My company wants me to request two inspections at weigh stations

OK, I'm 45 minutes from home with 23 minutes on the clock. I am empty going home before heading out for the next run. Can I PC home?

 

Just based on the way I see the guidance I see nothing wrong with it. Just based on my own personnel policy I would NOT drive that far PC. I really rather not be in a position of depending on a cop to understand PC and even in court later.

 

How far is too far?. That is the problem. There needs to be a set distance/time laid out if they are going to nail drivers for driving a certain distance.

Personal Conveyance should be as the name suggests, driving for personal use. If I am on a 34 hr break and want to go eat and shop. If my favorite restaurant is 200 miles away it shouldn't matter (to the DOT) how far I choose to go as long as I return to the point of origin.

 

Suppose you're just "in between" things...parked bobtail at a shopping mall and you see there's a Texas Roadhouse 12 miles away, you PC over and have a great meal, but oh wait, just as your finishing up your delicious dessert dispatch calls, "Hey we got a hot one, can you run over to Main Street USA and grab this load?", 52 miles away from the diner. You PC'd over to the diner 12 miles, now you're not going to PC back to the spot you were at 12 miles in your mirror just to go 52 miles in the next direction are you? That's just downright ridiculous. Didn't the FMCSA have listening sessions? Were they not listening? Some of these rules and interpretations are just plain stupid and unrealistic and do not fit into real world situations.

 

You won't get a violation (unless enforcement is a complete Richard) if you can properly articulate that. At least, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

I'd be able to articulate it, but would Richard be able to comprehend it? That's the problem.

 

He will or he won't... I wouldn't worry about it.

I do the best that I can with what is in my control.

 

No.

 

“A driver runs out of hours in an unsafe location to park their truck. The drivers goes off-duty at that point and moves under personal conveyance to the NEAREST safe parking spot where they would remain off-duty. That would be a valid use of personal conveyance.”

Off duty pc to the nearest safe haven is allowed. I95 N in Connecticut after NYC. If there’s a Blizzard or major accident, you wouldn’t be able to find parking until you get to Mass. You could park at the ramps on Connecticut service areas, but from my experience; Police will wake you up because of the snow plows.

“If the carrier allows it, drivers can commute from home to their terminal and from their terminal to home in their CMV under personal conveyance, as long as that move is not on-duty and does not advance the load. Keep in mind that leaving home to drive directly to the pickup location would typically be considered “advancing the load” and would be done while on-duty, and not under personal conveyance. Similarly, after dropping off a load the driver would typically still be on-duty while returning to their terminal, and again not under personal conveyance.”

Off duty pc can be used to commute to and from home. It only becomes a problem when you take the load home and use off duty pc. This is why I’m against the “take the load home” rule. I’d suggest to just take a week off, for company drivers.

 

Their example of valid use of personal conveyance has nothing to do with actual personal conveyance.