Off duty Driving on paper logs

The guidance says you would be on duty if you were called at home and dispatched . Contrary to what many believe you are still off duty driving back to the terminal if you haven't been dispatched .

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regu...fmcsr/fmcsrruletext.aspx?reg=395.8&guidence=y

 

After all of the threads trying to beat this into folk's heads, I hope this finally puts the off duty driving thing to rest. Paranoia can be an ugly condition.

 

A couple of weeks ago I had a pickup in South Carolina that I was unable to pick up until the morning. The closest truckstops were about 50 miles away. Needing to conserve hours, I logged myself ending the day in the town the shipper was in, drove to the truckstop while logged off duty, in the AM, drove back to the shipper while logged off duty, went down to line 4, got loaded, and started my day from the point I checked in. I figured being empty I could argue the personal conveyance point as I was empty. Bending the rules I know but it worked out.

 

Acceptable by the FMCSA but not by some carrier safety departments . Did you fill out the DVIR before going off duty to the truckstop and the pretrip back at the shipper after going on duty ?

 

well i would log it driving and when i return to trailer logging it i would throw those two pages away and make it look like i never left problem solved

 

Yep. I pretty much logged it as if i stayed at the shipper overnight, just leaving time off duty to cover the driving.My carrier pretty much leaves those kinds of judgement calls to us. As long as its legal its considered acceptable by our safety department. .

 

I wish QC had had a safety department like that . They didn't have a clue how to interpret regulations and had a "because we say so " attitude when their misinterpretations were questioned .

 

Off-Duty driving is simple: If you're advancing a load (any cargo being hauled in ANY direction) or advancing toward your next load, is on-duty driving. Anything when you're empty or bobtail that you're moving for your own personal reasons and not because of freight, then you can log personal conveyance.

In the end, you have to be the one to justify it if someone asks. If you deliver in NYC and already know where you're picking up, you technically need to log Line 3. However, if you're out of hours, you can't really do a reset in NYC (at least not usually), so running across the bridge to the Vince Lombardi on Line 1 when empty is probably not going to raise any eyebrows. Even if you already knew your pick up was in NJ. You moved there for personal reasons. The fact your load was in that general vicinity is negated by the fact you moved to the first, safe, legal spot you could park your rig. You couldn't drive to say, Bordentown looking for parking. Regardless the time of day or night.

Also, if your company ALWAYS sends you from one stop to another, advancing before they dispatch that next load would be Line 3 as well. Say you always deliver to Buffalo, and they always reload you out of Erie, like clockwork. You can't drive down to Harborcreek to wait for your load assignment while being Line 1 Off-Duty driving. You have historical knowledge that this is what they'll do.

Now, for locals, if you get personal use of the truck as your means of transportation to/from work, then it's no different than you using your personal vehicle. If you report to the point of origin, you can log both ways off-duty. For instance, you show up at your terminal. Fuel, drop your trailer, do your post trip, file your paperwork, etc, you're now off-duty. You can legally log back Line 1 to return to your point of origin. Now, if you show up at your terminal and take an empty trailer with you home, and they send you straight from home to the pick-up, then you're Line 3 on the way out. If you still have to return to the terminal, but tugged an empty with you, then it's Line 3 back as well, because you took the empty anticipating work but had to return to the terminal to get it.

It's all in what you're using the truck for, and whether you're loaded or not. If you're loaded, it's always Line 3. No matter what reason you're moving.

 

There is absolutely nothing in FMCSR to support your comments here . It doesn't matter if you have an empty trailer or not . Going home is off duty if you haven't been assigned a load and so is going back to the terminal if you haven't been assigned a load .
Same coming out of NYC . Nothing says you have to stop at the nearest stop .
Don't bother disputing unless you have a link to a FMCSA site supporting your comments .