I DRIVE FOR A SHORTHAUL COMPANY HAULING WOOD CHIPS AND WE USUALLY RUN A LOT OF HOURS OUR DISPATCHER AND SAFTY DIRECTOR WILL TRY TO GET US TO RUN 14 HOURS AND THEN FROM WERE WE ARE AT THEY WANT US TO LOG OFF DUTY AND DRIVE HOME THEY SAY WITH THERE PERMISSION YOU CAN DO THIS LEGALLY AS LONG AS YOU ARE EMPTY AND DO NOT HAVE TO FUEL IS THIS LEGAL , IT DOES NOT SEEM LIKE IT COULD BE I MEAN IF U LOGGED OFF AT POINT A , AND DROVE TO POINT B ,HOW COULD U PRE TRIP AT POINT B WHEN U LOGGED OUT AT POINT A,,, ANYWAY JUST WANTED TO KNOW IF IT IS LEGAL R NOT IF ANY ONE COULD TELL ME WHERE I COULD FIND THE DOCUMENTATION ON THIS I WOULD REALLY APPREICATE IT ... THANKS

Technically here is the regulation to it. Now Please read it carefully and you take the judgement yourself. I personally tell my drivers to log all time, unless they have gotten to a terminal and dropped a load and need to drive 30 minutes to home (being bob tail). I really hate this question because honestly if you are not safe to drive after 14 hours why should you be allowed to drive bobtailing because you are going home? It doesn't make sense to me.

Question 26: If a driver is permitted to use a CMV for personal reasons, how must the driving time be recorded?

Guidance: When a driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work, time spent traveling from a driver's home to his/her terminal (normal work reporting location), or from a driver's terminal to his/her home, may be considered off-duty time. Similarly, time spent traveling short distances from a driver's en route lodgings (such as en route terminals or motels) to restaurants in the vicinity of such lodgings may be considered off-duty time. The type of conveyance used from the terminal to the driver's home, from the driver's home to the terminal, or to restaurants in the vicinity of en route lodgings would not alter the situation unless the vehicle is laden. A driver may not operate a laden CMV as a personal conveyance. The driver who uses a motor carrier's CMV for transportation home, and is subsequently called by the employing carrier and is then dispatched from home, would be on-duty from the time the driver leaves home.

A driver placed out of service for exceeding the requirements of the hours of service regulations may not drive a CMV to any location to obtain rest.

Question 1: A company told all of its drivers that it would no longer pay for driving from the last stop to home and that this time should not be shown on the time cards. Is it a violation of the FMCSRs to operate a CMV from the last stop to home and not show that time on the time cards?

Guidance: The FMCSRs do not address questions of pay. All the time spent operating a CMV for, or at the direction of, a motor carrier must be recorded as driving time.

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

when they send us home we have a trailer on our back does this make it illegal they wont let us bobtail home ... thanks
when we are emptyat last destanation we drive 50 to 75 miles to go home... is this legal

By the definition of empty as being the same as unladen, I would say that it is legal. If you are stopped, you may be cited, but whether or not you are legal is up to a court. When I was hauling haz-mat tanker loads, we were off duty after unloading the last load for the week, we were allowed to take the truck home with the trailer, just had to find a place to park it. If we took it back to the terminal, we were off duty at that time as well. Much of that would be considered local hauling by the distances involved, but that didn't matter.

Addressing the safety of driving a commercial vehicle versus a private car or pick-up, I'd have to say that most people driving a truck are much safer to others driving the truck than they would be driving the car, it's the difference in perception that is the problem. You can see much more while in the truck. Now, it doesn't matter as much after a several hundred thousand miles.I can drive about anything, anywhere.

I just called that "shorthaul company" you drive for to ask them about a job. Sounds like maybe it's a good thing they turned me down because I haven't drove in a while.

When we first moved down here, we stayed at the campground behind the Cash & Carry. There was a guy who lived in a tiny little camper across the way from us... he drove for THAT company. He was gone from the crack of dark:thirty to well past dark:thirty. That's a lot of hours to put in and still not be able to afford anything more than a tin can.

I guess I'm gonna keep looking.