Have you ever been confused about when to take your legally required break after crossing into a new time zone?

Getting in that mandatory time off the highway has never been more important – and perhaps more difficult – than now. Rest are stops closing, sleep disorders are of real concern, and, well, resting up is the law for truckers! So what do you do when you’ve hauled a load for nine hours in the Eastern Time Zone, and are about to drive into Central Time? Do you keep on going for one hour, or do you push it and go for two (bonus hour, right!?).

As you know, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has Hours-of-Service rules in place that dictate how long truckers and other commercial motor vehicles can be behind the wheel.

Here’s the answer: Use your home time zone to calculate required breaks. When you fill out your log, the FMCSA says you “must use the time zone in effect at your home terminal. Even if you cross other time zones, record time as it is at your terminal.”

The Survival Guide for Truckers: Tips From the Trenches offers some good advice too. Do your best to stay on the same rest schedule as your “home” time zone. So if you normally take a break around 8PM EDT in Georgia where you reside, but are in California delivering freight the following week, take your rest at 5PM PDT as you normally would.

Do you think the FMCSA’s Hours-of-Service rule is practical in this case? If not, what change would you suggest the FMCSA make for it to be more reasonable?