Question about personal use

Yep I hear drivers talking all the time thinking they're getting away with something.
Fact is even a foot of movement is tracked.
You can punch a few buttons a get to the correct screen and you can watch your latitude & longitude change. Elog or just Qualcomm

 

Driving log truck I would jump out there with all the other people going to work. I figured heading up to the landing could be considered private use (going to work, but there is still a pre-trip).
During spring breakup I pulled a refer delivering groceries on a route, with paper logs and qualcom. Ran as much as 502 miles and 12-14 drops. several times I ended up out of hrs, just 15-30 mins from the yard and they would send a shop guy to get me. I drive the pickup back and he brought the truck.
So where do you draw the line?
If you get pulled over on your way back to the yard your still going to have account for your HOS right? Then its not private use looking at it that way right?
Seems to me its going to all depend on if the DOT/Trooper wants to make some money or not. Great discussion but I'm seeing nothing but grey area, and possible contributions to the authorities.

 

It really isn't that complicated. I use e-logs and use off duty driving frequently. Usually every weekend when I go home and a time or two during the week. I drop the trailer and bobtail home about 35 miles or less off duty. Then off duty back to the dropped trailer when time to get back to work. I make a quick remark in the block what I am doing. No harm, no foul. It is clearly in line with the question 26 thing. Also, there are times when I drop and hook trailers at a lot or customer, I will drop, then bobtail out of go get a bite or pick up something at a store, and bobtail back to get hooked up and get back to work. All off duty, also with a comment in the appropriate block to explain. I could give a rip if the GPS says I moved. I am well within the legal definition of off duty driving as explained by the FMCSA themselves right on their website. The safety folks at the carrier are also well aware and in agreement. I have been stopped and checked by LEO's before, and again, no problems.

Like most other things, you have to do things judiciously. Running 600 miles back and forth, and that is well outside any semblance of reasonable. And if a customer demands you leave, legal or not, you are going to have to leave. You can play all the HOS games you want with them, but it is their property and private property rights trump HOS any day of the week. As long as things are documented and you do not be abusive, no one is really going to get their panties in a wad.

It is true, and LEO can cite for anything they want. Doesn't mean that it will hold up later. I guess it all depends on who they are, and how much you want to contest it. I am at that age where I have no problem going to court and contesting it. One thing that is nice about e-logs, is that I am not trying to hide anything. Even if I had to leave a customer and couldn't legally do so by FMCSA HOS regs, I would just document it and move to a safe place to park. The e-log would show a violation, but it would be all documented. I just don't lose any sleep over such stuff. In over 3 decades at this, I have seen just about all of what goes on in this regard. Some folks just worry themselves to death.

 

im my situation i do short haul work (gravel) i might load and unload at the same locations back and forth all day long all week long and sleep in the sleeper because ill be working a 2-3 hours from home and no way to run home after doing short hauls for 12-13 hours then at the end of the week i will run home empty and report back to the same location so i am unladen not under under a load and returning to the same place i left from to start over again. i don't see why i couldn't log it off duty but running 300 miles off duty seems like it would raise red flags.

 

This sounds legal. Send a quick email to your state DOT with the same question and you should get a better reply.

 

Me, personally, I would either have a personal vehicle near by to go home weekly if It was 2-3 hours away or have the wife come pick me up. A one time thing occasionally would be viable for me, but weekly? Burning up all that truck fuel, along with the additional normal wear, just to commute is not my idea of how I would like to spend my money. I would just have a cheap beater of the personal vehicle I could run back and forth with. Quicker, easier, cheaper and makes the HOS off duty driving thing a non issue. And, at least for someone who owns the truck, using the personal vehicle is as much a tax deduction as the truck is. 55.5 cents a mile tax deduction for personal vehicle.

 

i would do that, but servicing making repairs and greasing the truck is done a lot easier in the comfort of my shop at home. as well as ill work a few weeks in one area then move to another area for a few weeks and so on and so forth. so then you have the issue of moving your beater when you move and your truck isn't making it by the shop for upkeep.

iv got a service truck im working on setting up and i would like to get receiver hitches on the back of my trailers and flat tow the service truck from one area to the next behind my trailer.

150 bucks a week in fuel isn't going to break me.