Can't Sleep Here!

kinda makes you wonder what they dont want you to see

 

pa.will give u two tickets,parkin in no parkin and disobeying traffic sign which is a movin violation and court appearence

 

Ive never had any problems at wal-marts. Ive parked in many of them, most of them being from michigan down and west of there. Never tried to stay at any on the east coast. Ive always made sure I parked as far away from the building as possible or if they have a side access road ill park on that. Never once been bothered but also ive bought something at every one I stayed at just to have a receipt to say I shopped there.

 

I park in shopping centers all the time and have for years, The only area they have given me trouble is the Bay area, and even then I ask the security guard and he showed me an out of the way area behind the stores.

Make sure your out of the way and gone by morning. Grocery stores work for me I try to get under the lights somewhere, stay away from dark area they seem to invite unneed trouble.

If I have to resort to highway parking I find flipping up the hood, triangles out, stay with the story help is on the way, our dispatch is cool enough that the only time a officer called in to check they verified the story and called me.

 

Drivers, first off its a favor or courtesy when they allow us to sleep in there parking lots. And you need to treat it as such. I have seen Walmarts that had enough trucks in the lot to make it difficult for customers, usually because the drivers did not bother to get the trailers out of the way. Or of course leaving a pig pin behind, Bags and bottles of waste and trash just tossed out of the window. If you go in and ask a store manager where in the lot you can park and be out of the way normally they will tell you. Be sure to thank them it goes along way toward the next guy being able to stay.

Driver seem to think the world owes them something, they don't, I (and you) choose to drive for a living. Get over it you are the only whom decides if your going to have a great day, or a crappy day. Have a Great Day..Do not let them win.

 

Well said. Alot of people expect that they can park anywhere and trash it, then they wonder why people look bad upon them. I was at a truckstop once, watched a guy wake up, open his curtains then open the door and drop a trash bag out then take off. He did that with me standing outside the passenger side hood pretripping, and he looked right at me. An all he had to do was walk to the back of his trailer and put it in the trash can that was right there. I always said thanks if I ever had to ask a manager at a walmart or grocery store and they always smiled an said no problem. I found if you are nice about it, and come in looking atleast somewhat civilized and not like a caveman they will be nice in return.

 

small problems? More like big problems for me. However, the ones where the EOBR actually malfunctions, and shows that i do a pretrip and then start driving when...im either in the sleepr, or ...not in the truck, are the only time i can get my 14 hour clock's start time altered. (Werner's system uses an odometer reading verification for such errors)

Most of my problems with the EOBR are ...not with the EOBR... they are with the way we are supposed to follow the HOS rules. Like...

If you cut a break short by fifteen minutes, you have to take it again. The whole thing. That just doesn't make sense. Also, the differentiation between line 1 and line 2, and sitting in the passenger seat (which is required to be logged as line 4) is not something that makes sense at all in today's trucks. Right now, I am in the passenger seat, facing backwards, with my feet on my bed, logging line 2. Now, thats just a way to sit that I find very comfortable, but.....If my feet are in the sleeper, does that count? Being in this truck really aint much different than being at home. Just because I'm in the sleeper doesn't mean i am sleeping. I quite often cook, clean, use the internet, eat, etc in my sleeper. Same as being off duty. Whats the diff? Line 1 and 2 ought to be combined and the difference eliminated.

I sleep for 6 hours a night. Now, I do enjoy the extra 4 hours of ...doing anything i want, but sometimes i just get BORED.

And if i sleep for 6 hours in the truck and still have to take atleast an 8 hour break, how come if i went home i have to take a 10? im sleeping the same amount of time!

Also, I think enforcement should be a lot different. Like, lets say for example

I deliver at a walmart DC. You know they hold you up ALLL DAY. See my post about it! I run out of hours in their parking lot. They dont let me sleep there. Lets say its 15 mins past my 14. lets say i have to drive 30 mins to get to a truck stop. I've violated my 14 by 45 minutes now. I work for werner, and that violation is just long enough to actually start getting me in trouble. Lets say I had an accident during that time. Infact, lets say its a fatality. Someone runs a stop sign and runs under my trailer, loses their head. It's my fault because i'm 45 minutes over my 14. Now i'm facing prison for vehicular homicide. What the hell was i supposed to do exactly?

I think there should be more roads like Old Harlem Ave in Chicago. This road is filled with nothing but warehouses basically. Trucks can park on the street for free with no time limit. The only bad thing: The curb, which is already basically destroyed from curbs, has signs: "$100 fine for running over curb". And when i was down there, there was a cop sitting there, waiting to give out curb jumpin tickets.

why cant more roads in industrial areas have parralel parking setups? Why cant the cops understand that sometimes you have to break the HOS law?

 

The 8 has to be combined with a 2 to total 10 and the 2 counts against the 14 hours . Not even going to try to explain it completely but an 8 hour break does not reset the 14 hours . It only extends it .

 

I know. Infact i will flat out say that i can not understand the way it works completely. I would never split the sleeper under the current rules without the EOBR. I split the sleeper a lot, sometimes just because im bored and want to drive, and sometimes because I need to to make a delivery. The EOBR makes it nice, i just call into logs before i start the break, ask them how many hours i'll get back, and then I know if it'll be useful for me or not. Or if its a spur of the moment 'im bored lets drive", i just send in the hours request on the qualcomm.

But.....the reason i said 8 is because if you cut a 10 hour break short, that counts for your 8 hour break and you only need to take an additional 2 hours to make it a legal split. if you're trying to split, and cut an 8 hour break short...you are screwed and need to take the whole thing over!

And i think thats stupid. If i didnt get that 15 minutes of sleep that i needed, i dont need to sleep for an extra 8 hours. I cant sleep for 16 hours. And i cant stay in the sleeper that long without goign insane either! (i log it in a way that makes it legal though...thank god the EOBR doesnt keep track of when i open and close the door to put me on line 1...)

 

Its not a shippers or a receivers responsibility to supply you with a place to take your 10 hour break. Its up to you to learn to schedule your time to have time to make your deliveries. If you can not make your delivery legal then it is up to your dispatch to reschedule the delivery. The guy on the dock did not decide for you that you should drive a truck for a living. And its not his responsibility to make your truck run down the road either. If the company you work for can arrange for you to be able to make your stops legally and you can not figure out how to do it, then maybe you are working for the wrong company.

My logs appear to be legal and correct, anything I have with a time stamp matches the book. If I can not make a delivery with a time stamp and log it legally I do not make the delivery. Most important at the time of dispatch I tell them right then if I can make the load legal, and if not when I can deliver. If this is not good enough then they can put another driver on the load. If something happens I notify dispatch immediately as to the disposition of the delivery and how, and why the load has been effective. You are in charge of the truck, but you may have to deal with dispatch in ways they don't care for. For instance I record all phone calls between, and have walked in and played it back to them. What ever it takes to cover my ###.

Believe me your alone out here and I do not care whom you work for when it comes to the money and DOT they will turn on you. Every time .... As far as what you can do or can not do with a log book, Check out Drivers Daily Log they have free sample and can be very helpful.