logbook question

As to the electronic logs, Werner may be the only "paperless" carrier but i'm pretty sure that Swift, Schneider and JB use the Qualcom or Driver Tech to check driver hours etc.. I have heard that once you move the truck your day begins, period. The problem with this is that if you are on your 10 or 34 hour break, and bobtail, it is not driving. But with the computer saying the truck is moving, you are supposed to log it as line 3. Even tho that is wrong. Now I have only heard this from drivers at those afore mentioned companies, so take it for what its worth. My company only checks tolls and fueling, for now. Who knows whats coming down the road? As to "legal" logging, as was stated earlier, "technically" you are to be on line 4 while waiting to load or unload. Thats where the problem lies. There is no incentive for a shipper or reciever to move you out quickly. Yes, sometimes you will get detention pay and that MAY help, but don't count on it! That is where I feel the HOS fails. I don't penalize myself because a shipper or receiver can't get me loaded or empty. That is where I will "fudge" things. I personally don't think it's fair for a driver to have to log line 4 when you could just as easily be in the sleeper. The most important thing is to be safe! If your tired, your tired! Doesn't matter how many hours you have left. If you don't abuse that, your company should be fine. Now that doesn't mean that you wont get some loads where you need to run for the full 11, take just 10 off, and roll again. That's trucking.

 

path, yes companies can tell when the truck is moving by the qualcomm. Has something to do with setting and releasing the brakes. My hubby found that out, but not the hard way!

 

In mine, you can check the hours the engine ran, over idle, over rpm and overspeed. It will also show the miles driven for the day.

Hit the enter key and it goes to more detail that shows number of stops(brakes set) and driving hours for the day.

This has to be checked before midnight.

They can also ping the truck to find what it is doing and where it is.

 

I'd forgotten about those features! It's been so long since I used one, and it's hard for me to remember everything hubby says about them.

 

Safety checked my logs for the month and sent a message. Everything was perfect. Knew it would be. When I was talking to them, I was told my fuel even matched the exact times.

 

From what I was told during a log book class i took, was that the company TripPak, was hired to scan our log sheets. That goes into a database, and THEN there is a secondary program, that pulls the data from the QualComm, and compares it to your log as it was scanned into the computer. It can tell irregularities such as, you being on lines 1, 2 or 3, when you were fueling. Or being on line 3, but the box shows you stopped, with engine off, and both brakes set. The only time i really 'cheat' my log book, is when i arrive to a shipper or final. i will pull my brakes, then give them 15 minutes to un/load me. then i'm on line 1 or 2. I only do that to save my 70hr clock. I also watch when i say i'm rolling for the first time. If i am going to say in my logbook, i'm on line 3 at 6a, my parking and trailer brakes dont come off till atleast 553a or 554a....and go by the time on the q-comm, not your wrist watch.

 

Well our division has to pretty much drive correctly. We have sensors on our trucks, which checks our speed, stops, etc. They just upgraded the software on the truck. We used to be able to stop for safety checks where 15 minutes is allowed, but we only stop for say five minutes, giving us an extra 10 minutes of driving. Provided we had time on our 14 left. So if you did this four times on your trip, you could add 40 minutes of more driving time, to make it to your destination. But because we are being watched so closely, we have to watch our backs. The office requires us to make our stops on time yet lately they have been counciling us for going over 55 in California. Well normally we try to go 59 or 60 to make it to our stops on time. So I guess if they continue to council us on going over 55 we will just not make the delivery on time and explain why. Falsifying logs in our division will get us fired real quick. So we have to log it as we do it to keep our jobs.

 

Douger, that's pretty much the way it is at the company my hubby drives for. They set things up so the guys don't have to play logbook games, which is nice. I don't know all of the particulars of how they track things, but since they plan things for the guys to run legal, it doesn't really matter.

 

I've stepped in many a truck to the tune of over one million accident free miles. I helped write the CDL portion of the federal rules back in the 1980's for the 1991 start of those rules, and also was the #2 person in our undercover sting operation in the 90's. Many of my fellow federal agents from the FHWA (now the FMCSA) can/could drive.

As far as the rest of your statement; I suggest you refuse to do it illegally, or turn the company in to the FMCSA assuming the company is requiring you to do it illegally. If you don't, it will be you that suffers the consequences once caught. You are responsible for your actions. What would happen to you if you killed someone while running illegally? Well for one thing, we could start with state prison. Then your wages, assuming you were able to get a job after state prison, would be attached to pay whatever amount you would lose when the dead persons' family filed a civil suit against you after they hired an attorney from the law firm of 1-800-call-me. Are you marred? How will your wife & family support themselves while you are in prison? Need I go further?

We received a complaint from a driver many years ago. The only way we could prove the complaint was to hire in with that company. Two of us did that. When we finished with that company, 2 of the owners were in a federal prison, 4 dispatchers were fined somewhere in the neighborhood of $75,000.00 each, 13 or so of the drivers were fined somewhere around $9,000.00 each because they willfully and intentionally went along with the program and did in fact doctor (falsify) their logs the way the company wanted them to, and the company no longer exists. And yes, you will pay every cent of any federal monetary penalty issued to you. Uncle Sam gets his before your family gets theirs under the law.

I also remember a railroad engineer in Michigan that was fined $19,000.00 after a derailment involving hazardous materials for having a brake shoe on the dead man pedal. This was before the dead man was on the control panel/dash.

Always remember........you are the only person responsible for your actions.

But instead of fixing the problem by making a complaint to my former employer many drivers just "go with the flow", or move to a different company instead of fixing the problem. Then they go to the next company, complain, #####, and moan and groan about the previous company, and the present/next company does the same thing. And the more that drivers let companies get by with illegal actions, the more the drivers are expected to perform illegal actions, and in fact continue with the illegal actions thereby coumpounding the problem. Then who gets the raw end of the deal because of their actions, or lack thereof?

From a retired federal DOT official.