Do you run illegal on your logs?

Discussion in 'Trucking Industry Regulations' started by LogsRus, Mar 28, 2007.

Do you log a 10 hour break but only stop for 8 hours or close to it?

  1. *

    Yes I stop for my full 10, I don't want handcuffs on me

    60.6%
  2. *

    I only stop for 8 but I log a 10 hour break

    8.5%
  3. *

    I stop for less than 7 hours most of the time

    6.4%
  4. *

    I do whatever I feel my body can handle @ the time

    27.1%
  1. LogsRus

    LogsRus Log it Legal

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    Nov 23, 2006
    Indianapolis, Indiana
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    You are welcome! I have never driven a truck and many drivers don't respect me for that, but as I always tell them I have a great street smart about me and common knowledge. Heck I can't even drive an hour without thinking about what you all must deal with every day and that is in a 4-wheeler.
    Now I do think you all have to much freedom :biggrin_2559: you can visit all these places I can't and it is free! That's why I want to be a driver, but I doubt I could handle the stress of these 4 wheelers like me.

    I am giving you a :biggrin_25514: and great job!
     
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  3. Hill-a-billy

    Hill-a-billy Light Load Member

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    Thanks!!:biggrin_25525: It means a lot to hear it sometimes.
     
  4. prodriver

    prodriver Bobtail Member

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    May 14, 2007
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    I look at this situation a little differently. Poor trip planning in this situation is not the fault of the driver. It is the fault of the dispatcher (if he/she knows the driver's available hours). Most of the time dispatchers know the customers who traditionally have delays loading drivers and should have adjusted the pick up time or found another driver who had enough hours.

    Although drivers are utimately responsible for their compliance with the regulations, the dispatchers and company management should do their parts too! Falsifications and other HOS violations could be greatly reduced if company managers and dispatchers were held equally responsible by not placing drivers in bad/illegal situations to begin with.
     
  5. Excellent,very well said,and I'm a Assistant Safety Director hired out of the fleet because they wanted a truckers point of view in the office. I'm not real sure if they are comfortable with their decision:biggrin_255:
     
  6. 2mega

    2mega Bobtail Member

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    :biggrin_25513: Many otr drivers are content to "live" in the truck....some others, more ambitious, attempt to work hard, and earn as much as they can.

    In order to do this, falsifying logs is essential. ....good drivers can show "legal logs" while driving illegally. ....an example of this is say you're laid over a couple of days, (be sure your fuel tanks or full.) By backlogging, you recoup the 'driving time' you lost....your log looks legal and your driving habits look legal and instead of earning 11 hrs. driving pay, you have earned 33 hrs. pay....it takes as much skill and a lot of luck to run an illegal, "legal" log as it does many other aspects of your work.....is it wise ??..NO !! ....is it productive ??..YES !!....do I recommend it ??..NO !!.

    A driver manager told me once, the D.O.T. allows a company 10 percent non-compliance, and if they get much over that, they crack down.

    Unfortunately, a companies "best" drivers do this with a safe driving performance record and persevere while those that refuse to do so are part of the 120 percent annual turnover.
     
  7. LogsRus

    LogsRus Log it Legal

    2,589
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    Nov 23, 2006
    Indianapolis, Indiana
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    Ok yes DOT allows us 10% variance, but imagine all the drivers they pull are "logging illegal"? What do you think happens to that company rating? When that company rating goes down imagine who gets no loads? Who sufferes in the long run; the company & driver.

    I cleaned up a company that had 2 bad DOT audits. The next audit would have been shut down time! You can't concentrate on one thing in logs, you have to concentrarte on everything. It stinks to be a log auditor, but I will say it is very challenging and many would say they would never do my job!

    It is a team effort, company & driver should be enforcing legal logging & running! Any driver who doesn't want to run legal, should think about prison time and how well you will fit in? That's just how I look at life when I feel like doing something illegal:biggrin_25510: I also think of the lives I will affect if I go to jail, such as my children and mother (god she would have a heart attack):biggrin_25524:
     
  8. jamwadmag

    jamwadmag Road Train Member

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    ...why, yes I do! Whenever I see LogsRus, I run away!!:biggrin_25522:
     
  9. Cybergal

    Cybergal Road Train Member

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    YOU better...she's not through painting her house yet and is looking for volunteers...:biggrin_25517:
     
  10. 2mega

    2mega Bobtail Member

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    Jun 8, 2007
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    ....Hi logsRus,

    I'm new here and observing this forum, I am very impressed.

    ....I am also impressed with you and many other contributors with their ability to express themselves in writing [and spell checking.]

    With 17 yrs. otr experience, I have much to say about logs, but will try to be concise.

    I hauled for one of the premier haz-waste haulers the last ten years before retiring two yrs. ago.

    Super fund money expired and many changes occurred because of it. ....My company went from @ 400 trucks down to @ 38 trucks when I left.

    They had an idea where they put @ a dozen trucks on salary ($1250) per week and hauled the good loads to (a) facility....used the mileage drivers to accumulate the loads (East Coast) and drop them at our E.C. yard.....They ran the h__ out of the salaried drivers.

    Later they cut the salary back to $1,000 a wk., and a lot of their best drivers quit.

    I went on salary, and was running more miles for my thousand bucks and making less money than mileage rate.

    With the heat on with the new (then) hrs, of service rules and enforcement I decided I would run legal.

    I was castigated by my DM, and after 9 plus years of being one of the companies "best'" drivers, I had become one of the "worst" and was threatened with reassignment to the companies "open freight" (flat bed) division.

    I hear that my former DM was rewarded for his aggressive treatment of drivers (a couple were 2 million mile safe drivers) to the coveted position of "planner" replacing the long time planner (fair and honest) that held the job for years.

    You are absolutely right....all drivers should run legal....ain't gonna happen....(maybe when the corporations quit using child labor and convicts in the far east.)
     
  11. LogsRus

    LogsRus Log it Legal

    2,589
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    Nov 23, 2006
    Indianapolis, Indiana
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    Then why you here for:biggrin_25517:

    You know you love me:biggrin_2559:
     
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