HOS trip planning

Can I Make It? HOS Trip Calculator

Compare a trip estimate with your remaining drive, 14-hour, and 60/70-hour cycle time.

“Can I Make It?” HOS trip calculator

Turn the drive, 14-hour, and 60/70-hour cycles on your ELD into a direct answer: YES, you have enough time—or NO, with the exact clock that comes up short.

Trip and current ELD clocks

Use a realistic rolling average, then include expected on-duty stop time such as fuel, a dock, or a pre-trip.

miles
MPH
hours
hours
hours
i
Enter driving time—not total on-duty time
  1. Look back to your most recent period of at least 30 consecutive minutes when you were not driving.
  2. Enter only the cumulative driving time since that period ended.
  3. On-duty/not-driving, off-duty, sleeper-berth time, or a consecutive combination can satisfy the break.

Under the basic property-carrier rule, another qualifying break is required before driving after 8 cumulative hours without one. Exceptions may apply; your ELD and current rules control. FMCSA summary.

hours
minutes
Planning estimate only. This calculator does not account for recaps, split sleeper, HOS exceptions, Canadian rules, traffic, parking, or carrier policies. Always verify your trip against your ELD and current regulations.
Can you make it on the clocks entered?
Short on drive clock
NO

The example trip needs more driving time than the entered drive clock has available.

Driving required
9 hr 5 min
Estimated arrival
From departure
Drive-clock buffer
−1 hr 5 min
14-hour buffer
−5 min
60/70-hour cycle buffer
+10 hr 25 min
Break plan
1 × 30 min

Automatically added 30-minute breaks are assumed off-duty. A stop marked as qualifying is assumed to occur before the break is due.

Compare the trip with every clock

Enter the remaining miles, a realistic average speed, expected on-duty stop time, and the balances shown on your ELD. The calculator compares driving time with the drive clock, total elapsed trip time with the 14-hour window, and expected on-duty time with the 60/70-hour cycle balance.

Use a trip average, not the truck's governed speed. Traffic, grades, construction, fuel islands, docks, and slower roads all pull the average down. If the estimate is close, a small speed change can be the difference between a workable plan and a bad one.

Break assumptions

The basic federal rule requires a qualifying 30-minute interruption after eight cumulative hours of driving without one. When CDLMath adds a separate break, it assumes that break is off-duty. It adds 30 minutes to the 14-hour timeline but does not charge it to the cycle. A break logged on-duty-not-driving can qualify under the federal rule, but that time would use cycle hours.

If you mark an entered stop as the qualifying break, the calculator assumes the stop happens before the break is due and treats the stop as on-duty time. Only check that box when the timing and duty status really fit your plan.

Reading the margin

Comfortable means every entered clock has at least 30 minutes left. Close call means the trip still fits, but the tightest margin is under 30 minutes. Not enough time means at least one clock is short. Those labels describe the estimate, not a legal ruling or a promise about traffic and parking.

This calculator handles a straightforward property-carrier trip. It does not reconstruct recaps or evaluate sleeper splits, adverse-driving conditions, short-haul exceptions, personal conveyance, Canadian rules, or carrier policy. Use the ELD and the rules that apply to the operation.

Written by Kev, an active regional CDL driver.

Sources