my thoughts on mandatory e logs

Not legal at all.....

 

Personal conveyance cannot be used to move unladen equipment to a loading point. It can only be used for personal convenience. The other driver's carrier was in the wrong. Further, if the driver did go load while on personal conveyance time, the driver was also in the wrong.

 

I doubt we'll be forced to switch over anytime soon. Log books violations bring in some good money to the dot. I hated them taking forever to look though my logs. They're legal until you can prove me otherwise. Luckily I switched to using eclipse log book pro on the computer, and I tell them it's electronic most of the time they're like. Oh okay.

 

Considering all I hear and read about how elogs are used I doubt DOT will have any trouble finding violations when we're all on eld. It will sure be an eye opener for those who think that since the electronic device doesn't scream at them when they go to line 5 for the last 30 minutes (or a whole bunch of other abuses that will be easy for DOT to spot) that it's OK. And with the way some of the drivers who have never used paper talk I don't think they even realize what's OK and what isn't. They just know the device isn't screaming at them and the dispatcher/other driver/internet let them think it was OK.

 

Yet another poster who doesn't understand, still, that the 34 reset is OPTIONAL. This whole 34 reset thing is not mandatory, does not have to be used, is not required in any form. One can recap hours just as every trucker has done since 1939. So, to answer your question "How legal is that?" VERY LEGAL as long as the driver had hours left on the 70 to drive. No need to even consider PC to go get a load. Now that would be illegal.

 

I think they should be called ERoDS.

 

ELOG's are not a fail safe. You can cheat a computer just as easily as you can cheat paper. I've seen it done numerous times.

 

I am guessing you didn't read the whole post...he was being told told to go pick up the load on line 5...and log it as PERSONAL CONVEYANCE which isn't legal at all.

As a driver who has run both e-log and paper (and years ago many logbooks at a time)...e-log is no big deal, in fact, unless you are f'g with the logs, it'll save you time on your 70 since it logs everything to the minute instead of in 15 minute segments. There are many elog apps in the Google Play store...try one with the settings set to 'by the minute logging' to compare with your paper...I was shocked by how much time paper wasted...and we're talking wasted HOURS, not minutes.

 

Every 15 minutes lost on paper logs can be 45 minutes made up somewhere else on the paper logs day. A savvy driver pushing 70 hours a week often only shows 55 hours on the 7 day recap. Can never beat that with Elogs no matter what= more money on the paycheck.

 

But that depends on who they are working for and other compensation that the carrier offers for other things like detention, stop offs, etc. If one cannot make decent money working for a carrier with e-logs, then move to a carrier that they can. No one is forced to stay where they are. I opted for the e-log thing at my carrier, as an O/O, when they started doing their company trucks. I had to really find out if they would screw me up or not and avoid all the speculation that gets thrown around on CB and forums. Well, I am still here. If it had messed me all up, I would have pulled my truck and went elsewhere. What makes or breaks the e-log thing, is how the operations staff are planning the freight and scheduling loads and making it all mesh with the e-log and the driver. They can see the e-log and know how to use it to their advantage if they want. If it is done properly, the e-log will have no appreciable negative effect. But any weakness in the operations stuff will show up when e-logs are used. If a carrier will not get it's act together, then e-logs can be a killer. If the carrier has the ability to see things and can change as they need to, then the e-log thing is a non issue, and in some respects, can actually be a benefit.