Bobtailing and Scales???

That same guidance states driving a CMV home can be logged off duty with no distance limitation stated . The "reasonable distance " is for food or lodging .

 

Here's is a intrepretation from 395.2 and 395.8 Go to www.fmsca.dot .gov then go to regulations 395 and hit the links. The intrepretations are in blue one the right hand side.

Question 1: A company told all of its drivers that it would no longer pay for driving from the last stop to home and that this time should not be shown on the time cards. Is it a violation of the FMCSRs to operate a CMV from the last stop to home and not show that time on the time cards?
Guidance: The FMCSRs do not address questions of pay. All the time spent operating a CMV for, or at the direction of, a motor carrier must be recorded as driving time.

This is from 395.8 in the intrepretation section.

Question 26: If a driver is permitted to use a CMV for personal reasons, how must the driving time be recorded?
Guidance: When a driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work, time spent traveling from a driver’s home to his/her terminal (normal work reporting location), or from a driver’s terminal to his/her home, may be considered off-duty time. Similarly, time spent traveling short distances from a driver’s en route lodgings (such as en route terminals or motels) to restaurants in the vicinity of such lodgings may be considered off-duty time. The type of conveyance used from the terminal to the driver’s home, from the driver’s home to the terminal, or to restaurants in the vicinity of en route lodgings would not alter the situation unless the vehicle is laden. A driver may not operate a laden CMV as a personal conveyance. The driver who uses a motor carrier’s CMV for transportation home, and is subsequently called by the employing carrier and is then dispatched from home, would be on-duty from the time the driver leaves home.
A driver placed out of service for exceeding the requirements of the hours of service regulations may not drive a CMV to any location to obtain rest.

 

You're right. It has been my experience that if you come in like directed, odds are in your favor that you won't be inspected. But I can almost guarentee that if you blow it, you will be stopped. Now that's not true everywhere but the area I work it is. Then you alleviate the problem, you come in, probably won't be stopped and continue riding.

 

I know FedEx had an issue with the first question and it isn't answered clearly . The question didn't ask about pay . It asked if it should be shown on the time card probably with the intent of asking if it was considered on duty . It can be interpreted after the last stop the driver isn't driving under the direction of the carrier . Once he has made that last stop they don't care where he drives .

 

I find this a little hard to swallow, not that I do not believe you. I deliver RV's and when I am empty, the pickup truck is still classified a commercial vehicle and they are looking at us. We have to log and cross alot of the scales when just a "bobtail". My total empty weight is 7800 lbs, far less than the 18,000 a normal bobtail weighs.

 

From my experience if you are not laden and using the cmv for personal conveyance you do not have to cross scales. I recalled where I heard that info initially was from ret. sr. Trooper Monty Dial from the TXDOT which made me inquire with the guys at the Litchfield, IL scales.

 

Well, I will tell them the next time. It happens alot. My truck is small compared to yours, but I still get called in on the auto weighs on the highway. A friend did not stop when it called him in and he got to enjoy paying a 185 fine for bypassing a scale. He received a dot level 1 as a bonus prize. He was advised that the vehicle is still classified as a commercial vehicle even when not laden.

I know some others that have been just stopped along the highway even when unladen and had level 1's done.

 

A commercial vehicle MUST cross the scales. Period. Nine times out of ten they are more interested in looking at your fuel tax stickers than they are your weight anyway. There's no exception to this as far as I know. Also I've been told the only way you can use a truck for personal conveyance and not log it as driving is if you own the truck. If it's a company owned vehicle, you must log all driving time.

 

In Oregon, the signs read (at most scales I've seen) "All trucks over 20,000 must enter"

 

Are tractors bobtailing required to go to weightscales?