Stretching the truth on Line 1: Finessing or falsifying?

What part of "Fuel" don't you understand? It takes about 8 minutes to fuel and then you log 15 and then you log line 1 when you park it and go in and eat. There's no way you can inspect a trailer in 5 minutes and do your brake tests as well. NO WAY!

 

Legally and no dot or safety officer has ever questioned this, so if you want to knock your socks off.

To start the driving shift I show 0 (zero) time for pretrip but I do flag it pretrip, when I fuel I show fuel / VI (vehicle inspection) and deduct 15 minutes in line 4. FMCSA does not require that you deduct time for the pretrip but that over the course of the shift you show time deduct for a vehicle inspection. As fas as 5 minutes to inspect my tires brakes, etss ont the tractor and trailers, yes its plenty of time. Actually I inspect alot of things while the fuel is running thru the hose, do you feel inclinded to stand and watch it..... Thats just wasting time, flip the hood and get with it.

 

Swift requires you show a pretrip on line 4. I don't know or care about how you do it but I do know you are full of #### on the 5 minute inspection.

 

You can call it whatever you want. Stretching the truth, fudging the books, finessing. That is how it starts.
A 3 mile per hour cushion becomes 5 or 10.
15 minutes over hours becomes 30 then 60.
500 lbs over axle becomes 700 or 1000.
you keep bending the rules, compromising safety and any moral values that you should have been taught as a child.
Then 1 day you wake up You are running Like the king of all outlaw truckers, SouthernPride!

( Just kidding)

 

For the fuel, I don't understand what you're talking about. But I never logged the fueling until after i fueled, after i ate, and got ready to release the brakes. So it might not be perfect. Never had a cop question me. Do you seriously log everything at the same time as you do it? Hell man, I had a couple of days where I was in such a hurry to take off for the morning, i got rolling down the road and 20 minutes later i realized, ####!!! I didn't do my logbook! If i'm going to eat after I fuel, I'm usually pretty hungry and I'm in a hurry to eat! If I log it while i'm too hungry i might eat the logbook! Then what do i do?!

For the inspection...you really think so? Lets see. I back up to it, get out and check fifth wheel height, get back in, back under it, do a tug test to make sure it's really hooked (and especially since my jost fifth wheel makes a weird air noise when it latches!). I get out, while i'm walking to the front of the trailer i visually inspect the front of the trailer. I hook my air lines, while I walk to the back to check that the tandems are locked in and in the position i decide they should be in, I bend down and look at the frame rails and the entire side of the trailer while i'm walking. I check the tandem pins, I look at the tires that are in front of me. I walk around the back and check the doors, latches, and seal. I check the other side of the tandem pins, I check the tires in front of me, I climb under and take a look at the brakes (sometimes), while I walk back to the tractor I look at that side of the trailer, I get in the tractor, start the engine, release the brakes, put the truck in gear and let the clutch out and i grab the trailer brake lever.

I see that you are exactly 10 years older than me, maybe I walk faster than you, I don't know.

LOL, I do the same thing, except I never thought about logging the inspection at the same time... Sounds like a fine idea.

You don't have a greenbook? Wait until you get on a real computer then look it up! LOL. I HAD TO DO IT!

 

Even "before sleepers were big enough to sit up in" I used to watch TV and read a book in mine.
We also used to sit in the drivers seat and read a book or watch TV or just sit there lookin' out the window.
It was all logged on line 1 and was legal then as it is now.

This line 1 line 2 crap has come up since truck driving schools created the steering wheel holder out of people that ought to be doing something besides driving a truck!
They cram their heads full of usless garbage and send them out into the world to show us all how to do the job that they have yet to figure out how to do.

Then you are falsifying your logs.

5 minutes is pretty short...Are you getting under it and checking slack adjusters? Drums for cracks? Wheel lugs? Suspension for cracks? Just to name a few.

I've been told by a few DOT cops that you can "flag" a fuel stop...But I don't think it's a good idea and I don't do it.
No need to note on your log that you ate...It's not required. Note the fuel stop and location and be done with it.

That's not quite true...And no, I wasn't referring to you.

If you are performing company related work you are supposed to be on line 4...To log it as sleeper berth is falsification.
You can do any NON WORK RELATED stuff that you want to but the minute that you start playing with your logbook or doing paperwork or talking to dispatch or any other work, You're supposed to be on line 4.

No...It's not!
I never ever heard this nonsense discussed before the steeringwheelholder crowd started nitpicking everything they heard in school to death!

That actually makes a lot of sense...The two lines are essentially interchangeable anyway...Even the DOT can't make up their minds about it, One cop says one thing and another will tell you something different but it's very clear to me that the lines are essentially interchangeable and every time I've ever been questioned by a DOT cop about it I have walked away without a ticket and left them standing there scratching their head and thinking that maybe they need to read up on the regs....

 

So in a drop n hook you check in with the guard or office, find your spot, back it in. Get out and unhook the lines and lower the gear, unhook then drive around to find the trailer you're hooking and do all you described and also the brake tests (hold down pump down etc) that you neglect to do and also check that the brake lights and signals work and you do all this in 15 minutes?

You deserve a medal young whippersnapper. Yeah I'm ten years older than you and I know BS when I hear it. I guess you can't read well if you don't understand what I mean by put it on line 4 when you fuel. Did you really think I meant to draw your lines as soon as you hang up the nozzle? C'mon man! If you hang the nozzle up at 13:54 you need to show FUEL on 4 from 13:45 to 14:00!

 

At some places, yes. I didn't say i *always* do it in good time.

There is no advantage to doing the prescribed air brake tests you expect me to do. The only thing i'm not checking is the tractor air brake system, and...I check that in my pretrip.

I guess i can't ####### read well, #######. I don't log it when i fuel. I don't want fuel on my logbook, #######. I have to go on line 1 to wash my hands.

Ever consider that computers lag? or have errors with timestamps? Just because the computer says it knows when i fueled doesnt mean it does. That's why they give you a margin of error.

 

Why would you log washing your hands on line 4? If you want to log 30 minutes on 4 for fuel then you can be my guest. Sometimes I have logged 30 minutes for a fuel stop but if you fuel and then grab a bite to eat or take a dook, that would be on line 1.

Let me throw this scenario at you so it's perfectly clear. I pull into the fuel island at 15:57. I fuel and hang up the nozzle at 16:07. then I go and park the truck and go inside and get a bite to eat. I get back to the truck at 16:53 and I update my logbook and continue driving on into the night or whatever.

How do I log that? From 16:00-16:15 on line 4 as FUEL. From 16:15-17:00 line 1. From 17:00 to whenever I log line 3 until I stop for the night or drop off/pickup whatever.

Is that clear to you now?

 

how's your back feelin?

Exactly. How did we ever end up wasting our time arguing with steering wheel holders about this?

I don't care. Give me a ticket! I've never gotten a ticket for that. I also refuse to log line 4 for sitting in line for 4 hours at a guardshack. (I grab my computer and get on the intarwebz!)

I don't pull on the slack adjusters, no. I check everything else. I spend about 4 of those 5 minutes crouched down, only takes a minute to check the sides of the trailer, etc.

LOL, flag a fuel stop? Meh, it wouldn't apply for me anyway.If i'm stopping, i'm stopping, and i'm going to be off the road for atleast 15 minutes.

Uh, I don't note on my log that i ate, but i sure don't waste my line 4 or line 3 time while im eating, so i go to line 1. I have written some really smart ### remarks on my logbook in the past though.

But i'm in the sleeper.... I'm just sayin' though. I don't do that. The worst i do is sit on hold with werner for hours while im logged line 1, but i multi task and do whatever i want for that time...so that doesnt count.

LOL, ok.

Why the hell are we discussing this?