Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

I never switch to Canadian HOS. I tried it once and like you, it immediately put me in violation so I quickly put it back the US time which gave me enough time to make delivery and have never bothered with it again.

 

I already got one ticket and failed inspection in Canada, so I'm hesitant to follow your example.

 

Same here. This is the first time it's given me any stick, and I'm pretty sure it's because I've been running on recap.

 

Are you running more than 14 days?
You need 24 hrs off in 14 days in Canada, that's probably the reason.

 

Yep, that'd be it. Today is Day 15.

 

I haven't had a full inspection in Canada. I did get stopped by their DOT once and got two tickets but he knew what he was looking for before he stopped me. Never once asked to look at my logs.

I would have gone with. "I was told logs are based on home terminal and that is in the Eastern time zone of the USA, so that's what my logs are set to, Occifer"

 

Then you should be ok after 24 hours break.
And be aware, for Canada you need a 36 hour reset, if you only take a 34 and cross the border you run on recaps in Canada.

 

According to Kimberly in the Safety Department, this is actually the case.

I sat at customs for an hour and a half, waiting to hear back from HQ about what was going on. Thing is, when I called HQ the first time, my fleet manager was off at lunch and unavailable. So I wound up talking to someone else. They were the ones who (apparently) put the wheels in motion to come rescue my load.

But I figured I'd probably get a better answer from my own fleet manager rather than some anonymous person who I don't know. So I called him up, said "Man, all I need is someone to tell me I can legally roll on US HOS while in Canada." He said to hold on a sec.

He called Kimberly down in safety, explained the situation to her, and then called me back. According to HQ, Canadian DOT will honor US HOS. So if I've come in from the US and I can legally roll on US hours, Canada is cool with that.

I will confess I'm a touch skeptical. Like, the speed limit in Pennsylvania on I-70 up to Breezewood is 55 mph, and it don't matter what the speed limit is in Maryland, right? So I kinda figure it's gotta be the same when it's a completely different country. When in Rome, etc.

But I have been assured that it Won't Be A Problem to run on US hours in Canada, and that's straight from our safety director, who is paid to know these things. Ideally, I'll never actually be in a situation where I get to directly verify it one way or the other.