Pretrip

If your asking because you counted sleeper berth time and stayed with truck and your elogs are not asking for a pre-trip because you did not post trip??? Do it regardless and write it in comments.

I could've walked by and put a bar in drive yoke, or pulled 5th wheel bar out and locked it. I didn't unless it has been in by living room next to the couch for two days.

You should also be entering in a remark every time vehicle stops stating you did an inspection.

 

Were you on-duty? (the answer is yes)
Anytime you are on-duty it must be logged. Even load checks are on-duty. Basically if it smells, looks, or even quacks like it's job related it's on-duty. The only thing the slightest bit complex is if you are on paper logs and it takes less than 7 minutes you simply flag it. Of course if it takes less than 7 minutes to pre trip, you need to actually do a real pre trip, and not just a walk around....

 

Depends on your company's safety department if they want time logged (and how much minimum time if eLogs) both pre and post or maybe just "flag" one of them. Some fly-by-night outfits probably don't care one way or another how you log it or if you do it but that's another discussion.

 

Why not log the unload and pre-trip at the same time?

 

I cannot remember the rule but normally the pretrip is flagged and post trip logged.

 

The book says 'satisfied with the condition....' or words to that affect.

But let me ask you a rhetorical question. Say you emptied out the night before and it is time to drive off the property. So you feel 'hmm, mt, no need to pretrip' 20 minutes later you get pulled over in your CMV and the officer tells you he pulled you over because a light was burned out or a tire was flat or something. Do you then tell the officer, "It's OK I'm empty, I'm exempt from being satisfied with the safety of my equipment".

 

Always log on duty first thing before you drive as a pre trip. If you are on elogs, avoid the trap of only logging a few minutes for it. The dot can make you demonstrate a pre trip during an inspection. If you logged a three minute pre trip, you better be able to do it in three minutes. If not, he can write a ticket for each day in the last seven you showed a really short pre trip.

 

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Yep falls under Log Falsification which is under the Fatigued Basic in CSA. It will hit the driver's PSP report making it increasingly difficult to get a another driving job and puts the current driving job at extreme risk. Not to mention a record like this can be found by an bloodthirsty lawyer after a fatality crash to come after the driver for millions in liability.

 

I have heard this many times over the years, but no one has ever been able to post a credible link, regulation or anything to support this myth. Are you trained monkeys that do any enforcement officer's bidding? Has anyone actually had an enforcement officer say, "I don't believe you did that inspection in XX minutes and I want you to show me"?

There is nothing in the regulations that says you must be able to prove you can do an inspection in a certain amount of time. In fact, there is nothing in the regulations that says you have to be able to prove you can do a competent inspection once you have been examined and have your CDL. Annual inspections? Yes. Daily inspections? No.

So, no, neither the DOT, nor any other enforcement officer can make you demonstrate an inspection. Besides, I am surprised that all you "log it like you do it" guys don't understand that just because you did an inspection in XX minutes "then", that you can repeat it "now".

The appropriate response, to ANY question from an enforcement officer is always to refer them back to your logs. That's it. Period. IF an enforcement officer questions your inspection, and if it was a pre-trip inspection you simply inform them that you were satisfied that the motor vehicle is in safe operating condition, per 396.13. A lot of drivers would have a lot fewer issues if they did just that. Heck, maintaining that practise might even cut down on "trucker myths"... but I doubt it.

 

Oh, and just for clarity and correction of a few more posted inaccuracies:

1. A pre-trip consists of being satisfied the CMV is in safe operating condition,
   
   396.13: Driver inspection​
2. A post-trip includes a report, and
   
   396.11: Driver vehicle inspection report(s)​
3. If you're on paper logs and it is less that 15 minutes you can "flag" it in your log.
   
   395.8: Driver's record of duty status (Guidance: Question 1)​