Sleeper birth rule questoin

Since they changed the HOS rules last February to exclude any time resting in a parked vehicle from the definition of on-duty time, has it made logging sleeper time and made the sleeper birth rules obsolete?

I have seen many posts, mostly for cargo vans and other expediters saying that they can now sleep in the vans and log off duty for 10 hours and if this is the case why would anyone need to specify sleeper in their log.

I guess I am wondering why one couldn’t now pull a race car trailer that has living quarters like at http://www.milltrailers.com/enclosed/living_quarters.asp behind an F 450 and log themselves off duty instead of sleeper. If you log sleeper then rules that state the sleeper cannot be part of the trailer but if you are just logging off duty doesn’t it take the sleeper birth rules completely out of the equation?

I’m not really clear why the use of those types of trailers were ever agent the rules in the first place as long as you were separated well from the cargo and were not hauling Hasmat but http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/administration/fmcsr/fmcsrruletext.aspx?reg=393.76 seems clear that they do not qualify as a sleeper.

Did DOT leave a loophole here?

 

I think I understand what you mean and while replying I think I found the answer to my own question.

The rule change does NOT make it possible to sleep in a vehicle without a DOT legal sleeper although that is not obvious at first, even when reading the FAQ at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/topics/hos/qanda.aspx.

I think people are getting that from reading the FAQ where it says….

in section 7 A (2) but that does not say that you still do not have to spend 8 hours in the sleeper later and they are not looking at section7 A (4) that says……….

(bold print added by me)

or to section 8 B where it says……

I did realize the last part but I thought that possibly the rule change made the sleeper birth rule no longer relevant, even if it had not been changed.


My apologies to the electrons that may have been inconvenienced in the posting of this thread, I am usually a more carful reader.

 

I’m thinking that was meant as a joke.

I drove a truck when I first got out of the Army but those were simpler times. Man they sure do make the reg’s hard to interpret.

Do you thing the Sleeper Birth rules at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/administration/fmcsr/fmcsrruletext.aspx?reg=393.76 are now able to be circumvented as long as you never log sleeper?