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FMCSA - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Adminstration

Educational Tool for Hours of Service (ETHOS)

Understand Hours of Service Regulations

FMCSA’s Educational Tool for Hours of Service (ETHOS) helps motor carriers and drivers better understand the HOS regulations going into effect on September 29, 2020. When drivers and carriers enter their duty statuses into the web-based log below, ETHOS will identify where potential violations of the following rules may have occurred:
  • 11-hour driving limit (property) or 10-hour driving limit (passenger)
  • 14-hour driving window (property) or 15-hour on-duty limit (passenger)
  • 30-minute break (property)
  • Sleeper berth provision
Note: The 60/70-hour limit regulations are not covered by ETHOS

Instructions

To view potential violations in an example log:
  1. Download the explanations to better understand each scenario
  2. Select one of the pre-populated examples from the drop-down field in ETHOS below
To view potential violations using a log you enter:*
Download more detailed instructions for additional information.
  1. Select your event date, time, and duty status and click “add event”
  2. Repeat until you’ve entered all the data for a particular log
  3. Potential violations will appear on the log and below the log in a table where you can switch between carrier types
*This Educational Tool for Hours of Service (ETHOS) is for educational purposes only and is designed to assist motor carriers in understanding the hours of service rules in 49 CFR part 395. The ETHOS identifies only potential violations, and should not be relied on by motor carriers to monitor or evaluate hours of service compliance. FMCSA does not retain any data entered in this application, and will not use the data entered for any purpose. The information provided by using the ETHOS is not a communication from FMCSA, guidance, advisory opinion, pre-enforcement ruling, or other interpretation or application of law. Use of this ETHOS does not preclude enforcement or other actions by FMCSA based on violations discovered during roadside inspections, compliance reviews, or other inspections and investigations.

Educational Tool for Hours of Service (ETHOS)

Learn more by utilizing ETHOS with one of the three methods below.

A

Input your event by selecting date, time, and status

:

OR

B

Select an example from the dropdown below

OR

C

Load your ETHOS file