Went over my 14 1.5 hours

"Safe haven" as a term is only used in the regulations to describe a legal parking place for certain HM loads. It has nothing to do with being out of legal driving time. Neither does the acronym "PC" which gets thrown around in these conversations as well. Yes, split sleeper berth provision can help drivers get more out of their day, but again, I'm only responding to Boardhaulers request for where to find "safe haven" in the regs as it relates to being out of legal driving time. It's not there. Not partially, but wholly not there.

 

I-5 covers almost 1400 miles...

 

You should have probably found a way to stay at the closed scale. Have done some large loads over the years and when all else fails we have parked a large load in the by-pass lane and had the scale master come out and ask us about parking when we noted our situation with hos and our 14 hr clock they have been pretty forgiving for us following the rules as set out. There are some violations if you get pulled into a scale and likely you are going to hear from your safety department for exceeding the 14 hrs. With large awkward loads you have to do far more trip planning in advance because you really never know what you are going to run into out there and have to have a number of options available to you.

If the area that you were travelling is known for heavy traffic and accidents at anytime of the day that should have been taken into account before you left. In high traffic area's traffic is not an excuse for going over 11 hrs of driving and well there is no excuse for the 14 hr violation in the law. If you were far enough North and in Canada you could have taken a 2 hr break and extended your day out to 16 hrs but since I am assuming you were still in the US you are stuck with the 14 hr clock.

As long as you are not doing this as a regular thing nothing much other then a note on it is likely.

 

Thank you Grumpy, I may not be out there driving with you folks- but the original poster' situation is exactly what the "Exception" rule is there for in my opinion and i wouldn't be worried about using it.
Your not criminals, your drivers if the rules can be used against you they can also be used for you.

 

I remember one time I was over an hr on my 11 due to bumper to bumper traffic.I pull into a closed weigh sta an officer said I couldn't park there but he was one of the nicest Viginia officers I ever met.He took me to a seven eleven a mile down the road,blocked the street so I could back in and asked if I needed anything.I followed him with his cherry lites on,that was kind of neat,lol.

 

[QUOTE="Hang - Man";4131366]Thank you Grumpy, I may not be out there driving with you folks- but the original poster' situation is exactly what the "Exception" rule is there for in my opinion and i wouldn't be worried about using it.
Your not criminals, your drivers if the rules can be used against you they can also be used for you.[/QUOTE]

The exemption is narrow in scope and on a case by case basis when evaluated. The driver drove for 4.5 hrs in this situation was there no place along the way that he could have possibly stopped before he violated any rules if the answer is yes then the exemption applies. From the drivers own words he did not realize why traffic was backed up. Only really 2 reason the area he was traveling in is known for high traffic or 2 driver didn't take steps to find cause of traffic slow down.

 

Maverick i dont want to pick every word Calregon typed or its meaning apart, I have to assume by his post HE/She did everything that was possible to find a place to park within the legal time short of whipping the wheel left into the median or right into a cornfield to safely park when his/hers clock struck the 11 hour drive mark.
And by the way i am not saying you are wrong -just that in Calregon particular situation he/she had to do what they had to do.
I would also have to assume Calregon doesn't do this twice a week and will maybe be more attentive to what could happen and just do a better job at it next time.
Remember that Calregon had 70 foot long poles as a load which i would think that would double the chances of "Not" finding a safe haven to stop at.
All i am saying is, it surely is not something i would lose sleep over if the exact situation happened to me and i did everything i could do to park safely but couldn't.
But just out of curiosity, has anyone used this exemption and received any sort of punishment by the DOT by using this exemption ?

 

I never have and I have used it alot to get off a customers property

 

I have always thought there was a seeking safe haven rule that gives you 30 minuets longer to drive. What I would do with paper logs is show your break back at the weight station you tried to stop at. Then just back yourself up in the morning showing you left there at say 9am then leave where you are at then at 10am. Problem solved log looks good and is legal. Just sayin