Completely empty, headed to residence, on PC

My two most recent inspections: one towards the end of 2019 and early 2020 showed my PC - ing home for about an hour and a change - without which the logs would have shown 14 hour violation. On both occasions, the cops were more focused on whether or not I had the ELD instruction manual and spare paper log sheets than the very content. Most likely, they did not know what to make of it or did not see it as a big deal - in the comment section I wrote: relieved from job duties until further notice, proceeding to rest at home. Yes, I wanted to PC home, because the alternative was to stay at a truck stop for 10 hours and wait till wee hours before proceeding.

The funny thing is that prior to ELDs I had not heard about such a thing as PC...This PC thing must have been the invention of mega carriers, who get their ELDs earlier that tried to find an easy way of sending their drivers home. Yard moves, and then motion detection thresholds set for over 25 mph or more must have been their invention too.

 

I really don't care too much regarding anecdotes of LEOs not dinging you for something, and this proves you're right.

I seldom get pulled onto the static at the wb I94 scale in indiana, and Friday at 3 pm was no exception. However, my heavy steer axle earned an inspection. I handed him my logbook like a boss and asked for his opinion regarding which lane to make a right turn, https://www.thetruckersreport.com/t...ake-a-right-turn.315766/page-210#post-5649854 I got a clean inspection and I thanked the almighty that he didn't notice I ran out of drive time 15 minutes before the scale! Shall we take that as proof that it's legal to drive after 14 hours?

 

Going over 14 while on duty is definitely a violation but taking PC while relieved from duty, not so much or it is at least debatable. Even more debatable is where I actually go on PC. Some here say that going home may not be but going home from a terminal is - per guidance, which most likely was a result of a Safety God making a statement on a whim at some conference, and now it is written in stone.

You interpret a vague rule the way you interpret it, most likely to your own advantage and at your own risk, hopefully with a common sense and then you don't use it frivolously and too often. You may still deal with some objections later OR you can be a 100% "safe" and stay there at that TA in Gary, IN for 10 hours in the middle of a day every time you got 1 hour or less left on your clock.

 

I don't think it is really vague. BUT is more for the O/o vs the company guy. As a company guy. Home is home. Has nothing to do with work. So when you head home from the terminal it can be PC. For the O/o, unless they own a commercial site, home is their business as well as home. So PC to go home is not valid. As you are going to your "terminal."

 

Let's see it from the angle of so called public safety. Whether it is a company driver going home from his terminal or an o/o proceeding home from a point of his choice and in both cases they do it after available driving hours were exhausted, they both pose the same risk or the lack of it to the public safety.
The concept of PC should be fairly straightforward, you use your truck for personal use, not business. Trying to define it in multiple ways, depending on various circumstances makes it vague.
From the very concept of HOS serving the public safety, all driving after hours should be forbidden.

In cases of going over the hours, there should be no masking but annotations by a driver e.g.
"Blizzard", "No po parking at the shipper", "Shopping at Walmart", "break down", "truck stop parking full",
"Home just an hour away"
Then a person with authority would sanction it as a justified excess of driving or as frivolous and abusive.

 

If you plan on getting your next load from home and not traveling back to Charlotte then you would be repositioning your CMV which isn't PC. It doesn't matter if your next load isn't booked yet or not to the DOT, as it's literally one of the major listed bullet points of what is NOT considered proper use of PC. Also, to travel home, your combined hours of the work completed that day and the commute home must still fall within regulations required for adequate rest. You can't work a full 14 hour shift then PC home.

 

Where do you get that? PC has essentially always been using the truck as a POV. Yes guidance has changed to understand laden driving as well as trying to find parking after being detained at a shipper past the point you had hours to drive.

You get to the yard out of hours, you drive your POV home. Don't have a car? PC the truck home. Where does it say you can't do that?

 

On their website.

Commuting between the driver’s terminal and his or her residence, between trailer-drop lots and the driver’s residence, and between work sites and his or her residence. In these scenarios, the commuting distance combined with the release from work and start to work times must allow the driver enough time to obtain the required restorative rest as to ensure the driver is not fatigued.

 

But that does not preclude him from driving PC, after 14 or 11 have expired.

 

The last thing I want is bureaucrats writing rules about exact hours and mileage we can run. You know whatever they come up with most drivers will be unhappy and doing that defeats the purpose of having Personal Conveyance. Complain all you want about some of PC being a grey area but it's supposed to be a grey area, if it weren't then all we're doing is extending the HoS cluster for another couple of hours.