I was talking to my buddy who used to work at a warehouse with a lot of truckers and he said y'all have to keep a log of what you're doing all the time you're on the road so that if the police pull you over then they can look at your log and see if you've been sleeping and where you've been. He said it was hard to fourge too.
could anybody tell me about this?

Sure Loud! ARE YOU LOUD??? LMAO!

Logs are a sheet that you have to draw a line on and state if you are 1) off duty (meaning you are doing what you want or eating, laundry etc) 2) sleeper: means you are in the sleeper berth of the tractor 3) driving: means you are behind the wheel 4) means you are working but not driving.

DOT (FMSCA) must know what you are doing # all times and every day that you are working for a trucking company.
You must write down the city & state you are in every time you stop.

There is much much more to it than this, but that is the basic idea of keeping a log sheet.

YOu must be legal at all times or you can end up 1) paying unnecissary fines 2) in jail 3)terminated from the company.

Does that help? If not
Check out this website and review everything under 395.5 and also review all the interpitations. If you have questions please feel free to ask under regulations thread or send me a pm.

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"Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then."

Dave, a log is not hard to forge at all, heck I know plenty of drivers who are pretty good at it (that's why you will hear them reffered to as 'coloring books'). The only thing is, once you start making it up, it can be hard to stop. And, the DOT officers can typically tell if you're making it up or not.

But yes, every commerical driver (except for certain situations) needs to keep a log to show what they did during their work day/period.

(personally I use my logbook for TP, softer than whats in most truckstops!)

Local is so nice. No comic book, just a time sheet.

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(I realize that everyone on this board is going to jump on me for this post, but the law is the law).

Once you become a truck driver, you must log not only your work for the trucking company, but also any paid work you perform anywhere.

On Duty : "(9) Performing any compensated work for a person who is not a motor carrier."

When this item was added to the regulations, I dreamed of a worst case scenerio. Imagine a local driver who also directs a church choir. He receives a small honorarium for choir practice on Wednesday evening and performance on Sunday morning. These two hours are on-duty and must be logged.

In the real world, the biggest violators are small farmers who drive commercial trucks during the week. During planting and harvest, they work horrendous hours in the fields all weekend, then hit the road Sunday night with a log showing a 34-hour reset.

We also have guys that run restaurants and bars or manage businesses and drive to relax, so they say. I know guys that drive to get away from their families, they go home readily, but show up way early to make their runs.


Revisiting what it is to drive locally, I always logged local work as on-duty not driving, the 70 definitely doesn't apply and the 14 may not depending on if there are local rules about local driving, there are exceptions allowed. If you were to drive in a situation where you needed to log driving time, then you have to show the past seven days and not be over 70 hours on the 8th day , otherwise you need to do a 34 hour reset under the present rules.


AJ

That's why we have a log book shortage

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"Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then."

Yes if you work for a trucking company and are required to keep a daily log you must account for any work for any other company. It is a pain in the wazooo for us to!

Get this: If an owner operator (or company) driver is working on his truck in his garage on time off he must log this on line 4 as well. How would they know? Well any reciepts you may have I guess showing you bought it or if they happened to drive by your house and see you working on it and pull you over when you leave the house

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"Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then."

How is it a pain for you? You don't have to think it up and make it work!

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My childhood dream of becoming a truck driver turned into a nightmare!

You are right! But I have to think is this driver lieing to me, and how do I know he didn't work Saturday at the other job? It's just stupid to me.

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"Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then."