Told by DOT that I'm supposed to be on-duty at dock EVEN IN SLEEPER

Depends on who you are asking.

Legally i don't see a problem with it.

Your company may not want you to leave the truck unattended that long. ( My company says we have to stay at least on shipper/receive property.)

The receiver may not want you to leave your truck unattended in their dock in case they need you to reposition the trailer or they accidentally damage it while unloading, etc.

 

the DOT scum...cops are not your friend, they protect the system of deception, the smoking mirrors of our reality...do your thing

 

He's intentionally misinterpreting the rule.

If the brakes are set, you have the ability to turn the engine off, and are released from duty by BOTH the customer and your carrier, you can log off duty.

Just because the truck is being loaded does not mean you are attending it.

 

I’d tell him that you dropped the trailer in the door and was told to disconnect and go park down the street until you were called to pick it back up.

Log the 15 minutes drop/hook - rest of it in sleeper.

I don’t see how the scale officer could argue that as on duty.

 

We went through this with Ohio State police, when one driver was dinged for not being on-duty.

So here is what the court said - On duty means attending to the loading and unloading of the truck.

OK so far that's clear as mud.

But then the question was asked, what does the word attending mean?

And the judge said you are watching, monitoring, directing and/or supervising the loading and unloading of the truck.

So we asked for a clarification of those terms and I won't post them here, but the judge was ok with answering them for an on-the-record statement.

So my lawyer asked this, if the driver can not be on the dock that is closed (meaning walls and doors to prevent anyone from seeing or observing dock operations) and the driver is "instructed" to be in the cab of the truck until the lights on the dock change, how can the driver watch, monitor, direct and/or supervise the loading and unloading of the truck?"

The judge said the driver could not so he was not attending to the loading and unloading of the truck, hence could not be on duty, the ticket was dismissed.

 

Just show a few minutes. usually 15-20, checking in/paperwork, then you was released of duty while they loaded it, if you loaded/counted/ legally they could say you should be on duty, but not released where you’re not allowed on dock, but again, you get officer desecration who think you’re the one who loaded it.

 

If that's true, then even when you're at a rest area sleeping, you're still on duty because you're responsible for the truck and load.
The DOT officer is wrong.

 

The way I used to interpret this when I was OTR and being paid by the mile, was, if I was free to leave the property and do as I please, then I could be off duty.

I’m not saying I did it that way. It’s only how I built my defense, if I were ever questioned about it. I always logged off duty, but I was always aware that it might be questioned if I were inspected.

For example, if I was inspected and the DOT asked about it, I would have said that I logged off duty because I left the facility to go have lunch at a nearby restaurant. Or whatever.

Also, as I understand, if you’re standing by waiting for a dispatch , you should also be logged on duty. Because you’re not really free to do as you please. You can’t leave the facility. But again, very fudge’able on the logs.

 

You do understand that by the letter of the reg As this doofus dot officer interpretation of the regs you would be stuck unable to drive if you stopped at a company terminal to do Landry, take a shower, watch TV. Sleep8ng if you were waiting for a load..

The reg states ALL TIME at a company terminal waiting for dispatch MUST BE LOGED AS ON DUTY.

 

My understanding is you can’t be Off-Duty unless your free to do anything you want. Can you leave and go play golf or go to the movies ? The answer is no because you have to watch for green light or be ready to pay lumpers or get BOL and leave because you we can’t park at customer once unloaded or loaded. They need us to leave so they can still use the dock or the next truck. I don’t think we can legally log Off-Duty. Everyone did in the past but DOT never said anything when on paper log book. They were not that picky.

We are On-Duty because we are attending a commercial vehicles being loaded or unloaded. We are at shipper or delivery for a reason. The rules say we can go in Sleeper Berth (if your truck has one) you don’t have to be sleeping. You can play video games or watch tv listen to music. You can even sleep if you want too. So you can go into Sleeper Berth and extend your driving time if get 2 hours or more.

A day cab driver waiting to load or unload can’t log Sleeper Beth. They can’t log Off-Duty because they are attending a commercial vehicle being loaded or unloaded. Even if they just sit in cab and just watch for red and green lights or waiting in cab to get signed BOL. Even if they are on cell phone and call home or watch YouTube while parked. They are still On-Duty because they can’t leave until loaded or unloaded and have the proof of delivery.