2nd Job HOS

They don't have to prove with some C.S.I. type test the moonlighting driver was fatigued, just that he likely was fatigued after working with inadequate rest. The Judge and jury are not half drivers of 4-wheelers and half drivers of 18-wheelers. They are nearly only drivers of 4-wheelers. They are awarding judgments that come out of someone else's account to help some sympathetic other drivers of a 4-wheeler who will be portrayed as ALMOST on the verge of curing cancer, fixing homelessness for all, or providing for abandoned pets. Law school is 3 years long for a lot of reasons. It's not just learning a few general purpose clever arguments and a membership at the golf club.

The money pinch of the driver without a 2nd job will seem like winning the lottery compared to the day after he is judged responsible, along with his company, to pay tens or hundreds of thousand dollars for his portion of the responsibility in the crash that destroyed someone's property or health. The issue doesn't end just because he has a slightly larger weekly income. He's vulnerable for any situation created by careless or high drivers that run into him while he is doing everything else exactly right for as long as he's falsifying logs or not getting required rest, whether he needs that rest to feel rested or not. There is no, follow the regs unless you feel rested clause in the regs. When you get a CDL certain rules are dropped on you. If someone isn't willing to be judged against those rules it's better to leave the industry than make a habit of violating them, which volunteers him for up to severe punishment.

 

The regs don't say it's OK to party hearty and come back to work. The regs say in situation A this is required. The fact the regs don't address situation D-J, Q, Y does not legalize situation F. Law school takes 3 years for a reason. There is a lot more required than making an analogy that sounds good for the one making it. I wish the law was logical. The law is a collection of rules and lots and lots of past decisions in specific circumstances that suggest maybe this or maybe that until a judge decides.

 

Getting paid puts the 2nd job activity into the exact situation the regulation is addressing. They tell you the rule for situation A and you break that rule, you are on the hook for punishment. Dangerous isn't the issue. It's like saying "I'm confused why a soldier can kill another soldier in war, but my cousin was sentenced to 25 years for killing his landlord." Different situations with different outcomes.

 

The point should be whether or not the driver is fatigued, period. How he/she got that way really doesn't (shouldn't) matter.

You can play lawyer all you want, but this business of being afraid to walk your dang dog for fear someone might sue you is BS..........or so it seems to me.

 

Not terrified just pointing out everything's grand until something fluke happens then it ain't.

 

Well, it's your hours of service record, not theirs. I don't think they can legally prevent you from making correct log entries. If you have an ELD how are they stopping you? Can't you just edit the off duty time to include your on duty time?

No, you can't keep a second log book. That's really illegal!

 

The right way to do this and stay fully compliant with the FMCSA regulations is to show the periods you work for the 2nd job as on-duty not driving time on your primary job's ELD. This covers you, the motor carrier and keeps full track of your HOS compliance.

While I don't run ELDs, as they are not required for driveaway transportation, what I do is complete a log book using my motor carrier's information for every day including the days I work solely for my consulting company or any other entity. I have a full time job with a dealership as their transportation manager, which requires driving, so all my time is logged there. Outside of that I also have a consulting company, write for a trade magazine, do expert witness work for another firm and own some rental houses. All that time is accounted for on the log book for the dealership I work for to keep it beyond compliant with the spirit and letter of the law.

Now, most drivers that work side hustles never show that time and most will have no issue ever. That said, it is a risk and each of us need to calculate how much risk we are willing to accept when doing anything. Really it is not any different that choosing to be a driver where we know our chances of getting hurt or killed are greater than working in an office, yet we willingly accept that risk in exchange for the reward of compensation and doing something we enjoy.

So, bottom line, you and only you can decide how much risk you are willing to take by being less than complaint with the regulations and societal norms. That is the beauty of being in a free country, it is always your choice how compliant you are!

 

The demand that driver fatigue be the issue will bring about govt brain activity monitors. You will maybe say no it won't. We have ELDs connected to trucks because paper logs were so easy to forge. The combination of the "leave me alone" crowd and the "make everything safe" crowd is the govt monitoring everything, down to individual brains if some Karen feels better.

Feel free to imagine some other way to monitor driver fatigue. Do you get the impression govt regs routinely accept the wisdom of the people doing the job or almost only consult the loudest complainers, the lawyers, and Karens? This is the world we built. We can wish the flying monkeys would fix something or we can accept reality and recognize expressing an opinion doesn't change the regs, the cops, or reality.

 

Then by their own reasoning, they must let you log the time, all of it that you worked (there or elsewhere) accurately. So, enough said. Make a call to FMCSA about it, tell them what your employer is telling you. You may not have that job after, but at least we will all be surprised to hear the outcome of what the company learns, right?