E-logs and Reality

No problem if the gestapo wants to play hard ball with me on this. I own the truck, I determine when the truck is actually working, and I would have no problem taking this one to court. I do off duty driving on elogs whenever I am not involved in work. I do it weekly. Have had log audits done. No problem. If a local Barney Fife wants to play ball, I will play. Might don't make right.

 

I ain't riding a dog in this one. However just to avoid any argument I only use it when I am BT and not under dispatch even to the point of leaving my trailer at a shipper/reciever when I had my own(grain hauling so it was no big deal). To my mind their is to much ambiguity in" unladen and not under dispatch" and leaves a lot of room. Yeah technically you could hook to a 53' trailer to haul your underroos in and drive from New York to San Diego legally.
Doesn't mean I'm going to do it and explain it to every officer in between either.


I see your point cowmobile and would even probably agree, however the time it would take me to make my case in court would be time better spent earning money not defending it. JMO.

 

Interestingly, it was an Iowa DOT that I was talking about this with...

In his mind it's a HOS violation... period.

I used examples like others have here: At a shipper/reciever with a long wait run out of hours to drive and when your done... they demand that you leave the property... etc etc etc.

DOT's response was, "should have planned better".

What I find really interesting is that many that champion E-logs for the ability to keep drivers in compliance... and when real world problems like the previous are stated, they answer with non-compliance(at least in the mindset of the DOT guy I talked to).

Hmmm?

 

Should have planned better is always the easiest answer. You'll hear that a lot. There are events that cannot be planned for, but it doesn't matter if you are on eLogs or paper log. You choice becomes don't log it, log it. It's a lose lose situation. Not logging it is essentially creating a false log, logging it creates a violation. Best solution is to get back in compliance before driving again.

 

my understanding is that conveyance only applies to BT. and if a cop don't see it that way. then he needs to go back to school.

cops really don't know as much as they think they do. ,it's a pity that they are allowed to just piss on us whenever they feel the need. thanks to the govt.

when i was a local boy. i had 5 citations in 3 years. i did a google. went to court. showed the rule. ticket dismissed. and i went to work.

hard to do that on the road.

 

The rule says nothing whatsoever about being bobtail. Nothing. It says unladen. That means empty trailer. It also says not under dispatch. That means not doing something for the convenience or under orders from your company or for the benefit of your business.

Therefore, if I drop my trailer behind WalMart and bobtail 20 miles out of route to go home, I am under PC whether there is a current load number on me or not. It does not benefit my business to drive home, nor did the company send me there.

If my trailer is empty and I want to go to the truck stop 30 miles away...and the company is not sending me there, I will go under PC. That trailer is not my load. The freight that goes in it is.

The only time this is not the case is when I am being directed and paid by the company to move my trailer to a specific location. Then, I am under dispatch and the trailer is the load.

 

The interpretation is empty trailer, the lack of definition in the FMCSR messes things up.

 

There is no definition at this point in time. So unfortunatly it leaves a lot to interpretation. I read it the way Injun reads it, other folks I have worked around over the years say it has to be bobtail. Here is the interpretation under 395.8:

Question 26: If a driver is permitted to use a Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) for personal reasons, how must the driving time be recorded?

Guidance: When a driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work, time spent traveling from a driver’s home to his/her terminal (normal work reporting location), or from a driver’s terminal to his/her home, may be considered off-duty time. Similarly, time spent traveling short distances from a driver’s en route lodgings (such as en route terminals or motels) to restaurants in the vicinity of such lodgings may be considered off-duty time. The type of conveyance used from the terminal to the driver’s home, from the driver’s home to the terminal, or to restaurants in the vicinity of en route lodgings would not alter the situation unless the vehicle is laden. A driver may not operate a laden CMV as a personal conveyance. The driver who uses a motor carrier’s Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) for transportation home, and is subsequently called by the employing carrier and is then dispatched from home, would be on-duty from the time the driver leaves home.
A driver placed out of service for exceeding the requirements of the hours of service regulations may not drive a Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) to any location to obtain rest

 

I'm with you on the interpretation. I've had a spirited conversation or two with my former safety director on the topic. I liked having a resource that was knowledgable and 30 years my senior. It's just not the same without that guy.

 

And there in lies the issue. Unladen is exactly that but the entire not under dispatch......

BT would not always work either. Any of us working or having worked for any carrier of size has BT'd under dispatch to recover trailer, move empties, pick up preloads......

I just make sure I am bobtail for the reasons I said. Easier to make my argument that I am PC at the time.