E-logs

Elogs have nothing to do with being a good or bad driver. Its all about being compliant.

 

Honestly, you plan your day correctly like I see you have, you won't have any problems. Just remember, if you start and stop at the same place everyday, you can use the 16 hour exception if need. I think you'll be fine. Just remember we are all humans, it's in our nature to resist change. We all love our comfort zone, hate to come out of it.

 

That's something I wouldn't worry about either, I know Paw paw means well, but realistically, working on the otherside of the fence as well, never had the time to sit there looking at what our drivers were doing. Had too many other things to do. If a driver was brought to our attention by more than one complaint, then we monitored. He's right every gauge you see we see. Again I used it to my advantage. With that information I have managed to reduce idle time and increase fuel mileage. Found the best sweet spot for speed verses mpgs. 62-63mph. Agian, approach it positively and use it to your benefit.

 

LOL ! Ya , the 4- wheelers need an auto guidance system , to keep them between the lines , they're so busy with their texting , phone calls , latest videos , makeup , etc , they just don't have time to steer their car. They cause 85% of the accidents , and we're the ones the Cops focus on.
The co. I lease to , is so afraid of the Government , they will do anything the Feds tell them to , without a whimper.
And , yes , when I leased on , the safety girl brought up a truck , traveling down I-59 , in Al. , he was traveling 68 MPH , and in the middle of a lane change . On the computer screen , there was a little representation of his truck, going down the big road , complete with little white lines. Scary.
With us , a shipper or reciever uses up all our time , then tells us to get off the property, we can travel to the nearest safe haven , but no further. And , yes , when that happens , we can create a remark , on the Blackberry , saying what happened. It goes into your file. DOT regularly audits our Logs , and they wanna see Everything. We're kinda under the Gun. We're a Haz-Mat carrier, so they tend to be pretty rough on us.
I don't know the other systems that are out there , just ours. My Blackberry is tied , by Bluetooth , to the trucks ECM , and if I carry it out of range , the darn thing freaks out. I do know they now have versions for other phones , but , why would I wanna mess my phone up , with their software?
if your co. Is just starting , it'll probably be OK, at least for awhile. We have guys who still try to outsmart the elogs , using personal conveyance , and such. Co. is on to that trick , and they're cracking down hard on it.

 

just remember, now that you are on e-logs, you can drive past your 11 and 14 hours so you can make it back to the truck stop......




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The qualcomm I ran last year got me out of a speeding ticket since it showed I was doing 56 in a 55 mph construction zone. They showed me at 66 in a 55.

You have to manage your time in the e-log I felt more than you do in paper. I was always setting my duty status because it was automatically just putting me to "on-duty". Try to get them to set the "minimum time" interval to less than 5 minutes. Two I thought would be best. IE, you stop for a rest area, you can leave after 2 minutes of being in "Off-duty" If you don't, it will keep you in "driving" for the entire stop or force you to stop longer than you want to make a "minimum time". Our company was 5 minutes to allow you to change a duty status.


Another way I have never been able to figure out to log is multi-stops in a single area. If you make 5 stops in metro area, you can "block log" it on paper. You just have to notate it in the remarks. Elogs won't let you do that. You'll have so many up and downs in the graph it'll make your head spin. Again, you'll get into that "minimum time" interval. Don't let it get too big.

Pay attention also to what speed and distance they have it set to automatically push you to driving. Could come back to haunt you on a 34 hour reset on the road or moving around a shipper/consignee.I'd say set the speed to 20 mph and the distance to 1.5 or 2 miles. Ours was set to 5 mph and 1/4 mile. At Kraft, you could drive 1/4 mile on the facility in Champaign alone. Are you really driving? or are you "on-duty" just moving from the holding area to the dock?

 

This is where the variance comes in, with PeopleNet we have no minimum times for any event to be logged. Speed is not a factor in changing duty status, just distance. With that being said it's important to know exactly how your system will be set up, otherwise you'll run into issues. Things you're going to want to know are, when does the auto change of duty status switch you to driving, and what determines it, speed, geolocation, odometer... How long until the auto change of duty status changes you to on duty, number of minutes before an auto change and what other factors may effect that change, like anything less than 3 minutes doesn't change a duty status. Are you able to edit your own logs or will the company control that. Will they allow you off duty PC, how many miles of PC will you get? These should be your starter questions, then as you experience things in real life ask, or just push the limits and learn from it.