Need help checking a drivers log book!

Answers:
1. In my state you have to scale loaded or empty, including bobtails.
2. Another poster has already listed the ONLY two authorized uses of Personal Conveyance -
- commuting to and from home and the "normal work reporting location" - doesn't have to be a terminal
- driving empty from "enroute lodgings" to things like restaurants "in the vicinity" - vicinity usually means the same city.
Any other driving is line 3 - driving.

FMCSA is working on some guidance to clarify and codify PC, but it is not out yet.

 

Not under dispatch - must be "off duty"
Not under load - must be "unladen"
Headed home/hotel - to and from "enroute lodgings" to restaurants "in the vicinity" or to and from home and the "regular work reporting location".
Distance not clarified - FMCSA is said to be coming out with distance guidelines, none yet

 

I'm sure you could...but what happened next would likely be very unpleasant on your end.

 

JJ Keller has the best explanation of personal conveyance and distance.

Question 26 of the interpretations for 49 CFR Section 395.8 discusses its use:

Question: If a driver is permitted to use a CMV for personal reasons, how must the driving time be recorded?

Guidance: When a driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work, time spent traveling from a driver's home to his/her terminal (normal work reporting location), or from a 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 en route terminals or motels) to restaurants in the vicinity of such lodgings may be considered off-duty time. The type of conveyance used from the terminal to the driver's home, from the driver's home to the terminal, or to restaurants in the vicinity of en route lodgings would not alter the situation unless the vehicle is laden [i.e., loaded]. A driver may not operate a laden CMV as a personal conveyance. The driver who uses a motor carrier's CMV for transportation home, and is subsequently called by the employing carrier and is then dispatched from home, would be on-duty from the time the driver leaves home. A driver placed out of service for exceeding the requirements of the hours of service regulations may not drive a CMV to any location to obtain rest.

Only two situations are specifically covered in the interpretation:

• A driver’s commute to and from the terminal (normal work location)
• Short personal trips from a driver’s en route lodging.

Using the information that is in the interpretation above and in the definition of “on duty” and the corresponding interpretation found in Section §395.2, the following conditions of personal conveyance can be extrapolated.

• The vehicle must be unladen.
• Movement is of a “short” distance solely for personal use.
• The driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work.
• The driver is relieved of all duty and responsibility for the care and custody of the vehicle, its accessories, and any cargo or passengers it may be carrying.
• The driver must be at liberty to pursue activities of his/her own choosing.
• No work should be done until the driver is ready to return to duty.

What about …

Fueling? Any time spent fueling a CMV or doing any other type of conditioning or servicing of the vehicle must be recorded as “on duty” time, even if it’s the weekend and the driver used the “personal conveyance” exception to take the truck home. This is especially true given that the “conditioning” and at least some of the fuel will likely be used for a business purpose, unless the driver can argue that the whole tank was used for personal conveyance.

The 10-hour break? As suggested above, time spent driving “off duty” will count as part of a driver’s consecutive 10-hour break. For example, if a driver commutes home in a CMV for 2 hours, rests for 6 hours, and then commutes back to work for 2 hours, it would count as a valid 10-hour break, as odd (and dangerous) as that may seem. Again, this is based on the fact that there are no restrictions on what a driver can do during his or her off-duty time, as long as the driver is truly “off duty.”

Authorization? It is ultimately the company’s responsibility to authorize or not authorize personal use of the company’s CMVs, although the Department of Transportation does not require written authorization. Motor carriers should check with their insurers to discuss coverage issues, and have policies and training in place so drivers know exactly when they can use company CMVs for personal conveyance.

Personal Conveyance and the ELD Mandate

Personal Conveyance is mentioned in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) final rule, “Electronic Logging Devices and Hours of Service Supporting Documents,” which was published on December 16, 2015, mandating ELDs for most drivers of CMVs that currently log.

The rule says that ELDs may be set up to allow drivers to put themselves in a special driving category called “personal use.” When a driver selects this option, the ELD will record the time as off duty until the driver de-selects the option.

The FMCSA didn’t set a threshold of distance or time, but officials can and will use the data from the ELD to determine whether the special category was appropriately used by the driver.


I think that covered about all the questions I saw....Here is the webpage: What is personal conveyance?

 

So what about guys like me who sometimes use my truck as my own personal motorhome? I often take hometime at my folks house in GA and will drop my trailer there.

I live in Alabama though and usually split my time between Georgia and Alabama. Although I do have a car I leave in GA, a lot of times I just take my truck because it’s easier on me and my dog when we have all of our stuff with us.

 

Despite you thinking of it as your personal motorhome, it is still a truck and a commercial vehicle.

If you are commuting empty between home/lodgings (relatives, etc) and the "normal work reporting location" - like a daily commute - then you can use PC, even though you are driving your truck. This is something that can be seen in your previous logs as a repeatable operation. Repeated commuting between two locations.

If you are advancing location from the last drop to the next load, that is not PC, it is line 3 driving.