Do you run illegal on your logs?

Thanks for the reply. I must have been thinking of the unexpected weather exception. I knew there was something that allowed for extra time in unusual circumstances.

I did log it as I did it, but didn't put any remark. I guess that would help if I got pulled into an inspection. That was the first time I had ever seen a trooper waking up drivers like that. I can understand they must be upset, but they're liable to cause more wrecks like that. When I crossed the line into Ohio, there was a truck rolled over in the median. Whatever it takes to get out of Indiana.

 

As of this date (5-14-07) nearly 50% of all drivers who have responded to this poll are logging illegally. This is a scary thought. I am a safety director for a major truckload carrier and I would hate to think that nearly half of our drivers are running "HOT". Although I'm not simpleminded enough to think every driver runs legally, I would have hoped that the percentage of these drivers is lower than 50%. Turning in a "legal" log and logging leaglly are two seperate issues that one would have hoped to be the same.

Many drivers and companies alike hate the new HOS regulations but in our own messed up way, we created this monster. I know that hindsight is 20/20, but if the drivers and companies would have strickly adhered to the "old" HOS regulations for the previous 40 years (before the change) I wonder if a change would have been required at all?

I've also wondered many times if the trucking industry created the shipper and consignee monsters that we continue to hear about everyday. Drivers being delayed hours and sometimes days at a time. By this I mean, if all drivers would correctly log their waiting times at these troubled locations as "on-duty not driving" (as defined by the FMCSR), then these shippers/consignees would be forced to alter their practices and change the way they do business because every driver would not have the available hours to complete a trip. I recall a meeting with one of our major customers approximately 3 months prior to the change and the operations manager wasn't aware that a major overhaul of the HOS regulations was about to take place. He didn't seemed too worried about it either.

The bottom line is that the purpose of the HOS regulations are to keep fatigued drivers off the road. Like it or not you, your company and I have not only the legal obligation to be in compliance but also the moral obligation.

Everyone who travels our nation's highways are depending on you! Be careful out there. Be a professional.

 

The one thing that I have learned in my short trucking career.......if you log 100% legal, 100% of the time, you can make more money working Full Time at McDonalds. Sad, but true.

 

This just depends on the company and how they market themselves to their customers. There are many companies who operate and require their drivers to operate within the regulations and their drivers make a very handsome living. My wife's company is a great example of this. Their drivers average over $50,000 per year and home nightly. The one difference is that their drivers work their butts off within the limits of the regulations. They do a lot of "fingerprinting" but get paid nicely. She got a call recently from a driver who had ran out of hours just 10 miles from the terminal. Guess what? She went to pick him up and bring him back to the terminal.

The driver was disiplined enough to stop driving and call and the company was disiplined enough to say "sit tight and we'll be out to get ya!" Legally and morally he made the right call.

 

Forgive me, but I find this hard to believe.

 

Now, that is what I call service.

Couldn't ever imagine myself calling and telling someone I was out of hours and couldn't drive any further if I was only 10 miles away though.

 

Why can't you imagine yourself doing this?

 

Because common sense tells me that in the 10 minutes time it takes me to park my exit the highway, park my truck, and make my phone call, I could have covered that 10 miles and been where I was going.

Just seems a little silly to me

 

I generally get a 10 break...Just not the way I am supposed to.

I can't sleep more than 7 hours at a time. So I fudge a bit. I later take a nap, to recover the hours.

I can't answer the survey either. Because none of the answers would be true.

It's difficult for me to run extremely hard, without breaking up my 10 into a split. However, I can not break it into an 8/2. Even when I don't have to push a load. I still wind up breaking the law...per se. I find it difficult to simply waste time, when I feel alert enough to drive. Knowing full well, once I've eaten, I will have to have a short nap LOL

I will NOT move through a major city, unless my logbook is 100% legal. Or at least have the appearance of being legal.