Up To Date Logbook ?

As far as I know the DOT officer needs to allow a reasonable time for the driver to bring the log up to date.

On a personal note, as long as I have a log made out for the day and have made an entry I have not had any trouble in this area as long as the last entry was within 6 to 8 hours of the time of the inspection. The last time I had a log book violation ticket was I made a mistake on the date but the times were acurate.

 

I never pull out without having the top section of the logbook filled out, even if I don't have any entries made on lines 1-4. That way if I ever need to and haven't made an entry, I can have it done by the time he gets out of the car and walks up. Uaually, I have it up to date, and according to our last audit, I was at 100% on time place on logs checked. I didn't think I was doing that tight on it, looks like I have some wiggle room If I want to be a bad boy.

 

There is an exemption that ONLY applies to out-of-service criteria, and does not exempt a driver from being fined for the logbook not being current to the last change of duty status.

The rules are clear is stating that the logbook is to be kept current to the last change of duty status : 395.8(f)(1).

In 395.12(b)(3), you read the following;

Exception. A driver failing only to have possession of a record of duty status current on the day of examination and the prior day, but has completed records of duty status up to that time (previous 6 days), will be given the opportunity to make the duty status record current.

The bottom line is, that you will not suffer being shut down for ten hours if you are current to at least some time during the previous day on your logbook, but you may wind up resuming your trip with a ticket in your pocket.

 

Well, we don't have any specific forum set up to discuss rights, per se, but this is perfect section in which to do it.

There are no street level DOT enforcement officers these days. Enforcement has been turned over to the states, and local governments have also jumped on the band wagon to certify their officers to enforce the FMCSR's.

The rights you have when you are driving a commercial vehicle are largely diminished, because we are held to a much higher standard on the roads, which is something that not many drivers are happy about, but I think it's easy to understand the stakes involved and why this is so.

There are basically two types of officers that you will run into out there. Most will be appointed and certified by their respective states to enforce the adopted FMCSR's, and will be limited to inspecting your vehicle and all paperwork, including your logbook. As a general rule, their authority shall not exceed what they are handed to them by you, and what they observe on the outside of your vehicle. Of course, this is all window dressing, because if an officer has any reason to suspect a crime is in progress, the Supreme Court handed down a decision last year that allows them to place you under temporary arrest to conduct an investigation, until you have been cleared.

The other type of officer, will be what is known as a "Special Agent" of the Federal Motor Carrier Administration, who has an elevated amount of authority. These will also be State level appointed officers, but will have been through Federal training courses and will be certified to conduct higher levels of inspection and will be allowed be more intrusive. They are supposed to identify themselves with photographic identification granted them by the FMCSA. They need neither warrant or reason to enter the motor carrier's property OR any vehicle that is owned or leased to the motor carrier to "inspect" anything under the sun.

Drivers will usually only encounter such an officer at times that there are periods of National enforcement crackdowns, like those that occur the first and second week in June each year. There are states however, that have full time officers that have authority 24/7/365.

I had an encounter with one of these officers in Kansas a couple of years ago, and it was one of the rare occasions where I lost my cool, because this particular officer had a terrible attitude, and he popped my cherry, so to speak. It was the first time in my life that I was ever placed in hand cuffs, and the first time I had ever had anyone demand to search my truck.

All this resulted from his disbelief of the fact that I did not have any toll receipts, fuel receipts, or bills of lading for any loads I had delivered. My explanation that I used electronic transponders for tolls, that we fueled at only paperless locations, and that I had dropped the bills of lading for all loads into TripPak Express boxes after unloading, was nothing but a lie to him. He demanded entry into the truck to search for them. I was not happy at being called a liar, and it went downhill from there.

Long story short, if it had not been for the intervention of a second officer that happened on what was going on at the time, I don't know what would have resulted from all of this. Everything changed the second he rolled up. I am an extreme proponent of recording equipment in enforcement vehicles. Once this "Special Agent" realized that there were eyes and ears around, and that there was a record being made, the handcuffs came off and he was human again. I will always believe that this second officer stayed there to make sure that everything went as it should, and I thank God he was there.

Okay...back to your question...

The best piece of advice I can give you, is that challenging an officer on the side of the road will never get you anywhere. If they are bent on writing you up for something, nothing will stop them from doing so. I do a pretty good job of keeping my ducks in a row these days, but it's practically impossible to do it all the time, especially with this last hour of service rule change. If asked for it, I'm going to pony up the logbook and plead mercy if it's not up to par.

I would like to caution you on a couple of things. Despite commonly repeated urban legends, outside of the exception noted above as an officer identifying himself as a "Special Agent", no officer is required to show you that he is certified to enforce FMCSR's, nor is he required to call in a supervisor if you happen to disagree with him.

The reason that this is so, is because any duly sworn officer, despite any perceived or realistic jurisdictional restrictions, are bound to uphold all state laws, and all states adopt the FMCSR's as state law. Even if you were to successfully deflect the officer in front of you to refrain from seeing your paperwork, there's nothing that can stop him from placing you under temporary arrest until such a time that a certified officer responds to his request for assistance. I've known drivers that spent the night in the cooler for their trouble.

The court is where we are supposed to offer our challenges to a charge, and if there are reasons why an officer had no authority to see a logbook or anything else, that is the place and time to make the challenge. It might not be worth it for a $50.00 fine, but it might be worth it if the fine and/or the charge is for falsification.

 

what is the paperwork reduction act of 1995 about?
is the d.o.t a goverment agency in which this applies?
is the state d.o.t different from the fed d.o.t?
how do I protect my rights under the uniform commercial code when acting in commerce(driving truck)?
do i have to fill out a log book if the government is not adhearing to the paperwork reduction act of 1995, and the state your in is acting on the notion that whatever the fed says in it's rules is good for the state and if you'd reserved your constitutional rights under the ucc code at ucc 1-207 why should you have to fill out a log book and break the 5th amendment and implicate yourself on where you where and what you were doing?
further more you might want to ask yourself what your company is doing with your information?
do they really need a copy of your log book? they've got the bills of lading to know you did the run?
let alone tracking devices, phone calls back and forth to dipatch.
anyways do a little research and get back to me if ya want to. but i don't think you need to fill out a log book.

 

ya i just Start my log book and i keep track of what time i went on duty if i need to run more when my 11hrs is up i pull over adjust accordingly if necessary and proceed..
The only Reason for them to keep your log book is because of the Funding that Dot makes off of company Audits, they go back 6 months with 7% of the company's log books and Start making money...

Last year during the Crackdown week i was pulled into a Expo Center where there were spaces for 20 trucks at a time to go through a full Class 1 inspection accomping the Texas State Police were FMCSA, and i handed the guy my log book when he asked for it he flipped through and i accidentally repeted the day b4's date for that day, and he asked me where today's log was and i told him it was the only white copy filled out in there, and he said no it has yesterdays date...
So i looked him stright in the eye and told him i'm jsut a poor southern boy and im still trying to get a grasp of that whole number system you guys are using... everyone arround me laughed and he handed me back the log and just said correct the date everything else looks good..

 

In FL and GA, the DOT cars are always out, and will pull you over in a heartbeat if they see something out of whack.

The FL guys have a white car with blue stripes, and it says DOT in big letters on the side.

The GA guys are white cars with Department of Highway Safety on the side.

On a side note, if you're in an accident and a "regular" cop shows up to cite you, you're supposed to be able to ask for a DOT cop. Some of those local guys are real idiots when it comes to DOT/FMCSA.

 

Bottom line, you have no rights as a commercial vehicle driver.....

1. Some states stop all trucks for proof of "registration" and "IFTA" . They dont stop cars to make sure that they are insured, or legally licenced...


2. YOU MUST SUBMIT to a CHEMICAL TEST, at any time if a Law Enforcement Person asks, not a big deal, should not be drinking or doing drugs anyway, but, still.

3. You cannot drive same speed as Cars on some roadways, that is ok, If the law was uniform, in ohio you can drive 55, on all roads, but 65 on turnpike.....hummmm, I guess on the turnpike it is safe and due to some scientific advancement you use less emmisions on the turnpike.

4. SOme states you drive through an X-Ray machine, it is suppost to be to detect contraban cargo, but could be used to see things inside your cab.

5. YOU MUST submit to a FULL VEHICLE SEARCH, without probable cause. A law enforcement officer, can at anytime demand to search cargo and or personal contents in your cab.

6. You cannot legally have a weapon in a commercial vehicle, no guns, no knifes over a certain legnth, etc etc. In a personal vehical you can in almost all areas of the country carry a long firearm, such as a rifle or shotgun.

7. YOU MAY GET A PREVENTABLE ACCIDENT ON YOUR RECORD, even if under the LAW, the other driver is at fault and gets the ticket for the accident.....HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENCE??? SOmeone comes across the center line, you collide and you could get a preventable, cause you should have hit the ditch, etc etc etc


Trucking sucks in terms of rights, but what are you gonna do.


K