Question about EOBR's

Are you sure about that? What happens if you get loaded and are then forced off the shippers property? Are you going to sit in the middle of the street?

 

Yeah, I'm absolutely sure, and you should be too with 16-years of experience.

This is what is supposed to happen: If you are over your 11 or 14-hour limits, you are prohibited from moving a laden CMV - meaning you have a bill of lading. If you are forced off of a shippers property, you log the fact that you moved the vehicle to the nearest safe haven on line 3 and note the circumstances... then don't get your logbook (or EOBR/elog) inspected for 7 days. If you were in the sleeper or off-duty when this happened, your 8 or 10-hour break must be restarted from the end of the period on line 3.

Use of elogs line 5 for ANYTHING but legitimate off-duty (non business) use is a violation. In a log inspection the officer will view it as a break in any required rest period, and will place you out-of-service if you've violated the HOS. This means if you have a wagon and a load - you're in trouble.

With paper logs we both know what happens... unless the heat is around and watching, you move the truck and go to sleep. But that's just the point of the FMCSA demanding that we go to elogs/EOBRs isn't it? They know what we're doing, and can't find a way to catch us unless they have the technology watching - el computer-nanny. The GPS notes the movement, and the computer record means you have to log it legally.

 

This is the fight that I had with my last employer. You run out of hours waiting at a shipper, then they wont let you stay there. Yeah, i know, by law they cant make me move blah blah blah. But then they threaten to have my truck towed off the premises. What do you do then? This is why I hesitate to even go to work for someone with e-logs. I should have every right to get to a safe haven, loaded or not without penalty in that situation. That truck is not a prison cell.

 

Well now... here's what you need to know.

Each elog user has different "parameters" set into the unit to determine when it automatically will move you to the drive line; some carriers are more restrictive than others. Knowing what these are can allow you to move a minimal distance to get off of the shippers property - without incurring a violation. You also need to know how the carrier is going to deal with a HOS violation in this situation. Mind you, its not hop on the freeway and drive to your truckstop of choice time. If you're empty, its no big deal - go to line 5, and head to the NEAREST safe haven.

You need to be aware of your available hours, and work your trip so you aren't arriving at a shipper or receiver with no wiggle room. A full boat of hours is best, but knowing how a split sleeper berth will fit into all of this is very important. Also, it is a good thing to have the eyes working once you get within a couple of miles of a destination for likely parking spots that won't draw the local heat down on you.

Most of this goes back to doing a better job of planning - making sure that you aren't slacking on the way there to put yourself in a bad position. That's the easy answer, because the bovine output on the road tends to accumulate, and you can get behind the 8-ball. That's where knowing exactly how much slack is built into the elogs system you're using is really important. It can't be 100% tight, because drivers would be getting all sorts of false log violations. And it can't be so loose as to allow drivers to blatently violate the HOS with no repercussions.

My carrier is fairly tollerant of dealing with the bovine output accumulation, but a pattern of abusing the system will get you in trouble. A roadside check of your elogs with any infractions will get you put out of service of course - so you can't just hammer down. They'd rather have you log the violation as it happened than for you to try to scam the system and get caught in a compliance audit. When I write that, you should understand that pushing the elogs envelope means perhaps finding a few minutes to make things right - its not like having loose-leaf paper logbook sheets, if you know what I mean! There isn't any ripping out pages and working it until it's right - you have to be basically right in the first place.

OTOH, I know there are carriers out there that will terminate you for the slightest impropriety. That's what you have to uncover before jumping...

 

Good Post Iron Pony. My next door neighbor drives for a company with e-logs. He had a lot of reservations when they first started but now he wouldn't want to go back to paper logs. The company actually used some common sense. 1. Doesn't start recording until you reach 35 MPH. 2. Has a line 5 of off duty un-official time. 3. Company doesn't control the logs. The e-log company does. 4. Has stopped dispatchers from the "just get it there"mentality. You are correct in that every company is gonna be a little different in what they do, but obviously the e-log can be set up about any way they want. Applying a little common sense doesn't hurt either.

 

Ill Tackle these for you
#1 True,ALL forms of technology can fail,even paper logs

#2.Yes and no,YOU audit your daily log and then "Approve" it so it is entirely up to YOU,and yes if there is a faullty entry the system will notify you

#3 NOPE<NOWAY JOSE,NADAH they would just relay it off,system cannot be manipulated

#4 same with paperlogs(I.E> your paper logs vs your truck data(ECM/GPS/Qualcomm) your not right you have falsified your documents,same thing

#5 AGAIN=paperlogs same thing

#6
same answer,you can download a printed copy of all your ELOGS/EOBR's

#7 Blackball? if your not running legal under EOBR's I think the term would be "Terminated for cause"

#8 i would refer you back to your third point on that,its companies that have or do these types of practices and drivers who ALLOW themselves to be manipulated to run "Non-Compliant"

#9Paper logs and "Current System"(I take it your referring to current (11-14-70 HOS),well the logs are part of the HOS so that is not a valid statement,Its not the Paper Logs that have made the roads safer its the HOS

 

So you think Carriers won't manipulate or delete records than read the following thread:

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...ight-is-in-deep-doo-doo.html?highlight=knight

 

Yep,and if it was a Paper log system do you think the Justice to the victim would have been harder or easier??? Harder as Knight could have EASLY did the same thing without a trail of evidence

 

E/Logs can be manipulated and or destroyed. EOBR is not E/Logs!!! The data is held by an independent 3rd party that retains the record. Just like those using Qualcomm, the driver or the company can delete at the company level, but Qualcomm has a record stored and backed up.

 

The driver would/could have his/hers copy of a paper log but no copy on an e-log.