Question about HOS violation

I guess some drivers have never been to "Wally World" where you can sit at a dock all day. I have been in those docks up 10 hours at times waiting for the offload. Pretty easy to bump your 14 hour clock in places like that. I would venture to say that the "driving off duty" happens more frequently now with the 14 hour rule.

 

Or you can go in and call their bluff. "Look I'm leaving when I hit the one hour mark and we can schedule this deliver at a future date." LOL has worked for me at times to speed up the load/unload.

 

FMSCA.395 does not address the tractor by itself in the interpretation. Not trying to argue, but I have the book in front of me. Am I missing something?

 

Here is another interpretation from the Arizona Trucking Association.

Part 395.8, Interpretations Question 26 states, "Guidance: When a driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work, time spent traveling from a driver’s home to their terminal (normal work reporting location), or from a driver’s terminal to their home, may be considered Off-Duty time. Similarly, time spent traveling short distances from a driver’s en-route lodgings (such as en-route terminals or motels) to restaurants in the vicinity of such lodgings may be considered Off-Duty time.
The type of conveyance used from the terminal to the driver’s home, from the driver’s home to the terminal, or to restaurants in the vicinity of en-route lodgings would not alter the situation unless the vehicle is laden. A driver may not operate a laden CMV as a personal conveyance.

This has always been my understanding of the rule and I operated under it quite a few times.

 

JJ Keller & Associates......(makers of log books and other fine reading materials)

How does "personal use" of a commercial motor vehicle need to be recorded?

If a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) driver uses a CMV for personal conveyance, the time may be recorded as "off duty" if certain conditions are met. If a driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work, time spent traveling from the driver's home to his/her terminal (normal work reporting location), or from the driver's terminal to his/her home, may be considered off-duty time. Similarly, time spent traveling short distances from a driver's en-route lodgings (such as terminals or motels) to restaurants in the vicinity of such lodgings may be considered off-duty time. Drivers may not, however, operate a laden CMV as a personal conveyance. Also, a driver placed out of service for violating the hours-of-service regulations may not drive a CMV to any location to obtain rest.


Again, the word LADEN was used along with the term CMV. If you are not loaded, then you are not laden.

 

Laden or not (this happens many times when you have a 3 stop Walmart run) when you're out of hours once paperwork is received, you still have to leave (no if's, and's, or but's) This is not up for discussion or speculation.

Carriers know if a driver on eLogs did what they could to arrive ASAP and didn't mess up, screw around, or get delayed due to Wx. What they choose to do in the out-of-hours scenario after the drivers sets off alarms is up to them and each one is different. Be prepared with a good defense but realize they know what you did and did not do leading up to the arrival at a stop. If you did all you could, and they want to make a federal case out of it, then screw-em. Let them do what they got to do and you do what you got to do.

"line 5" is the easiest answer (if available). Forget about "rules and interpretations". Do what you have to do. In spite of what many here would have you believe, if you move the truck in violation out of absolute necessity, your truck will NOT stop in the middle of the interstate and call the FMCSA police to come haul you to jail. But make sure you did all you could to avoid these situations prior is the key. Some times better trip-planning might have helped, but many times all the trip planning and hustle in the world would not have made a difference in the reality world of critical appointment times and super-slow consignees and shippers.

 

Several points in this thread are being overlooked:

Personal Conveyance is not directly addressed by the FMCSA rules, it is one of the things that is;
1) left to the discretion of carrier, and
2) what State rules are in place, and
3) the company has already rescheduled, and
4) driver would not be out of hours to complete the run
all facts are in the posts.

Now the answers for all points:
1. Carrier seems to allow the use...dispatch got upset having to reschedule and directed driver to go forward with the original delivery.
2. Oregon allows PC under the unladen definition...i.e., trailer is MT and trailer is not considered a part of the "load". WA on the other hand considers the trailer as part of the load, therefore must be bobtail to use the PC understanding.
3. Carrier opted to respect the drivers concerns (for this instance), not saying anything about repercussions in the future.
4. It was stated driver would run out of hours at the receiver.

 

Even the best load planning and driver habits cannot avoid this situation some times. Every good driver has a plan until the reality of shippers/receivers smacks them the mouth. Warehouses & distribution centers will always place drivers in this situation....................... sooner or later.

 

I want to drive for the carrier that some here on TTR drive for - where these issues never come up, and their proper trip planning NEVER finds them in such situations. And they will tell you, if you find yourself in this situation (out of hours at a dock), it's YOUR fault and you deserve a spanking. They must never do Walmart multi's or deal with any of the thousands of other slow docks the rest deal with daily

 

Most of my dispatchers were savvy enough to put me off duty themselves in that situation if it was during normal working hours at the terminal. All it took was a message or phone call. At night I would send a QC canned message off duty with a estimated time of availability after midnight when I would pick up hours.. I would go look for a place to park, or take off for home. I figured that was enough, and no one ever bothered me about it in all the time I was driving.