solo driving issue

Hell I'm company and I will. No freight is gonna pay that ticket, no company is either. Nor can they remove those violations from your PSP when you have to find a new company.

 

You guys are getting Company policy and written law confused- they are NOT the same thing. Your company has NO AUTHORITY IN A COURT.

Once our driving limits have been passed, we are no longer authorized to use a public roadway. Once a rest break is complete (or the split sleeper berth exemption is being used) a driver is again allowed to use a public roadway.

Your company can NOT authorize you to override a written law and use a public roadway to go anywhere once your drive time is gone. PERIOD. In court, your safety dept and your company will have long ago disowned you and denied everything.

In an audit the inspectors are just being graceful and kind by not enforcing the letter of the law (or perhaps they don't have the time to cite every violation).

This situation SUCKS, I went through it today. Spent a ten hour rest break in a shipper's drive. When they tried to kick me out I (politely) let them know that if I was in an accident they might be considered the cause. I requested that they call the local PD and let them know that if I got the City Officer's name- and he understood the risks, I could try to make it to the truckstop a mile away without having an accident.

The PD never showed up.

Never, NEVER..N E V E R believe that your company safety or compliance folks know a thing about any law- they do NOT. They're office employees like all the other people in the building and only repeat what management tells them to say. Never forget that with a CDL, your privelege to use public roadways turns on and off like a light switch.

So if you leave the Distribution Center in the middle of a rest break and you're past your limits, you're nervous, maybe a little scared- next thing you know, you cut the corner too short and put your trailer wheels in the drainage ditch trying to rush into the truckstop.... If the local PD isn't truck savy, you're lucky. If the City or County's truck enforcement guys show up to investigate and call a wrecker, you're SCREWED.

Don't think I'm siding with Uncle Slam here, there's no clear way to deal with this- and there should be. That's what happens when the Government does your thinking for you and regulation rules every moment of your life.

Point is, don't rely on your company to back you up, THEY WON'T.