Hours of service questions and answers

"I think it should be the same as every other job... 40 hours/week, time and a half after that and the same minimum wage. Nobody would want to break the law then!"

Sounds like socialism to me.

I've had several jobs where I was expected to be available or on site BUT the company didn't want me to log as on duty. One company had me pick up a trailer in Atlanta, drop it in Nashville, then wait for a trailer to be loaded in Nashville and get it to Dallas. The load in Nashville took 5 hours to load. The company was very strict in wanting your logs to be legal and match your fuel receipts.

So, I took the load, got to Little Rock and shut down for my sleeper time. When asked why I did so, I said look at my dispatch and look at my logs. I told the company they need to decide which direction was the priority.

As to an increase in pay, it would be impossible to get the pay to catch up with inflation. Fifty years ago an OTR truck driver was one of the highest paid blue collar worker. Today, the majority of the OTR drivers make $10/hr or less when you consider how much time is actually "on duty". Why has the pay scale not kept up? Because of the endless flow of new blood into a saturated industry. The only way to make a change for the better (safety, HOS, pay) is to put a freeze on new drivers, weed out those with a poor driving history, and put in place a certification process that keeps close tabs on the remainder. This will never happen because it would create class action suits for descrimination.

Face it - the industry is broken and it ain't going to get better.

 

And..... (I'm sure it's been said here before, but I haven't seen it) - the best thing everyone could do is log legit and stop giving the carriers nice and tidy paperwork, when in reality, you're working.

When you're sitting outside a grocery warehouse, patiently waiting for your name and door number to come over the CB, that's not "off duty or sleeper time". You can't fall into a deep sleep, you'll miss your door.

I've seen (and done, so my soapbox is flimsy), years and years of us making it work on paper, but in real life, it's not the case.

And this industry has evolved into what it is because we allowed it. The Feds can change the hours of service a billion times in the next handful of years, and drivers and carriers will find a workaround to get the freight there.

As the hours tighten up and electronic logs get more popular (or mandated), watch the team operations sprout up like dandelions.

 

When a driver is doing "local" runs.. and they are filling out a log book, can they log the entire day under "On duty, not driving"?? Even though they are driving? I'm really confused when I read the description in FMCSA..

Thanks for any help..

 

Maybe I'm in the wrong thread.. still new to this.. any help is appreciated

 

Normally the only time OTR drivers would stay "on duty not driving" is if they were making multiple deliveries in the same city. Otherwise they would change their duty status to show driving when they are traveling between different cities or towns and then back on duty not driving when they are actually making a pickup or delivery.

I believe local drivers may travel up to 100 miles (air radius) from their home terminal without having to fill out a logbook. This is for the guys that actually go home every day though.

Sometimes OTR drivers are asked to run "local" for a couple of days by their carrier to help out but I believe they would still have to fill out a logbook.

 

My theory on this is that trucking is probably safer and easier than it was fiftly years ago, making it so more people are capable/willing to do it. I used to work in a factory and when guys would howl about making a job easier or safer I warned them to be careful what they wish for. Dangerous and difficult jobs pay more than easy and safe ones, as they should. Put everyone back into fifty year old trucks on the roads of fifty years ago and watch the flood of new blood go away.

 

Hypothetical situation; After a ten plus hour sleeper/off duty break, I go on duty for 1/2 hour, then into the sleeper for 8 hours. I then run to my driving and/or on duty limits and then take my two hour break. At this point, are my 11/14 hour clocks reset?

 

No.
When running a split sleeper the 11/14 hour clocks are never reset, just the start of measurement point changes.

In your example when you finished your 8 hr sleeper, you had 11 hr drive and 13 1/2 hrs of your 14 left. If you ran your 11 hr drive straight thur, then went into the sleeper for 2 hrs, you would have 0 drive time available and only 3 hrs of on duty time.

Ken

 

I'm curious to see the responses to this.

 

Sorry, let me clarify. What if I stop short of 11 hours driving by 15 minutes then took my 2 hour break? It looks like the 8 hour sleeper break doesn't count against the 11/14 clock then the 2 hour break resets the 11/14 clock as long as you haven't run completely out of driving or on duty time in between the two breaks.