log book problems

The log book is a legal document that can help you or hurt you depending on how you use it. Believe me, when there's an accident they will go over the log book to see if you're legal in your driving. If you're not then your guilty no matter what. The lawyers will say you were too tired and the accident could have been avoided.

I remember years ago when a gasoline tanker broke the pintle hook and the trailer flipped over killing a young girl. That court case went on for years trying to find cause. They went over what the driver did before, during, and after work. They did their best to put blame on him so the family could get money. No stone was not overturned. So if you want to lie or falsify your log book don't be surprised when you're found guilty when maybe you weren't.

 

I was always taught to log it as you do it for example lets say im in the sleeper birth and I do my 10 hours of rest then I would go to on duty and do 15 minute PTI. then I would go to driving I stopped at lets say 10:30 pm now I know I can legally drive 11 more at 8:30 right? just subtract 2 from the time you stopped..example (10:30-2=8:30 am) so as I stopped at 10:30 I would go to line 1 (off duty) until 11:00 and then go to line 2 sleeper. recaps are not that hard man once you get use to it. just add lines 3 and 4 and put it on your recap sheet then subtract that from 70 hours and that is how many hours you got available tommorrow. Are you could just do what the high tech truckers do and get a log program I actually do have a program called logpak you can just google that if you want its kinda cool it does it all for you.

 

just starting out then drive 10 on and 10 off use the 11th hour for showers and eating that way u wont be in violation and always try to start at the same time everyday as much as possible this is one of the many ways to run legally just always remember that all must be accomplished within the 14 hrs that includes driving and sleeping and fueling and anything else that may come up good luck

 

No you just can't drive after the 14th hour of being on duty.

 

Many drivers are not aware that you can be on line 4 past your 14th hour.
This means you can drive up to the 14th hour and then do your post-trip inspection, fuel, load, unload, repairs etc and you will not be in violation. You will be in violation if you do not take a consecutive 10 hour break and drive again. Unless of course you are split breaking.

I hope this helps you at some point in your career to know this information.

 

I was wondering if I could have used this info. I got a log letter because I logged that I docked at like the 17th hr, then drove to the other side of the place and parked. The driving part got me. I am also wondering if then I can drive to the 14th, pull into the fuel island and park as line 4. Everyone keeps saying well you are driving even though a drop n hook is mostly driving then aint it?

 

If the driving time is less than 10 minutes (e.g. leaving the fuel island to park), I never log it as line 3, I just stay on line 4. Even if I load at a place and drive a block up the street to park at a truck stop.

In fact, if anything takes less than ten minutes, I either don't log it or I just flag it (e.g. drop-n-hook, I just log it as driving there, draw a line down to four to say I swapped trailers and where, then keep drawing on line 3 without taking up time on line four).

 

On-duty time does not come off your available 11 hours of driving.

You have 14 hours to get your 11 hours of driving in, therefore you already have 3 hours to take showers, eat, fuel and so on.

Some driver believe if they are on line 1,2 or 4 that is coming out of their 11 hours of driving when it is not.

 

During a DOT audit they usually give you 1 hour lee-way, now on the road they usually give 30 minute lee-way. Just keep in mind the fact if you get in an accident, there usually is no lee-way! Tricky situation but be safe!