Explain like I'm five the 10 hour break rule in the sleeper?

I simply asked this question. If a driver is in the sleeper (line2) and exits the sleeper to go to a restroom do they have to change their status to off duty (line1). Then I said this question was going to be used in an internet forum and asked for the name of the agent answering the question. Because this is a specific question there should be a specific answer. However the FMCSA is like every other part of government and is a huge bureaucracy hopefully they won't obfuscate the answer.

Edited to add I suspect this might take a while. I doubt the FMCSA has ever had to consider this kind of sleeper question. Any mod or admin that wants the question reference number PM me and I will provide it.

 

See you are asking the wrong ? and are complicating the answer.
The question should be '' is there any distinguishment between off duty and sleeper birth on a 10 hr break.
The other thing is we are arguing about RODS which means record of duty status which would seem to mean ON duty not OFF duty.

 

I have read this section almost to the point of it becoming ad nauseam. I know what it says but most importantly I know what it does not say.

NOWHERE in the above text is there those magic words ( DRIVER SHALL ) in relationship to (HOW) the 10 hours must be taken or logged, only that it MUST be done. Look at section (2) one more time. YOU MAY log 10 hours sleeper berth. A DOT officer does NOT have the right to any more information!

Then we come to this section.

I see no words in this section mandating that you actually be resting. It simply says resting. I could be in a sleeper with a lot lizard during this entire 10 hours and be perfectly legal to drive.

I am waiting on my answer. However I'm going to make this point as clearly as I can. You must be careful when you interpret rules and regulations and watch out for those words shall and must. I see NOWHERE in the FMCSA HOS rules that mandate changing status if you exit a sleeper. I mean clear language here. IF this language is absent you can not (just) make it up and apply it like this. The FMCSA regulations are almost as crazy confusing as IRS regs are. Then self interpreting the rules in the absence of clear specific language and guidance is reckless at best. I'm not an attorney that specializes in transportation law AND I am not a FMCSA agent. All I can go by is clear specific guidance and all of the rest of us is bound by this as well. On this topic THERE IS NONE, ZERO!

 

No I asked the correct question as it relates to the OPs question. It actually is very simple.

 

Pee in a bottle, #### in a bucket. Problem solved.

 

You're right, I think I was combining two concepts there--https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/dvs/forms-documents/Documents/CSA-BASIC-Factsheet-FatiguedDriving.pdf

 

Yeah it isn't rocket science.

I get parked, i am logging sleeper. I never played the off duty sleeper off duty sleeper,line game.

I was pulled into a western scale and I just spent three days idle waiting for a customer. The inspector noticed it was all sleeper and he said I had to leave at one point. I looked at him and said "I spent half my career in a cubical that was smaller than my sleeper, 16 hours a day with two quick breaks and a lunch and with major global roll outs of applications I was there for three days at a time, so yeah 72 hours in my sleeper isn't an issue for me." That ended the discussion.

 

The first and second regs in the code explain how to log off duty and sleeper. I suppose there are those who still need a bit more hand holding to understand the words on the page...

395.8(1) Off Duty. EXCEPT for time spent resting in a sleeper berth, a continuous line SHALL be drawn between the appropriate time markers to record the period(s) of time when the driver is not on duty...

395.8(2) Sleeper. A continuous line SHALL be drawn between the appropriate time markers to record the period(s) of time off duty resting in a sleeper berth....

So they tell you right there, log sleeper berth for all off duty time except when not in the sleeper berth and not on duty (then it shall be off duty), cannot get more simple than that geezh

 

You must stay in the sleeper for 10 hours. If I so much as hear a peep, I swear to God I am coming in there with a switch! How’s that?