more silly truck stop questions(observations)

Some hard runners will burn up 70 hours before they get a chance to get home so they shut down for a 34 hour reset. Some drivers burn through 70 hours in 4.5 to 5 days easily depending upon what their duties were.

Now before you say; "we are limited to working 14 hours in a day," that is horse manure. We are "limited to DRIVING" within a 14 hour time frame but we can "WORK" 24 hours per day, 7 days a week if we wanted to provided we did not DRIVE beyond that 70 hour mark.

A 34 hour reset permits us to start with a fresh 70 hours on our logbook rather than wait for the 70 hour 8 day rule to permit us more drive time.

Another possible explanation is some drivers live in their trucks and have no desire to "go home" so they take their breaks at whichever truck stop is convenient.

 

Why would you log "parking" as "driving" ??

Parking/fueling/post-trip all go on the "on duty not driving" line in my book.

If you aren't on the road driving, then you aren't driving.
Moving a few feet, or even pulling up a truck length in line or in parking lot, wouldn't get logged driving either.

 

Negative, Driver. If your lights are on while someone is trying to back into a dark spot, all you're doing is blinding that other driver. He or she will see you just fine if you only leave your marker lights on. This is especially true if you are facing the driver side of that other truck and that person is trying to make sense of what is in the mirror. You are not being "safe" by leaving your lights blasting in someone's face under these circumstances.

That said. There are a lot of trucks that are programmed so the headlights are on any time the air brake is pushed in and released. My advice to the drivers of these trucks: pull the air brake so that other driver can see what he or she is doing. You're not going anywhere until the lane is clear anyway and you will make it safer for that other driver. Not to mention show some professional courtesy.

 

Good advice.

 

Like others, I try to BACK in to a spot at the rear of the lot. I get a little more exercise, and although I hadn't thought of it that way before, it limits the "boredom shopping" that comes if I am parked close to the building. Lights on in the parking lot are a pet peeve of mine as well. If I see someone backing in next to me, I will usually put my running lights on so they can see my corners, and always appreciate it when someone does that for me. I run a reefer, and to be honest, pick my spot based on my own preferences (level, back of lot, etc.) without really thinking about the van drivers around me who seem to not be able to sleep with a reefer parked next to them. Get over it. It's not that I purposely park where it will annoy people, just that it is not in my checklist of things to consider. I never nose in to a spot if I can help it, because I was taught that part of choosing a parking spot is considering your exit. Nosing in to a spot means you are backing blindly out in the morning (or whenever). Sometimes it is all that is left - for example, the idle aire places that seem to still haunt some truck stops. I still don't like nosing in, though.

 

Had someone ask once: I don't haul a reefer, so why do I hafta listen to one?!?

My answer: You eat, don't ya?

 

This is the same logic that has people running their high beams all the time, regardless of trafic around them

 

Its been years since I did OTR,and 5 years since I did short hauls.Its all local most of the time.(14 years total)and I would always park in the back and away from others mostly because I like where the fenders were,.............still on my truck.