I've been wondering... 1.) How far can you get from your truck when you go off-duty? For instance, could you park your rig in the lot of a shopping mall and spend a couple hours inside? And what about your 34 hr. reset? Could you take a bus up town to visit a friend? I'm thinking it's largely up to company policy, but would appreciate any feedback. 2.) What about comfort? I've read that many opt to run at nite and sleep days, and i can see where this would be an advantage. But during the summer, especially down South, I'll bet it gets pretty hot in the cab and don't suppose anybody idles to keep the AC (if any) run'n. And if ya roll the windows down for ventilation, especially at nite, aren't the bugs a problem? It seems to me a screen of some sort might be available. 3.) I've read about difficulty finding places to park for sleeping. If you're planning on pulling into a reststop at the end of your available hours, and the pattern is full, are you legally able to drive to the next available safe location? I have a couple more Q's but I'll quit for now. Thanx as always.

1). If you have a Haz-matt load this is different and I am not sure currently of the rules as we don't haul much haz-matt. I can get that answer if you would like. I believe you mean in general freight therefore there is no Regulations as to how far you can be away from the load. Now the company may have certain requirements for you. High risk loads are usually "you must be within visionable site". 34 hour reset: You can be off duty or you can be off duty and sleeper combination. If you have not worked within 34 hours you have a new 70 hour rule. If you want to bobtail to wal-mart you can, this would be off duty. Now with everything said the company must approve of this.
2) I will leave that up to "truckers" to answer as i am not experienced in this. Except I would not leave my window down while I was sleeping due to crazy people out there.
3) DOT states you need to plan 2 or 3 stops before your 11 or 14 is up. There is no law that allows you to drive passed your 11 to find a safe place to park. They only allow you 2 extra hours for advherse weather that was UNEXPECATED and the dispatcher could not have know about the weather. This rule is only for your 11 hour. There is no LEGAL reason to go over your 14 or 70 hour. Now if you go over your hours you should log it as you did it and write down why you went over. DOT would rather see you tell the truth than to hide the truth (just like you are with your kids or anyone else, BE HONEST).
The punishment MIGHT be less severe.

I hope this helps a little. If not feel free to ask more questions and I will try and do a better job
Now if you go over your

1) If I got out of the truck (at say, wally world) I would log it as off-duty.
2) I would idle the truck if I needed to (for A/C or heat), and yes, you can buy screens in a truckstop to stick in your window openings to let a breeze through.
3)Logs in right, you need to be thinking about where you will be stopping for your break, so that you minimize having to search for parking when you're dead-###-tired. I used to run regional, so I was passing through the same places mostly, and therefore I knew where I could and couldn't shut down, and could plan accordingly.

Thanks for the reply Logs. I just hope I'm not making a bad impression with anyone in this forum as these questions are of course hypothetical, and are meant to provoke discussion, as much as gain insite. Not planning to perpitrate any crimes out there. Infact, just the opposite, just want to learn the do's and don'ts before i get behind the wheel. You know... "what if, what if ?" That said, I was aware of the adverse weather provision, and want to thank-you for pointing out the word unexpected. I read that one to my wife, and went off about how assanine I thought the intent was. (longer hours in bad weather??), but now have a better understanding. I'll have to look up the requirements for planning stops though, just out of curiosity. And Thank you (other poster whose name I,m sorry i can't recall) for the driving tips. Driving regional must have it's advantages, as you pointed out. I'm sure I'll have some dues to pay before getting a deal like that, as you no doubt have paid yours. Now... Just to stir the pot a little... Is there any scenario where a driver can get away from the truck for more than a couple hours during a 34hr. reset, aside from being parked at home? Or are you pretty much prevented from doing so by company policy?

As long as you're willing to accept responsibility for anything that goes wrong while you're gone, sure.

See, that's what I'm trying to draw out. Where exactly does that line come down? Is this to say driver's are responsible for the truck and it's contents 100 percent of the time? If so, I will obey, but it seems there will be times it's necessary/practical to leave the truck. I drove a transit bus in a small town and our policy was no "personal stops" But I quickly found out that many drivers did; stop to retrieve forgotten items at home, coffee at McD's etc, Nothing greedious, mostly when MT. And it seemed to be well tollerated by dispatch as long as didn't become a problem. (Gee, how would they find out?). Then there would be some that called dispatch to ask permission to do that same thing, (which almost always went unanswered for some reason?) So I'm just asking someone who's been around for a while how you/your company addresses this issue. Once again, just trying not to break any rules. As for me, I suppose I'll follow the direction of those who pay me. Be that as it may, let me ask you this... it seems that the only places to reset on the road are either in the sleeper, or at a truckstop. Is that correct ?

Not exactly, you can get a reset at a hotel/motel, there are bunches that have truck parking. As far as the other matters go, your trainer may be able to shed light on the company's policy. For example: I went to MATS last year, so when I got home, instead of dropping my trlr where I normally would (for the weekend) and then parking the tractor in my driveway, I drove it 45 miles away to a T/A and parked it there. That way, it was legally and safely parked and secured, and then let my company know where it was and let the truckstop folks also know I would be leaving it there for a while (they didn't care except to say they had wouldn't be responsible for anything that happened to it).

Not sure I follow ya exactly, but my takeaway is that you communicated well with your dispatch, and the TA. And this will be my MO as well. Thanks, and be safe.

No problem, best advice is to ALWAYS CYA!
If your company uses qualcomm, send a MESSAGE, not a phone call.

Below is a question & answer from the FMCSA about if you can't finding a rest area. I will also give you the link to the direct questions about Adverse weather conditons and some other interesting questions.

here is the link
[LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.
If you look towards the top right it will say interpitation, click on that and it will give you the Q&A's.

Question 28: Does the emergency conditions exception in 49 CFR 395.1(b)(2) apply to a driver who planned on arriving at a specific rest area to complete his 10 hours driving and found the rest area full, forcing the driver to continue past the ten hours driving looking for another safe parking area?

Guidance: No. The emergency conditions exception does not apply to the driver. It is general knowledge that rest areas have become increasingly crowded for commercial motor vehicle parking, thus, it is incumbent on drivers to look for a parking spot before the last few minutes of a 10 hour driving period. The driver should provide the reason for exceeding the 10 hours driving in the Remarks section of the record of duty status.


34 hour restart:

This can be done as such
1) 34 hours or more off duty: You are not on the truck for this period of the time and do not sleep in it!
2) 34 hours or more sleeper/off duty combination: If you are at a truck stop, you would/should be logging line 1 & 2.

To answer your question: You can BOBTAIL to wal-mart, out back steak house (YUMMY YUM), this would be logged as off duty.

I hope that answers your questions and stir up a conversation

You are NOT making a bad impression # all! If you have questions you must ask or you will never know the facts!
Conversation topics are also welcome here!