Can't Sleep Here!

I do not know where drivers get some of this stuff, Like telling a cop to sign your log page. This is just not going to happen unless he's signing that he is taking a page for evidence so that you can start a duplicate day's log.

Your hours of service is yours and the companies problem, not the shipper, receiver, or the cops. It's called time management, your dispatcher deals with these people all the time and even if he does not tell you he has a real good idea how long they are going to take to load / unload you. He may not tell you because he may not want to deal with you. Bottom line it's part of time management.

Some companies like Walmart are good enough to let us use there lots, so show the proper consideration and leave it at least as clean as you find.

 

I had one instance where I was stuck in Minneapolis unloading and it took 6 hours to unload, not what I was expecting considering it was supposed to be a drop an hook. Anyways I called the state patrol an talked to a trooper on the phone, explained my situation that I was out of hours and had to drive 30 miles to nearest truckstop to park. Trooper said ok and said they would authorize me to move and gave me badge number phone number and supervisors name. I just wrote it on my logbook, logged it how it was and wrote in notes all the troopers info and why I was driving over my 14. Told safety about it after I got parked and they said that was fine, as long as I had the troopers badge number and info on it.

 

Most of these guys will run over their hours if it benefits them, but as soon as its to someone elses benefit, they go directly to line 4!

 

I have to tell you my friend, Beautifully Said.......



Larry

 

Those who run legal have nothing to fear from on board recording devices. Weve had them this side of the pond for around 25 years. Ive been trucking 23 years and Ive only ever used them but my dad used to use a log book and I used to fill it out for him as we went along (or more usually at the end of the day)

I remember the uproar of the "spy in the cab" when it was introduced and how it was "going to ruin the job" etc etc. It didnt. It made it easier for those operating outside the law to be discovered and those inside it it to be protected.

Ive had no problems with it. I dont speed I dont run over my hours. It protects me not incriminates me.

If your lucky you'll skip the paper tachograpgh, that shows your speed, hours and mode of work and go straight to the digital recorder which is like a credit card. The downside is you cannot physically see your speed although your company and the police can when they down load it, the upside is it cannot be "adjusted" like log books so if you're out of time you're out of time....just remember to print your end of day report and keep it safe and write notes in your personal diary.

The only ones who'll complain are those who run bent not the honest trucker.

ps Were starting to get some companies fitting onboard cameras that face the direction of travel out of the cabs front window for "evidence collection".

 

Well I tell ya, I #### sure ain't been out here all these years
to benefit someone else.When that starts paying into my rates
I may show an interest


To me a log book is a questionnaire regarding my personal business.
I talk to the book like I do people,both get what I feel is
"enough" of my business and the conversation is closed

 

I think Lexus has a infared dedally bob that can detect if you are paying attention to what you are doing. I guess trucks will have them soon.

 

O rly? nothing to fear right? Right? BULLLLLL. I have an EOBR system and it's a piece of crap. It just doesn't log right. Period. Until they start making one that doesnt completely rely on sattelite signals, they will not be OK in my opinion.

Yes, it has to use sattelite signals for positioning, but thats it. The computer should be on board...just like the name implies.

Anyway, mine is a qualcom. The computer running the log system is a remote server in omaha (or wherever). My in-cab terminal only sends and recieves messages with it, does nothing on its own.

So like, if i forget to send the message that i start driving, it picks up that im driving, goes OH SHEEEET!, and guesses when i started driving. It often cuts my break short by 15 minutes when it does that, conveniently. Cant be corrected. have to take the break over. Now, when i take a break over, do you think im going to sleep? You really think i can sleep 20 hours a day? No, im going to be MORE TIRED and LESS RESTED. Not so tired when i start driving, but when i get done im going to be on the verge of sleeping at the wheel, and will have to shut down early, most definitely. I keep benadryl in the truck for just such emergencies. Now, it only cut an 8 hour break short once, so if it cuts a 10 hour break off i just take a 2 hour break. Not such a big deal.

One time i parked without a signal. I sent all neccessary messages. It left me on line 4 all night, which is no big deal, i just corrected it in the morning. Well, in the morning i go to make the corrections, and guess what? It shows ive already driven 120 miles today and been on line 3 for 2.5 hours, even though i actually drove 20 miles in 45 minutes or so. I FREAKED OUT. Luckily when i called logs, I talked to an actual reasonable intelligent human who allowed me to do the correction by transferring 2 hours of driving to yesterdays log (which is how it REALLY happened).

If the EOBR was ON BOARD as the name implies it would be, this would not ever happen. If it lost signal it just wouldnt know where it is. Big deal. My truck has several instruments that can tell if im rolling or not.

I've had times where it logged me onto line 3 when I got out of the truck and went to the bathroom. i am DEAD SERIOUS. It rocked the antenna enough that it decided i was driving.

If i wouldve talked to that one ##### in logs, she would not have let me made any of these corrections. She makes me want to quit every time i talk to her. She's lucky that I never go to Omaha. If I ever go to Omaha again, I am going to stop by and give her a piece of my mind. I hate her. Why the hell do people who treat drivers like sheet get to work at trucking companies? I HATE THAT #####!

That ##### doesnt have any business touching my log book. Period. Thats why EOBR sucks. Until they are ON BOARD AS THE NAME IMPLIES, they will be INACCURATE.

Also, i point out that if i wanted to run illegal a roll of tin foil would allow me to do that. I would be required to run a paper log until the qualcomm just so happened to start working again.


Oh and the other night i had a 30 minute violation. Who wouldve thought that any truck stop wouldve been full at 8PM? I figured i could park at the chicken coop if it was full but it didnt even have any parking space. Maybe it was my fault, but if i had a level 3 right now i'd recieve a ticket. Thats not cool. If i realized the size of the coop i wouldn't have pulled it like i did. Oh well.

Oh, and the reason for some of these vios? It's very difficult to check my hours. Ok, for example, heres EXACTLY what my display shows:

(send message): ologs for emp _______ snd: avail hrs? y dtl? y hrs gain @2400? _ 8day recap? _ for dot request: last __ (1:15) days send to trk? _ fax to ___ - ___ - ____ attn __________________ canada ver? _

(recv message)
REMAINING HOURS
YOUR HRS ARE CURRENT AS OF 1/25 14:30 [that means the system screwed up and hasnt updated them in 5 hours!!!!]
11HR 7.75__ 14HR 5_____ 70HR .5 [thats why im on here instead of driving! LOL]
HRS GAINING @MIDNIGHT ______ [because i forgot to put "y" in the field. Why the heck isnt it included normally?]
REMEMBER TO ALLOW TIME FOR A GOOD VI [because it automatically logs it by itself]
DRIVER CURRENTLY LOGGING ON LINE 2
REDUCE YOUR SPEED AND INCREASE YOAUR FOLLOWING DISTANCE DRIVE SAFE.

(recv message)
1/24
1430 2000 2 VR
1345 1430 4 [no idea why it did that...it never told me it did that...wtf?! should be line 3 i suspect..i think...]
1245 1345 3 MAUSTON WI
1230 1245 1
1200 1230 3 ONALASKA WI
1145 1200 4 LD
[in between here i actually drove for a mile because the location i was dispatched to was not the warehouse the product was at]
1100 1145 2
1000 1100 3 GOODVIEW MN
0845 1000 2
0830 0845 4 [should be line 3 for 30 minutes, drove to a restarea nearby...why should i correct it? it hurts me less as line 4]
0815 0830 2 EYOTA MN [why is this a completely different city when i havent been on line 3? how does that happen exactly?]
0715 0730 4 MT [actually took an hour if you count getting stuck at the dock...literally!]
0615 0715 2
0545 0615 3 CHATFIELD MN
0530 0545 4 VI
0000 0530 2 RACINE MN VR
MLS 248
1=.25 2=14.75 3=3.25 4=1.75
To read: Turn sideways, bottom would be the left of a paper log. Imagine reading it through a 4 line display.

does that look atleast a little bit confusing? If i ran paper log there wouldnt be so many entries, there'd be lines connecting to them, everything wouldnt be a two letter abbreviation, and I wouldnt log the VR as weirdly as the system does...and i wouldnt have to stop to check my log. Don't judge me based on my log, today sucked!


I honestly want to get caught by the DOT cheating my logs with the EOBR. Then they'll force me to run paper logs for the rest of my life. That would be awesome. I just wonder how I can make that happen!!

 

I think youve got a bit confused with what Im saying Phroziac. Im talking about a truck based device that doesnt communicate with the office for recording your daily working hours, your speed and distance travelled only its called a tachograh (we dont use log books). Im in the UK.

You input your card into a slot reader. Select your start location by country (eg UK, France, Germany) and if you need to reset the finish time of your last working period. And your ready to go. At the end of the shift you print it off from the device tell it your still in the same country or adjust it to suit and eject your card.

Very few UK operators have a system like you seem to be having problems with and you have my sympathy as it seems to be causing you more problems than its solving. Ive worked for one that uses whats called Isotrack they get sent live data from the truck that includes what your doing and where you are, Ive not been trained on it and ive never seen it display the breakdown of the working day like you show. It can also send and receive text and phone messages.

Ive heard drivers being hauled into the managers office for going off the prescribed route that was relayed by the device but i know very little else and for now thats cool.

 

I'd just make it go all the time, cover the antenna with tinfoil part of the time, wiggle it around a bunch other times and screw with it all the time indluding unlugging it once in awhile just to keep the talking heads wagging.