OTR driver doing local runs?

Record Of Duty Status

 

...and as for switching back and forth, the FMCSA is pretty clear in their guidance. A local driver operating under the exemption only needs to complete a RODS for the days. He does not qualify for the exemption. You can run out farther and only have the current day's log book page (or current trip's pages for an overnight/multiple day trip) WITHOUT having to recreate the previous 7 days on which he qualified for the exemption. Good luck convincing the DOT that you're really a "local" driver if you've been living in your truck. That's a great way to find yourself OOS until he's sure you are in compliance with the HOS. If you want to be local, stay at the house. If you want to convince DOT officers you're typically a local guy and just out on a rare longer run, get a day cab. Sleeper trucks (especially when they have that "lived in" look) aren't very convincing when you're trying to claim that 100 air-mile radius exemption.

 

There are numerous REQUIREMENTS on you and the employer to skip logging because of the 100 air-mile exemption. You don't qualify to use it simply because YOU happen to stay within 100 air-miles on certain days. Most of the drivers on my account never need to log because of the 100 air-mile expemtion but a few of us DO have to log. So we log ALL DAYS WE DRIVE.

On days we aren't going beyond the short-haul limits (regular shceduled work) and we work short-haul, we show off-duty until start time. Show ODND and inspections, draw a line on DRIVING all work day, ODND and post-trip at end of day and then Off-Duty. List all vehicle numbers, and flag the Driving status with "Local Work/Driving" instead of City, State. That's to say where you would write the City, State in the remarks section, write Local Work/Driving instead.

Doing this DOES NOT save you any time for driving more hours. You essentially attribute everything you do from clock-in to clock-out as driving hours instead of X number of short periods of dropping & hooking and then resume driving. If you are visiting more than one city you should list the cities in the remarks section. You then risk risk being inspected by an officer that disagrees with this method and writes you a ticket.

Since what I described ONLY SAVES THE TIME IT TAKES TO DRAW ALL THE LINES as if you were OTR between each and every stop, you don't have much to gain from this "shortcut." It certainly doesn't help extend driving hours to use/log later.

 

For local work, we just go to line 4 when we start, and back to line 1 when we stop. Essentially, you are using the RODS grid as a time card, which as long as it contains the required info (driver's name, date, start time, end time, total hours worked).


https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/part/395?guidance

 

While I think either of our ways can be correct, I think my boss told me to log it all driving time as that's 99% percent of that day. And if I only logged on duty not driving.... Well, I can log that till the end of the world. So logging drive time would show any inspecting leo that I drove around all day and didn't stay in one location working.

I don't know if that makes sense to you. It sorta does in my head.

 

The problem you run into is that you're only allowed to work a 12 hour day on local. Past the 12th hour requires a RODS. You're still only limited to 11 hours of drive time, which is where you'll run into problems logging a 12 hour day on line 3 because now you've exceeded the 11 hours you are allowed to drive.

Line 4 is all that is required. Shows the time you started...the time you stopped...total up the time on line 4...write your name and the date and you're good to go.

 

That's what I'll have to agree with.

 

We switch back and forth all the time. 75% of the time we are local and not logging and then we take trips out of town on ocassion. You do have to worry about exceeding your 70 hrs so when we leave on a trip where we log we write the previous 7 days on a blank piece of paper just with start/stop times and total hours per day. We went through a DOT audit and they were ok with it. I have had to log less than a dozen days this year I be darned if I keep a log every day just for those few days.