Off duty, driving Tractor ONLY home, DOT Reg??????

if being on the customers property is being on duty then #### i rarely every get my 10 legally... i just about always sleep at the customer.... wow

 

taking a dump must be logged as off duty

true story, DOT in colorado sees every night, i go across the sleeper, then 15 pretrip,

he actually asks me, dont you go to the bathroom at night? do always go straight from the sleeper to pretrip? (as if to say my sleeper time should be broken up to off-duty)

i didnt answer him, just looked at him as if "you gotta be kidding me"

he said that was a violation of "form" or some other terminology

and yet, we have drivers who think this is the greatest thing since sliced bread

 

The "10 consecutive hours" is off duty OR sleeper. You can switch between lines 1 & 2 every 15 minutes for 10 hours and it STILL COUNTS as your 10 hour break...as long as you never drop onto line 3 or 4 during that time. So, if you pull into a parking space and go into the sleeper for 30 minutes while you fill out paperwork and get your shower bag together...then off duty for 2 hours while you head inside for a shower and dinner...then back to the sleeper for 6 hours...then back to off duty for an hour when you head inside for breakfast, brush your teeth, shave, etc....before going back to the sleeper for another 30 minutes while you stow your stuff and get ready to start your pretrip. You have legally completed your 10 hour break in accordance with the regulations.

You are on duty any time you are in/on a CMV EXCEPT while resting in the sleeper. If you spend your 10 hour break in the sleeper, you have completed your 10 hour break no matter who's property you are on, and without regard to whether you have been "relieved from duty"...because you were in the sleeper berth.

 

Effective 2/27/12, All time spent in a parked cmv is considered off duty.

 

details....details

 

Been all over this forum for months.


http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/topics/hos/index.htm

 

I guess I do recall hearing about something to that effect...I've just never paid much attention to it because if I'm away from the house, unless I'm in a motel room or make a personal stop at the store along the way, I'm on duty. I see no benefit to logging time I spend on the job as "off duty".

Several years ago (before I bought my truck), I had that discussion with another company driver...he was upset about how much time I was logging on line 4...saying I shouldn't show more than 15 minutes for loading or unloading....at the same time he was complaining about how he hadn't had a day off in 3 weeks. When I log a 14 hour day as 14 hours, I work Monday through Friday and get the weekend off. When he works the same 14 hour days and logs them as 8 or 9 hours on duty time, he has hours available to run....so he has to work. Personally, I see no point in working if I don't have time off to enjoy the paycheck.

 

how can these guys enforce rules they know are flawed?

and then change them, and enforce the new changes, and then change them, and enforce the new changes

seems like someone doesnt have the foggiest idea what they are doing, YET, we are constantly forced to be "in compliance" that most truck drivers know are ridiculously illogical when applied to the real world

 

No, I mean. Who cares about the details. I need to find the sarcasm button.

 

I had one ask me that. I told him, "I have a bottle, a bag and a sock. Which one do you want?"

It was a short inspection.