11 hour limit for drivers

Depends on the day. Some days I drive 10 hours sometimes it can be only 4 or 5. Usually its a happy medium of about 8 or 9 hours.

 

But if on e-logs depending on how your company does pre-trip inspection logging some move it back 15 mins other are minute to minute. So I would say to be safe wait 10hrs 15 mins before logging on for pre-trip in morning

 

RogueX nailed it! Some companies, especially the "mega companies" will push you beyond belief... and some will even push a driver toward illegal driving if he/she will do it. I have worked for two large carriers that would push me into 14-16 hour shifts, and then expect me to be back at it again as soon as my 10-hour break was over. Needless to say, that kind of a situation sucks and I'm really glad to be away from both of those companies. Good luck to you!

BTW, are you in driving school now or what's your current situation?

 

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If your'e not burning up your 70 find a company who will let you burn it up. You aren't out here to sight see. You are out here to burn rubber!!

 

in the old days if a driver told me he would only run legal, i would not hire him. if you were in the meat and produce game you could be in trouble if you run legal.

 

Looking at my previous eight days, I generally average eight to nine hours per day in driving and working. I also average a grand per week gross, and go home on the weekends, generally. But I drag a flatbed around behind me, too. Flatbedding is an entirely different world from dry-van and reefer.

 

At the 10th hour I look for a spot to pull over grab my etcha sketch and redo my lines and grab coffee

 

Plan where you are going to stop and, assuming you have enough 70, adjust your cruising speed so you arrive there in 10.75 hours.

Just remember DeRT

distance = rate x time

or distance/time = rate.


Set your cruise about 1mph faster than the calculation to add some buffer for hills/construction

 

I used to burn my 11 every chance I got when I was otr but I got burnt out running those days, these days I probably average with my dedicated 9 hours a day, some days I might be pushing those last couple minutes to get back to the dc but its never a must for me to return mt as long as I can do the loads the next day.

You set yourself up to whats comfortable to you as long as you can get the load done, if its a load that will require you to push 11 a day with tight times then dont do it, I always factor in traffic, construction, grades etc and I have kept at 100% on time. Like others said trip planning is your number one priority, play it smart though not lazy, have seen drivers who decided "oh I have 400 miles for this new load and it delivers tomorrow" one guy I knew decided he was going to do 200 each day, well the next day he ran into an accident and ended up being late since he was lazy and didnt want to knock out those 400 miles and just be there close to the customer.