personal conveyance thread

Another example that is real and I have used several times.

I am at home. Wife is using the Jeep. I want to run to another town to pick up some stuff. 50 miles one way. Then I decide to go by a person's home and stop in. Then I decide to run to another location to pick up something. 130 total miles. All of it as Off Duty. Legal. Carrier or FMCSA does not require any of it as Driving. Truck has EOBR. My truck. My cost. My insurance. No one else's problem. Just a large car. I defy the carrier to pitch a fit. My son at the IRS is chomping at the bit to audit a carrier for misclassification of contract operators. Lawyer waiting in the bullpen for DOT to have fit.

 

Sounds like your goal is to push the envelope so you can fight it.

 

And that I would agree is fine.

Moving 600 miles to place yourself in position for a load not so much.

Besides Fedex I have heard of nobody mandating a true O/O's use so your wait for a fight will probably be fairly long. Although if you were to do something a carrier disapproved of all they have to do is cancel your lease. Not a whole lot your son is gonna do at that point if they watched their language.

 

That is where the lawyer on retainer comes in also. Not worried about any of this. Just ready for that one knot head that thinks he is going to prove a point that he is the final arbiter of the law. The carrier is not in any way interested in messing with things. That is the beauty of mutual trust. I look out for them, they don't restrain me. They know I am not going to do stupid stuff like deadheading with a trailer to go get a load and try to show it as off duty driving. I don't want their CSA score screwed up any more than I want mine.

So far I haven't run into Deputy Barney Fife on this issue. I have been stopped and logs checked while off duty driving. No issue. No citation. I did get a puzzled look from the LEO at first though, and I had to explain to him that it was legal. He had to make a call to his people to verify the reg, and was satisfied. As long as a driver uses a little bit of that brain material between their ears, they probably will not have any problem.

 

You're welcome to explain why FMCSA would have all off duty drivers subject to all regulations but they decided to make an exception only for the regulation regarding transporting alcohol.

 

The FMCSA thinks that drivers should be able to travel with alcohol for their personal use.

Umm, yep that's it.

 

We have nonforced dispatch. All loads from this terminal are preloaded . In the past drivers have accepted loads from home and bobtailed in on duty only to find there was a production problem and the load would be delayed a few hours. Drivers would waste several hours of their 14 . Now they won't accept a load until it is actually loaded. It it is delayed they may refuse it.nothing wrong with drivers waiting off duty at a terminal to see what becomes available.

 

I bobtail a 440 mile round trip when I go home and back to where I drop my trailer, I pay for the fuel.

Am I supposed to buy another car and keep the truck that I own 220 miles from home?


Short distance is not in this sentence, it pertains to something else. Commas and periods categorize.

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.

 

That red herring will not swim. First off I never said "all". Second I asked you to justify your position and you respond by asking me
to justify the position of the FMCSA.

Carrying of alcohol in a CMV while OD is acceptable and outside the scope of the aforementioned section, that's what the guidance says. It does of state anything else is outside the scope of the section or that you are exempt from the FMCSR's. Under this section if you have any detectable amount of alcohol in your system you will be shut down (OOS). If the level is high enough (.004 or greater) guess what's going to happen? You are attempting to rationize using RH's but failing to justify your position.

Best regards

 

So now the story has changed from the company telling you that if you come by they "will" dispatch you (Quote:
Originally Posted by RickG
Our dispatch never dispatches us from home . They tell us if we come by the terminal they will. Probably have a load for us. When we show up we are dispatched.) to you just happen by the terminal and hang around off duty and see if something becomes available. Cool!


Best regards