The short answer: yard move is a special driving category under 49 CFR 395.28(a)(1)(ii) that tells the ELD to keep your duty status at on-duty not driving while the truck is actually rolling. It is not rest. It does not stop your 14-hour window. It is legal only inside a confined area where public access is restricted, and the moment the wheels touch an ordinary public road in that status, the record becomes a false report in connection with a duty status under 49 CFR 395.8(e)(1).
Three facts settle most of the arguments people have about this. One: the driver cannot turn yard move on. Only the carrier can, and it is off by default on every new driver account. Two: the status is drawn on the inspector's printout with a dashed or shaded line and an abbreviation, at full location precision, so there is no hiding it. Three: shutting off the engine kills the status and you have to re-select it, unless your carrier is running under a specific federal exemption. Everything below is sourced to the regulation text and to FMCSA's own guidance portal.
An ELD is required to detect motion and flip you into driving automatically. Appendix A to subpart B of part 395, section 4.3.1.2(a), says the device decides the truck is in motion once speed exceeds a set threshold, and that threshold must not be configurable to greater than 5 miles per hour. Section 4.4.1.1 then requires the ELD to set duty status to driving when the vehicle is in motion, with exactly two escapes declared before the vehicle moves:
That is the whole mechanism. Yard move does not create a new duty status; it suppresses the automatic switch to driving and stamps the period with a label. Everything else in this article is a consequence of that one sentence.
Here is the trap that costs people violations: private property is not the test. Restricted public access is the test.
FMCSA's live guidance on the point is deliberately short. In its guidance portal, question 9 under 49 CFR 395.2 asks how yard time is recorded when a driver jockeys commercial vehicles in the yard on private property, and the answer is one line: on-duty (not driving). The agency explained the reasoning when it proposed to expand that guidance: because yard moves occur on private property within the confines of a yard and not on a public road, the time does not constitute driving time within the meaning of 49 CFR 395.2.
The expanded version, published in docket FMCSA-2020-0118 on January 4, 2021, gives the working list. It is still a proposal, not final guidance, but it is the clearest statement of how FMCSA reads its own rule. Treat it as the agency's reasoning, not as a binding standard. Properties that may qualify as yards, in a list the text itself calls open ended:
Properties that do not qualify: a public road without those traffic control measures, and public rest areas.
Now add the definition that most owner-operators have never read. 49 CFR 390.5T defines a highway as any road, street, or way, whether on public or private property, open to public travel, and defines open to public travel as passable by four-wheel passenger cars and open to the general public without restrictive gates, prohibitive signs or regulation other than restrictions based on size, weight or class of registration. Toll plazas of public toll roads are not restrictive gates. Read those two together and the rule becomes simple to apply: if the general public can drive through it without a gate, a guard or a sign stopping them, it is not your yard, even if you own the dirt.
| Situation | Yard move legal? | What it costs you if you get it wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Repositioning trailers inside your own fenced terminal | Yes | Nothing. This is the textbook case in FMCSA guidance question 9. |
| Moving between rows inside an intermodal yard or port facility, gate-controlled | Yes | Nothing, while you stay inside the gate. |
| Backing into a dock in a shipper's private, fenced lot | Yes | Nothing. |
| Crossing 200 feet of public street between two halves of the same terminal, with a flagger or signal restricting access | Conditionally yes | Only while access is actually restricted. No flagger, no gate, no exception. Basis is only the proposed guidance in docket FMCSA-2020-0118 (86 FR 179), never finalized: there is no binding rule. |
| Crossing that same public street with normal traffic flowing | No | Driving time recorded as on-duty not driving: false report under 395.8(e)(1). |
| Driving a mile down the highway to the fuel island or the trailer yard across town | No | Same false report, plus unrecorded driving time that lands on the 11-hour driving limit once the minutes move columns, and on the 14-hour rule as well if any of that driving fell after your 14th hour. |
| Repositioning inside a truck stop lot that the public drives through | No | Public access is not restricted, so it does not read as a yard under the 390.5T test. Off-duty personal conveyance is the correct tool there, if the driver is genuinely off duty. |
| Moving in a public rest area | No | Named explicitly as a non-yard in the proposed guidance. |
| Running yard move to stretch the day after the 11-hour driving limit is gone | No | The classic falsification pattern. It shows on the printout because the location trail keeps moving. |
| Any of the above while the carrier never enabled the category | Not available | The option will not appear on the ELD at all. See the configuration section below. |
Because the time you spent at the controls on a highway is driving time by definition, and your record says it was not. That single mismatch triggers a chain:
For the clock, yes. For the record, no. Yard move time is on-duty not driving; the special category is a flag layered on top of that status, not a fifth status. What that means in practice:
| Clock or rule | Limit | Does yard move consume it? |
|---|---|---|
| Driving limit | 11 hours | No. Yard move is not driving time. This is the entire practical benefit. |
| Daily window | 14 consecutive hours | Yes. The window runs from coming on duty regardless of what you do inside it. |
| Weekly cycle | 60 hours in 7 days or 70 in 8 | Yes. It is on-duty time. |
| Required break | 30 minutes after 8 hours of driving | It can count. FMCSA HOS FAQ 20 (November 19, 2020): yes, if the yard move is part of a 30-consecutive-minute break, because this time is also on-duty not driving. |
| Reset | 10 consecutive hours off duty | It breaks it. Yard move is on-duty. A single yard move in the middle of a rest destroys the consecutive off-duty block. |
| ELD in-motion threshold | no higher than 5 mph | Below it the device does not consider you in motion at all; above it, only the yard move or personal use flag stops the switch to driving. |
Two numbers worth memorizing from the same appendix. Once in motion, the vehicle stays "in motion" until speed hits 0 and holds at 0 for 3 consecutive seconds. And in driving status, if the truck has not moved for 5 consecutive minutes the ELD prompts you; no answer within 1 minute and it switches you to on-duty not driving by itself.
The driver cannot enable it. 49 CFR 395.28(a)(1) says a motor carrier may configure an ELD to authorize a driver to indicate the special driving categories. Appendix A section 4.3.3.1.1(a) goes further: by default, none of these categories must be available to a new driver account without the motor carrier proactively configuring their availability.
So if the button is missing or greyed out, that is not a malfunction and not a provider problem. It means nobody at your company switched it on for that driver profile. Related mechanics from the same section:
Write something real in that annotation. "Yard move" is a useless annotation. "Repositioning trailers, ABC Terminal, Newark NJ, inside gate" is a defensible one.
Because the regulation says it must. Appendix A section 4.3.2.2.2(e): a driver's indication of a special driving situation must reset to none if the ELD or the CMV's engine goes through a power off cycle, with authorized personal use the only exception, and even personal use requires the driver to confirm continuation.
For a driver coupling and uncoupling trailers, that means re-selecting yard move after every key cycle, which in a busy yard can be dozens of times a shift. FMCSA solved this with an exemption that is not widely known: it is filed under UPS, but it applies to all motor carriers.
That 20 mph auto-exit is why many ELD platforms kick you out of yard move on their own. It is not the vendor being difficult; it is the condition that keeps the exemption valid. If your fleet uses persistent yard move, print the exemption notice and keep it in the cab. If you are relying on the exemption without carrying the document, you have the operational convenience and none of the legal cover.
More than most drivers expect. Appendix A section 4.8.1.3(c)(2) requires the graph-grid on the printout and display to overlay periods of yard moves and personal use with a different style line, such as dashed or dotted, or shading, and to show the appropriate abbreviation on the grid. FMCSA repeats it in its own ELD FAQs. On how yard moves are reflected (guidance FMCSA-ELD-395-Q070, issued March 10, 2022): the ELD must provide an option to preconfigure drivers' accounts with yard moves, and if the carrier does so, the driver must select the beginning and end of the yard move period. On how it shows at roadside (guidance FMCSA-HOS-ELD-395-FAQ011, issued July 12, 2017, corrected March 10, 2022): if the account was configured, the graph-grid overlays the period with a different style line in accordance with section 4.8.1.3(c)(2); if it was not configured, the driver must annotate the beginning and end of the category by hand.
Beyond the picture, the data file carries the receipts:
Two practical consequences. First, an inspector does not need to catch you in the act: the geo-location on those events is enough to show a yard move that traveled twelve miles. Second, if a yard move happened while nobody was logged in, it does not vanish, it lands in the unidentified driver profile, which is its own headache. That is the subject of unassigned driving time and who has to claim it. If the device itself is the problem rather than the status, the clock you are on is the 8-day ELD malfunction rule.
People mix these two constantly because both stop the automatic switch to driving. They are opposites in every other way.
| Yard move | Personal conveyance | |
|---|---|---|
| Underlying duty status | On-duty not driving | Off duty |
| Whose benefit | The carrier's, shipper's or receiver's work | Must not be for the commercial benefit of carrier, shipper or receiver |
| Where | Confined area with restricted public access | Public roads allowed, no farther than the nearest reasonable and safe location to complete the rest period |
| Location precision recorded | Full precision: two decimal places of latitude and longitude (4.3.1.6(d)) | Reduced to a single decimal place (4.3.1.6(f) and 4.7.3(b)(1)); miles and engine hours left blank except on engine power-up and shut-down events |
| Survives an engine power-off cycle | No, resets to none unless the carrier uses the exemption | Yes, with driver confirmation |
| Effect on the 14-hour window | Consumes it | Does not, it is off-duty time |
FMCSA drew the line itself in its personal conveyance FAQ: an on-duty yard move, such as moving the vehicle a short distance while waiting to load, would not qualify as personal conveyance. If you are working, it is yard move. If you are resting and moving the truck for your own purposes, it is personal conveyance. There is no third option where the truck moves and nothing gets recorded. The limits, the distance test and the 2018 guidance behind personal conveyance are laid out in the personal conveyance rules for 2026, and the Russian version is here.
You can correct a genuine mistake. You cannot rewrite history, and the difference is legally sharp.
So annotating "yard move ended at gate, following segment is driving" and correcting the status is compliance. Converting recorded driving time into yard move to make a day fit is falsification under 395.8(e)(1), and the original data is still in the file. The full anatomy of that line is in log edits versus falsification.
One carrier is asking. Nothing has changed yet, and the difference between "asked", "proposed" and "in force" is the whole answer.
On July 17, 2026 FMCSA published docket FMCSA-2026-1387, 91 FR 44952: CCS Transportation, Inc. of Conway, Arkansas asked for an exemption to log short movements on local public roadways between two of its properties as on-duty not driving yard moves. The application states 130 drivers and 128 commercial motor vehicles, two adjacent properties 1.3 miles apart, used for low-speed equipment repositioning, trailer spotting and tractor transfers. Comments closed August 17, 2026, and FMCSA said it will grant or deny after reviewing the application, the safety analyses and the comments. No decision had been published when this article went out.
Read that as evidence of the rule, not as a loophole: a carrier with 128 trucks felt it had to file a federal exemption request to cover 1.3 miles. If a short public-road hop were already lawful as a yard move, the filing would be pointless.
Five documents people quote at inspectors, and what each one is actually worth:
| Document | Status as of September 2026 | What it actually lets you do |
|---|---|---|
| 49 CFR 395.28(a)(1)(ii) plus Appendix A section 4.4.1.1(b) | Final rule. eCFR shows no change to 395.28 after January 3, 2017 | The only binding authority for the category. Carrier enables, driver selects and deselects, status stays on-duty not driving |
| Guidance FMCSA-HOS-395.2-Q09 | In effect in the guidance portal, one line long | Confirms that jockeying CMVs in the yard on private property is recorded as on-duty (not driving) |
| Docket FMCSA-2020-0118, 86 FR 179, January 4, 2021 | Proposed guidance only. Comments closed February 3, 2021, 158 comments filed, never finalized: the portal still shows the one-line Question 9 | Nothing binding. It shows FMCSA's reasoning and its four-item example list, and that is why we label it a proposal every time we cite it |
| Docket FMCSA-2017-0054, renewal published October 26, 2022 | Provisional exemption in force, effective October 21, 2022 through October 21, 2027, rescindable by FMCSA | Lets any motor carrier keep yard move across an engine power-off cycle, if the ELD still exits to driving on driver input, above 20 mph or outside the geofence, and the driver carries the document |
| Docket FMCSA-2026-1387, 91 FR 44952, July 17, 2026 | Application only. Comments closed August 17, 2026, no decision published | Nothing. One carrier asking about 1.3 miles. An exemption, if granted, covers the applicant on its stated terms, not your fleet |
Practical rule while all of this sits in dockets: the moment your wheels are on a road the public can drive without a gate, a guard or a flagger, you are on a highway under 390.5T and the minutes are driving time. That is also the logic behind the wider ELD compliance requirements and the plain-language hours-of-service rules.
No. Crossing a public street puts you on a highway under 49 CFR 390.5T, and highway minutes at the controls are driving time. The only exception FMCSA has ever described is a brief crossing while public access to that road is restricted by lights, gates or flaggers, and that description sits in a proposal that was never finalized. If the truck stop or fuel island is reached over a road anyone can use, log it as driving.
Your motor carrier turns it on, per driver account, and it takes minutes in the ELD back office. Appendix A section 4.3.3.1.1(a) makes every special driving category unavailable by default on a new driver account until the carrier proactively configures it. Section 4.3.3.1.1(b) adds that the change is recorded on the ELD and communicated to you at your next login, so you will see it appear. A missing button is a settings question, not a malfunction.
No. Yard move is recorded as on-duty not driving, so it never touches the 11-hour driving limit. It does consume the 14-hour window, because that window runs from the moment you come on duty regardless of what you do inside it, and it counts toward the 60-hour in 7 days or 70-hour in 8 days cycle. FMCSA HOS FAQ 20, issued November 19, 2020, also allows a yard move inside the 30-minute break.
Because your carrier is running the provisional exemption in docket FMCSA-2017-0054. That exemption lets an ELD keep yard move across an engine power-off cycle, but only if the device still switches to driving when the driver selects driving, when the vehicle exceeds 20 mph, or when it exits a geofenced motor carrier facility. The 20 mph cut-out is the condition that keeps the exemption valid, not a vendor quirk.
Only to correct a genuine error, and only with an annotation. Under 49 CFR 395.30(c) a driver may edit, add missing information and annotate, subject to the ELD's edit limitations, and every change must be annotated. FMCSA's ELD FAQ says a driver who forgot to select the category should annotate the record identifying the start and end. Converting real driving into yard move so the day fits is a false report under 395.8(e)(1).
Usually not. The test is restricted public access, not ownership. 49 CFR 390.5T makes any road open to public travel a highway even on private property, and a truck stop lot is open to the general public without restrictive gates or prohibitive signs. FMCSA's proposed guidance also names public rest areas as non-yards. If you are genuinely off duty and repositioning for your own rest, personal conveyance is the correct status.
Yes. Yard move is on-duty time, so a single yard move in the middle of a rest period destroys the 10 consecutive hours off duty and the reset starts again. This is the most expensive mistake in the whole category, because the driver usually does not notice until the ELD flags the day. If the truck genuinely has to be moved during rest and it is not for the carrier, the shipper or the receiver, that is personal conveyance, not yard move.
The minutes get reclassified as driving, and the paperwork follows from there: a false report in connection with a duty status under 49 CFR 395.8(e)(1), plus whatever hours violation appears once the time lands in the driving column. A driver over the maximum periods is placed out of service under 49 CFR 395.13(b)(1). FMCSA's SMS counts violations recorded on a roadside inspection report regardless of whether a citation is issued.
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Yard move is one of two special driving categories under 49 CFR 395.28(a)(1). The motor carrier must enable it on the driver's ELD account first; it is not available by default. The driver selects it before the movement starts and deselects it when the movement ends, and annotates the record when prompted. While it is on, the ELD keeps duty status at on-duty not driving instead of switching to driving when the vehicle moves. It is legal only inside a confined area where public access is restricted.
Movement of a commercial vehicle inside a confined area under the control of the carrier, shipper or facility, where the general public is not driving through. FMCSA's proposed guidance in docket FMCSA-2020-0118 lists an intermodal yard or port facility, a motor carrier's place of business, a shipper's privately owned parking lot, and a public road only while public access is restricted by lights, gates or flaggers. It expressly excludes an ordinary public road and public rest areas.
Yes in terms of the clock, no in terms of the record. Yard move time is recorded as on-duty not driving, so it burns the 14-hour window and the 60- or 70-hour cycle but does not touch the 11-hour driving limit. The difference is that yard move is a flag layered on that status, drawn on the graph-grid with a dashed or shaded line and an abbreviation, so an inspector can see every minute of it.
No. Yard move is not driving time, so it does not consume the 11-hour driving limit. It does consume the 14-hour window and counts toward the 60-hour in 7 days or 70-hour in 8 days cycle, because it is on-duty time. FMCSA also confirmed that a yard move can be part of the 30-minute break, because that break may be satisfied by on-duty not driving time.
Not on an ordinary public road. FMCSA's position is that yard moves occur within the confines of a yard and not on a public road, which is why the time is not driving time. The proposed guidance allows a brief movement on a public road only while public access to that road is restricted by traffic control such as lights, gates or flaggers. Note that 49 CFR 390.5T defines a highway as any road on public or private property that is open to public travel, so a private lot the public drives through is not automatically a yard.
Because the carrier has not enabled it for your driver account. Appendix A to subpart B of part 395, section 4.3.3.1.1(a), states that by default none of these categories are available to a new driver account without the motor carrier proactively configuring their availability. The carrier turns it on per driver, and any change to that setting is recorded on the ELD and communicated to the driver during login.
That is the rule. Appendix A section 4.3.2.2.2(e) requires the special driving indication to reset to none if the ELD or the engine goes through a power off cycle, with personal conveyance the only exception. A carrier may avoid the re-entry under the provisional exemption in docket FMCSA-2017-0054, effective October 21, 2022 through October 21, 2027 and rescindable by FMCSA, but only if the ELD still switches to driving when the driver selects driving, when the vehicle exceeds 20 mph, or when it leaves a geofenced facility, and the driver carries the exemption document.
The time is reclassified as driving. That is a false report in connection with a duty status under 49 CFR 395.8(e)(1), and it can push you over the 11-hour driving limit once the minutes move columns, and over the 14-hour rule as well if any of that driving fell after your 14th hour. Under 49 CFR 395.13 a driver who has driven beyond the maximum periods is ordered out of service and may not drive until lawfully able to do so. The violation lands in the Hours-of-Service Compliance BASIC from the inspection report itself, whether or not a citation is issued.