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

And bring a federal marshal with you.

 

I think the only five year old who would know what a federal marshal is would be a young Chuck Norris?

 

I think people are forgetting to include the possible you might get onto traffic accident. That the only time it will matter if you log all sleeper berth or Off-Duty. You average D.O.T inspection it doesn't matter.

You get in a traffic accident and a bad one or fatality accident. They will go over everything you did looking for anything to prove you lie or did anything wrong. I have been told when it come to the court system they don't rule or say you not 100% responsible. You can be 20% responsible. So your 20% responsible for the bills or damages.

You don't want only log Off DUTY or Sleeper Berth all the time. Because they might find proof like credit card charges. They are looking for anything to prove you not 100% telling the truth and you don't follow or you disregard the law. If they can see proof you never log Sleeper Berth time it shows you don't follow the law and maybe you did not get enough sleep and maybe your tired. Since they can see you log and you never log Sleeper Berth time like your required by law. So maybe your 10% or 20% responsible for the accident and any damages.

 

Your doing it too. In this topic you can't fall back on that what happens later in an accident position like it is an Ace card in a poker game. The reason is there is no rule saying in clear language it is illegal to log this way. In such a lawsuit an illegal act must be established. An attorney that attempts a lawsuit based on how a trucker spends their offduty time will find the majority of US courts tossing the case.

 

How you spend your off duty time is part of a court case I think. Look at the Tracy Morgan/Walmart truck accident. The driver had 100% legal logs and he kill one person. They did no say, ok his log book was legal he is free to go. They wanted to know why he killed someone and did not slow down.

When they looked into what he did on his Off DUTY time they found he did not sleep. He was driving his personal car and doing stuff at his home all were 100% legal. They got him because he did not sleep for like 28 hours at the time of the accident. I bet Tracy Morgan and James Mcnair wish the Walmart driver got some sleep.

I think they do care what you do during your off duty time and sleeper berth time. When they have proof a driver is not telling the truth when you in an accident. If they can prove your not getting the sleep you claim or your driving tired because you did not sleep during your Off DUTY time. They got you, and it's not an accident anymore. It's a criminal act on our part.

 

Nope, The Walmart driver was cited for Vehicular Homicide and aggravated assault. NOT for an HOS form and manner violation. I agree the drivers lack of sleep was directly responsible for the accident. You need to learn the difference between improper and illegal. What this Walmart Driver did was improper and because of the crash opened himself and Walmart up to serious liability. However the not sleeping during off duty time was not then and still is not today illegal. Then I am going to ground this back to the point. There is NO rule that says in clear language (clear precise language) it is illegal to exit a sleeper to go potty without a change of status.

 

Driver are safe to potty and not log that or logging any combination of off duty and sleeper berth time like the law says. I would not log 10 hours Off DUTY or 10 hours Sleeper Berth all the time. I don't plan on cutting it so close on the law.

I did wonder how that Walmart driver got off so easy without any jail time. The difference between improper vs illegal would explain why. So drivers can log OFF DUTY all the time and not sleep and it's not illegal just like I was told in CDL school a long time ago, it's only improper if you are in the truck and actually sleeping, it not illegal. That would explain the D.O.T inspector theating me with Out of Service violation for logging 34 hours in sleeper. It is not illegal to sit in sleeper for 34 hours, only improper to log 34 hours in sleeper if you get out and eat or sit in the TV room all day at the truck stop. That's cutting it close on the laws

 

That Walmart driver was VERY foolish to drive like that. However I know that this happens all the time in America. So because he did not get any sleep during his so called break (improper) he got behind the wheel of a CMV exhausted (improper) then turned his truck into a dangerous weapon (ILLEGAL). This happens when drivers are talking or texting too. As to that 10 hours in the sleeper. It goes back to how the driver wants to log and what his company requires. This has been my position from the start of this debate and all the others in this forum.

 

I just got an email from another member here asking me about this in relation to §395.8.

This does NOT mean you can't use the SB option or log on line 2 ONLY if in the sleeper for the full 10 or that you must change your status to (Off Duty) if exiting the sleeper.

I was pondering this some last night and then then after several hours looking ( I was also looking for other things as well) I found my logs for 2011 where I had a breakdown at a company terminal in Ohio. I saw where I was on line 2 for about 6 hours because I was actually sleeping. Then I went right from line 2 to line 1 after the breakdown because I left my tractor and checked into a hotel. This is the only time I can remember changing my status like that. I never had any issues and to be honest I guess over the years my logs were looked at by DOT at least a thousand times all across the country.

 

Well, at least when you stick your head in the sand you will not pull it out for any reason, no matter how wrong you are, Kinda amazing to be o stubborn in the face of such overwhelming evidence including the actual law.
There is no doubt in my mind you were a truck driver. Only a truck driver can be that self delusional...