EOBR Electronic Logs - Good or Bad

Driving off duty, using your tractor as personal conveyance.

 

This. Your job is not a prison, and neither is your truck.

Driving is not a right folks. It is a privilege. Abuse the privilege, and the privilege gets removed. No one has a right to drive, not even the president. These regulations have been around since before we were in diapers. If you don't like them, then find yourself another career. It won't be long before every company operating under federal HOS uses a EOBR, so get used to running legal if you want to remain a driver.

 

Well, for one thing, that is falsifying logs. You are not the one driving it but it's logging that you are. No matter what your mechanics do, if they run it down to the dealership for work, those dealer mechanics are not going to mess with or care what the log is doing. If they drive it down there on Friday evening and drive it back on Sunday, the logs will certify themselves for the previous days as soon as it makes a duty change. Then if something happens on the way back from the shop, like an accident, your company is screwed.

And the logging dept does not want to deal with 75 phone calls on Monday from drivers with their logs all screwed up by someone else. They can do it however they want but that is a pretty risky policy.

 

That's getting to be the all around catch phrase. This is not the only country on the planet to drive in and by far not the highest paying.

 

Ok, sometimes my brain is running faster than my thought to type process. I was assuming being loaded on a 10 hour break. Im hardly ever empty during that time. Also, it says if you are permitted to use a CMV for personal reasons. With the old Qualcomm, he may have been doing that and not getting caught due to not crossing the gridlines. Most of your major carriers are not gonna permit this activity, especially on a 10 hour break. Many companies have provisions for the 34 hour restart however.

As I read that part, it is vague and appears to apply to day cab drivers(use of words like motel, lodging, terminals)because they don't carry their lodging and possible meal items like otr/sleepers can. Also notice that a truckstop is not listed as a form of lodging. I think it is written like that on purpose to make it easier to write a citation.

I guess my way of thinking is different. I dont open myself up to possibilities of investigation/confrontation. As for the accident comment, just look around you, those morons. Any half decent lawyer will interperet the law in regard for his client and most times than not will win. Its not right or fair, but thats the way it is.

With that being said, I do all my errand running during my 14 or my 34. I use my 10 hour for sleeping, showering, and paperwork. I will never have to worry or be subjected to any other scrutinity.

One other thing, I have had those letters from the company. Never had to use them, but I'm willing to bet if I did use them for running around on my 10 hour break, had an incident come up, I would have been good friends with the safety department...and the unemployment line. Thinking people also read between the lines and cover there rears.

 

At my company, if the truck is in the shop we log off for the very reasons stated above.

 

Yeah, it is starting to become a catch phrase; because many people think they have a right to drive a truck, when they don't. The federal government doesn't give a flying hoot about you as a driver. They care about the 40,000 LBS of freight you're hauling. If you quit and walk away from the truck, someone else will just step in and haul the freight. This is why the constitution doesn't really apply to us, but the commerse clause does.

I pulled the fuse to my EOBR when my truck was down for maintenance. If the mechanic wanted to drive my truck legally, they needed to run off paper.

 

The tractor can be used for personal conveyance while under load so long as it is unladen (drop the trailer) while doing so.

I wouldn't work for a carrier that did not allow "reasonable use" of the CMV for the purpose of personal conveyance in such circumstances. However, being an O/O that is a non-issue.

As the recording gets stricter, this is something that is going to come up more and more in the future and will become a "perk" that defines the choice as to whether to work for one carrier or another.

If the FMCSA had meant it only applied to daycabs they would have written the regulations to reflect that. Just because a truck has a sleeper does not mean that a driver is forced to utilize it and many drivers like to stay in motels. In the past I have driven for companies that preferred we stay in motels rather than the sleeper.

Truckstops generally don't provide any form of lodging, they provide parking.

I do everything in my power to operate in a manner that is consistent with professionalism and best practises, then I don't live in fear of what might happen. Nor do I worry about being subjected to additional scrutiny... I can only control what I do, not what anyone else will.

I wouldn't work for a company that did not stand behind their drivers or any policy statements.

 

Yes, I know that. thats why I stated its vague. Gives the DOT more room for writting citations. They don't always write everything in black and white. Thanks for the heads up on the truckstop issue. You took that out of context. I heard some have food and showers too

Nor would I, but how does one know if the company will stand behind you until the moment arises? Thats why I try to the best of my ability to make sure that time never comes.

 

Now, from that response I see the problem. The way you typed your feelings at first came off a different way, my bad. Yes, prison here is better than other countries, but still sucks at any rate. Im sorry ma'am, did not mean to offend you. Don't worry about that last statement, an old boss always said that to me when I was worried or complaining about something. We can agree to disagree. Hope you find the type of company you are looking for.