Need dot consultant? Dot advice

The other thing to consider is a State may have a law that says any damage in the windshield is a violation.

 

ive used the search function and spoke to different people and can not find an answer for this one.

Im hauling RVs to dealers and Im wondering about keeping my log book for deadhead miles. My company says that when I unload, and remove his sign my truck is now a personal vehicle. So in his eyes I dont need to keep logs when deadheadng back home.

But If he dispatches me to return and immediately pick up another load then I am on duty and need to log my trip home.

So basically from what I am being told I can drop my load, remove my signs and drive home without logs. Then call and get a load and return to driving with logs.

Any clarification on this would be great.

 

if that was the case everyone would have removable signs. if you are leased to a carrier and under dispatch you would have to log it.

 

Let me ask, how big is your truck? Is its gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR on the vin plate) exceeding 10,001 lbs or more? Where and how far away are you from your home terminal? That doesn't sound right to me, or everyone would be doing it when they dead head. You may get away with it for a while, but at some point someone will stop and inspect you. A lot of hot shoters think the rules don't apply to them when I get them stopped. HAd one yesterday that thought since he was unloaded, he could do whatever he wanted and he was exempt. In my opinion your question is to broad and to many unknowns.

 

Thank you very much for your posting. Then how/ where do I find if the State - TN - has a law about that and what it says?
Got a violation because of two little chips (less than one inch each) on the passenger side windshield and company will challenge the FMCSA. Unfortunately I didn't ask officer to describe on his report kind of "damages" he saw, size and location.
Took pictures and sent to my company. They will use that Data queue (not sure how it's called) to dispute it.
I will get 1 x 3 = 3 points this CSA card for this silly thing.....
And two days before DOT inspection, I was at company's terminal and asked them to fix the windshield, but because they were not on my line of sight they said it wasn't a violation....
Had my windshields replaced yesterday, both sides and I guess company will have to change their guidelines from now on... on may things.

 

I drive a ford F350 dually. The GVWR is 13,300, and I drive all 48 states + canada, I pull travel trailers & 5th wheels. Right now I am doing this part time.

Then I spoke to a company yesterday that told me I should be logging time that I am working on my construction job as well as the driving job. Its confusing.

 

I am under dispatch on the delivery. 90% of the time after I deliver the unit, I am no longer under dispatch, or so I am told by the company. Meaning they do not give me another load. If I want, I can stay in the delivery city/state as long as I like and come home whenever I want. Then when I return I call them and get another load whenever I want.

For instance I drove from IN to NJ, dropped the unit and drove to Philly to visit a friend for the day. Then drove home.

My truck is my personal vehicle also, unlike a semi. So we use it to run to the store, family gatherings, dinner and so on.

Should I log everything, or just loaded dispatched runs?

 

You should be. Is the construction job your company? Do you work within a 100 mile air radius for that company? Your truck 13,300 lbs is a commercial vehicle by definition by itself. The hours of service are their to deal with fatigue. You may want to contact your State's lead MCSAP Agency and ask them the questions directly. But tell them exactly what you are doing, so you get an accurate anwser. I get many calls and get half of the information and someone wants us to tell them what they want to hear. Not sure where you live or run, but you can find their numbers on the net. Log books or the air mile radius exemption can be confusing, but no one is exempt from hours of service. Their are requirements that must be met for both.

 

Here is THP contact information.


Tennessee Highway Patrol
Commercial Vehicle Enforcement
1150 Foster Avenue
Nashville, TN 37243-1000
(615) 743-4990
Fax (615) 253-2278

 

I'm curious about personal use logging as well...
I'm an O/O and run a hot shot rig. I've been logging everything while working but my truck is also used occasionally on days off for personal use.
How do I correctly log days off with personal use of the truck? As it stands, I've just been doing my day off log sheet and not noting personal use. If I do something work related on an otherwise day off, I log that particular day as a work day.