours. When used together, neither period counts against the 14-hour driving window. The same point is in FMCSA’s FAQ on qualifying rest periods: at least 7 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth, and at least 2 consecutive hours off duty, totaling at least 10 hours when paired. The regulation is 49 CFR 395.1(g). The daily driving limits the split works with are in 49 CFR 395.3: 11 hours of driving, a 14-hour window, and 10 consecutive hours off duty when you are not using the split.

The driver’s guide says it does not matter which qualifying period you take first. It also says that in calculating the 11-hour and 14-hour limits, you include the time on either side of the first qualifying period, up to the start of the period you pair it with. Only paired qualifying periods are excluded from the 14-hour window. After any 10 consecutive hours off duty, the guide says you again have 11 hours of driving inside a 14-hour window. Do the guide’s examples against your own log. Passenger-carrying drivers use a different sleeper rule in the same summary. Do not apply the truck numbers to a bus.

The 7 hours and the 2 hours are different stops

The 7 consecutive hours have to be in a sleeper berth that meets the definition in 49 CFR 395.2. In a team, that period is often spent in the berth while the other driver is driving. The truck does not need a parking space for those 7 hours. It needs a legal berth and a driver who is on duty and fit to drive.

The 2-hour period is the one that usually needs a parking spot, if the driver taking it is off duty outside the berth, or if both of you are stopping. Two hours is long enough for fuel, a meal, and a walk-around. It is not long enough to excuse a bad stall. A rest area with a short posted time limit might cover a 2-hour stop and still be the wrong place for a 10-hour break or a 34-hour restart. We do not publish rest-area time limits. The sign does, and the checklist stays blank until each state is sourced. Choose the spot for the period you are actually taking. The comparison for a full 10-hour break is in rest area or truck stop for 10 hours.

If the 2 hours will be in the berth while the truck keeps moving, you do not need a stall for that period either. You still need a stall when both drivers are off duty, when you are fueling, and when the 30-minute driving interruption has to happen at a stop because nobody is left to drive. The summary requires a 30-minute break after 8 cumulative hours of driving. Any non-driving 30 consecutive minutes can satisfy it. A 30-minute fuel stop is not a 2-hour qualifying period. Do not round it up.

The passenger seat is a third tool, with a hard cap

The driver’s guide describes a pattern that is easy to confuse with the 7-and-2 split. Up to 3 hours in the passenger seat of a moving property-carrying vehicle, immediately before or after at least 7 consecutive hours in the sleeper berth, can count toward the 10 consecutive hours off duty in 49 CFR 395.3(a)(1). Further passenger-seat time is on-duty not driving. The guide’s picture is one driver driving, with the required 30-minute break, while the other gets 7 hours in the berth and up to 3 in the passenger seat, then they switch. That can continue until a driver hits the 60/7 or 70/8 limit. It is not the same calculation as pairing a 7 with a separate 2 under 395.1(g).

Parking shows up when the pattern stops. Both drivers out of the berth, at a shipper, or out of weekly hours means the truck is sitting. Pick that sit the way a solo driver would: a place you may occupy for the length of the break, with a backup if the first lot is full. When the first overnight lot is full applies to teams. Two drivers do not make a reserved stall yours. Read the signs before you take a row.

Where teams get the log and the lot out of alignment

• Both drivers log sleeper while the truck is rolling. Someone is driving. That person is on duty driving. The berth holds one resting driver.
• A 2-hour break parked on a ramp because “it is only two hours.” The length of the break does not change the shoulder rule. We do not publish a state ban list. Assume the sign and the state statute control, and use a lot.
• A shipper yard used as the 2-hour or the 7-hour stop without permission, and without being relieved. The driver’s guide counts waiting to be dispatched at a shipper as on duty unless the carrier has relieved you. Parking at a shipper walks through that.
• A city curb used as the short stop. Two hours is enough time to get a ticket and not enough time to fix the day. City truck rules are local. This site does not name a downtown ban it has not sourced.
• Ignoring the weekly cap because the split “resets” the day. The split excludes paired periods from the 14-hour window. The 60/7 and 70/8 limits are still in the summary. When those hours are gone, the tool left is a 34-hour restart or waiting until older on-duty hours drop out of the window. A restart parks the truck for 34 consecutive hours. Plan a lot that allows that stay if both of you will be off.

A simple team plan

1. Agree which driver is taking the 7 in the berth and which period is the 2, and which one comes first. The rule allows either order. The lot has to match the period that needs to be parked.
2. Put the short stop on a lot you can enter and leave inside the hours you are using for it. Check the route page, such as I-40 or I-80, while the on-duty driver still has miles.
3. Keep the 30-minute driving interruption separate in your head from the 2-hour split, unless the stop really is at least 2 consecutive hours off duty or in the berth.
4. When you park for a full 10 hours or a 34, use a truck stop or other lot whose sign allows that stay. A rest-area time limit you have not read is a bad surprise at hour four.
5. Recalculate available hours at the end of each qualifying period, the way the driver’s guide says to. The other driver should be able to explain the same calculation. If you cannot, you are guessing, and the stall you picked may be for the wrong length of time.

Sources: FMCSA HOS summary, FMCSA split sleeper FAQ, FMCSA driver’s guide (April 28, 2022), 49 CFR 395.1, and 49 CFR 395.3.