Bobtailing (personal conveyance) = Offduty

No you are off duty when you park your bobtail at your home. Some companies offer an extra line in elogs though as personal conveyance where you can bobtail and it is not logged. It would be better to ask safety if your company offers that than a bunch of super truckers.

 

Guidance expressed in JJ Keller publications suggests what you would be doing could be logged as off duty. It is a widely held interpretation, but I have not been able to indentify the chapter and verse. Also interpretations among law enforcement is inconsistant.
Complicating matters are the many company policies that offer conflicting permissions ranging from not allowed at all(my own company) to various time/mileage location limits.

 

Unless you are an O/O, everything you do has to do with company policy. Some companies will require you to do stuff, regardless to whether D.O.T. requires it or not.

 

Probably should have been asked in the "Ask an Owner/Operator" section or something, if we're disregarding company policies and not determining which companies are good or bad based on bobtailing policy. If you're an O/O, can you treat your truck as a personal vehicle when bobtailling?

 

as long as your unladen, [h=2]How does "personal use" of a commercial motor vehicle need to be recorded?[/h]If a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) driver uses a CMV for personal conveyance, the time may be recorded as "off duty" if certain conditions are met. If a driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work, time spent traveling from the driver's home to his/her terminal (normal work reporting location), or from the driver's terminal to his/her home, may be considered off-duty time. Similarly, time spent traveling short distances from a driver's en-route lodgings (such as terminals or motels) to restaurants in the vicinity of such lodgings may be considered off-duty time. Drivers may not, however, operate a laden CMV as a personal conveyance. Also, a driver placed out of service for violating the hours-of-service regulations may not drive a CMV to any location to obtain rest.

 

^^^^To OP: If you were dropping an empty trailer on the yard to go home, your PC time could have began when you started towards the terminal. Key is, you have to be resolved from all responsibilities...meaning, you can't be under dispatch for your next load.

 

In my interpretation, If dropping a trailer at a terminal you can start PC after dropping, to and from home. That being said, on your way to terminal you are under dispatch to take the trailer there and thus must be driving.

Not the word terminal is also subject to interpretation. If you drop a trailer at a receiver then bobtail home can you use PC? IMO, you can't since the reciver is not a terminal, although that word is very subject to interpretation and you would probably get away with it. IMO you cant use PC if on the way to a shipper (even if from home) since you are under dispatch to go there. If going to the last place you dropped your trailer, your not under dispatch until you get there and thus i think you could use it. IMO you can't use PC for any reason while loaded.

IMO tripple 6 is wrong since you are not resolved of all responsibilities if under dispatch to the terminal. (empty or loaded) If the company tellyou to drop the trailer at terminal, they are dispatching you tot he terminal.

petercarKajun wrote the regulation, so, you can interpret it however you want.

 

I am on ELogs and when I drop my trailer and bobtail home that doesn't stop my Elogs from recording drive time automatically. It really doesn't matter, I never seen a bobtail get pulled over unless he was really breaking the traffic laws. I pass the police all of the time when going home since it is near a police station and they pretend I am invisible.