34 hours = The Law or Optional ?

In this case, what is stopping you is the simple fact you are out of hours. I know this subject is more like calling 12 eggs a dozen. I used to drive on the old HOS rules 10 hours driving, NO 14-hour clock, and NO 34 hour reset provisions. Back then you still had to stop once out of hours just as you do today, unless of course, you go buy a new logbook!. I remember being stuck at a Rip Griffins for 3 days because of running out of my 70. This is why I am trying to get this across. The 34-hour reset is not required and it is also not an option. It simply is a mechanism set in the HOS rules that ALL OTR drivers operate under!

 

"Required" and "optional" are not good terms for this discussion imo.

I worked six straight months, 7 days a week (except breakdowns).

This is known as "running on recaps." The 34 wasn't a factor, but the time left on my 70 and how many hours I would "get back" at midnight and at midnight 24 hours later had to be managed in order to make the pickups and deliveries without running out of my time on my 70.

Now I work Monday thru Friday (and a little Saturday morning sometimes) and the 70 is generally not a factor as I have more than 34 hours off which resets my 70.

If you use a Qualcomm all the info you need to manage your 70 is there for you.

And the 34 itself is really only an extra 24 hours, because unless you do a split break, you are taking 10 hours off no matter what. So when you restart its the normal 10 hour break plus another full 24 hours. So if I normally start work at 8 am after a 10 hour break, I'm restarted by 8 am the next day.

 

I think you may want to rephrase that.
If you took a reset you would only be stuck for 34 hrs ,not 3 days.
That's the beauty of a reset.

 

Re-read my comment. This happened BEFORE the reset provisions were part of 395. In fact, since I posted that I have been trying to remember where I was. I might be mistaken about it being a Ripoff, I might have been at the Effingham Petro.

 

Good take that I also fully agree with!

 

I want to make this one final point and honestly, I think I will have said my peace. The reasons why you are off duty can be many. You can be broke down, down for health reasons, or simply laid over or on hometime. I have told the story of getting a glass shard in my eye on I 70 in Ohio many years ago. I was down for almost 4 days. Lost my load and almost lost my tractor. Whatever the reason is that has you stopped it is that reason that has stopped you, NOT a requirement coming from the reset. Honestly, if you are running on HOS recaps you might get back on the road sooner. 34 hours is simply a time the DOT has said once it elapses your good to go. No forms no fuss, just -----

 

Did you not do a PTI on the 15th? You've got only 4 min of On Duty time. Not anywhere near enough time to do a full PTI.

Asking for a friend.

 

Started before midnight on the 14th.

 

I log a 12-15 minute PTI each and every day. 2-3 minute post trip every day. Simple walk around visual and tire thump any time I stop. Fuel, break, etc.

 

Why log all that time? I pre-trip my truck every morning before I log on duty, but I never log more than 5-6min for a pre-trip. If you find an issue, then you aren't sitting there burning your hours.