ELD 8 days per month

Which is exactly why you carry an up-to-date copy of the green book with you AND know where to find the relevant regulatory exceptions under which you are operating. Open it up, show it to the officer, and if he's still got an issue with it, request that he writes you the citation so that the judge can explain it to him.

I've got paper logs that show precisely why that local exemption from the logging requirements exist. I had picked the truck up at Mack in the morning, then proceeded to run rock from the quarry 6.5 miles up the road to the job site. 15 turns, a lot quick splash of fuel, then 16 miles back to the house. Because I did not start & end the day at the same location, I will had to complete a RODS for the day. 15 loads loaded and delivered, plus a fuel stop, all within in an 8 hour day. Care to give that a whirl? Good luck keeping it "legible" , as you're going to have 33 changes of duty statuses to flag with locations I nside of that 8 hour window...and if you show 15 minutes of drive time between loading and unloading (crossed a state line, so definitely 2 separate towns to name), you no longer have the time left to show for loading or unloading. Not to mention, you wind up spending about as much time messing around with that silly book as you do actually working.

It exists for a reason. Just because YOU don't use it in YOUR operation doesn't mean it shouldn't be available to others who run a different sort of operation. That's the biggest problem with big government solutions...they rely upon "one-size-fits-all" solutions to regulate people and industries as individually unique as snowflakes.

 

I get what you're saying. I also have days where I'm doing very short runs, and logging it on a log sheet is a mess. The time cards are nice for such times. What I was trying to point out was it can get kind of sticky when you're doing both. You run a bunch of short haul for a few days, then you have a day or two that you need to do a log. Then, on the long trip, you wind up being inspected, and run into a cop that wants to question everything, so now you are stuck on the side of the road explaining to the cop exactly what you're doing and how it's legal. I've been there, and I don't enjoy it. And yes, I carry the green book and also have it bookmarked.

I guess what we have is about the best way, as long as we can run paper. But if the gooberment is successful in mandating elogs, they should do away with the local provision. It eliminates the questions about 8 days a month, local drivers would get a full 14 hour day instaed of 12 (not that I'd wanna work 14, but having the extra 2 hours to play with would be nice).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating for elogs in any way. But if we gotta do it, make it all uniform, and eliminate the confusion.

 

I've never had a problem putting a cop in his place when it comes to knowing the rules of the game we're playing. Fun when they finally realize they just had a learning experience.

 

If you're running under the 100 air mile exception, you aren't required to take the 30 minute break. Your company needs to keep a record of your hours, which must include the required information...name, date, starting time, ending time, and the total number of hours worked. That could be kept on a time card, a log book (use line 4 for the hours you work, line 1 for the hours you don't), or even a scrap piece of paper...so long as the required info is there.

 

Here is an example one you can print off...

 

Legally yes. Personally I'd keep a copy in in the truck so if you get an ahole of a dot officer.

 

The 30 day period is a rolling window so it may be difficult to do this every week without interuption. Is your run so ridgid that you can't adjust one trip a month to avoid the greater then 8 in 30?

Could the start of your week adjust to a different location to avoid the two day turn? Or is there another contractor serving the same client that you can alternate the long haul with, that way maybe both of you can avoid ELDs?

Just some thoughts