***EXPERIENCED OTR DRIVERS ADVICE PLEASE***

To me, going from paper to ELD means no difference. HOS is still HOS. I'll keep a recap on paper last 10 days and keep rolling.

There is one change. if I am on my ...7th or 8th hour and happen to see or be near a known good truckstop with half the lot empty? Ima pulling in. Message dispatch to get me a new appt time. Legally parked. And done for the 10 hour break, dinner etc.

That way there is no violating going on.

I don't worry about it anymore. Part of me resents it but at the same time they apparently are working on Personal Conveyance so you can roam as needed to get fuel, food, rest etc and reset for the next load or delivery without trouble.

Being able to use the bobtail as personal car is one of the greatest privileges I have always been appreciative of with any company. I might be 6 states away paying cash for my fuel burn for a few days but all is well. PC is one of the greatest assets to me.

I will not tolerate a stupid ELD that says I have to sit in Holbrook 34 hours. Doing nothing but twiddle thumbs. Nope. Not happening. I lost 5 days in Texakarana once over the holidays in a hotel. They gave me like 1000 dollars plus payroll in cash for my trouble that week. But that town was such a hole there wasn't much to spend it on.

 

Mon morning I will be headed for Texas, 4000 mile round trip run in 7 days. My departure time will have to be made accordingly so I get thru Denver before rush hour, "fuel stop there". I figure on 650 mile days, governed @ 72. Also before I leave I need to figure in for getting around Dallas, there is a lot of road construction on I35 W so i need to try to get around that. I need to time my delivery in eastern Tx for the end of my 14 and also around noon so I can head out early for my morning pickup in Abilene coming back towards Mt. And then I have to time it just right to get thru that stupid tourist town called Moab Ut at night and hit Salt Lake in the early morning hours. On paper I would just go and rewrite my logs to make it thru these towns before or after rush hour, on elog I have to put maps and calculator to work and sometimes bump the governor for a couple hours just to not get a violation. I don't run any more miles on eld I just have to pre plan my whole week before i take off. My opinion? Elogs make you run harder because once u start that clock its go time! On paper you could always fudge it if you needed to. With all the cameras and digital documentation on the roads anymore elogs will help you if you ever get in a bind because everything is documented. So bottom line? Think forward a week or more at a time!!

 

That's good advice...I started a "Do Not Stop For Fuel" list. Any truck stop that's always busy, a cluster to get out of, minimal parking, or if it isn't easy an easy on/easy off stop, I don't go there. You don't want to burn a half hour or lower waiting to get fuel. That's unproductive. I run into that issue mainly with the corporate truck stops. Those are the ones fat make the list. Very few mom and pops make the list. Most of the time I can get fuel without having to wait in line. Either one should get started at 3 or 4 am or 12 pm or later. If you go with the latter, you get parking by the time your out of hours because a lot of drivers will be leaving.

 

Since the ELD mandate, my income has risen 2 1/2 times. I’m thinking of getting a second ELD

 

Lol!

 

The biggest effect its had on me is that the truck stops and other places to stop for the night are full much earlier. Last year I could cruise in as it got dark outside and easily find parking. This year everything is full much earlier. Took me a while to figure out why until I realized that all these drivers can't fudge their books any longer and most don't drive at night. So I now start earlier and park for the night earlier. But I always played by the rules and it has no effect on my HOS.

 

Biggest change I see [with eLog mandate] is more trucks camped out a a fuel pump, doing nothing and nowhere to be seen, and trucks everywhere driving 4 mph, holding up everyone behind them.

 

The biggest problem with ELDs for the OTR driver, is if you're ending your day driving. You can't run it right up to 11 hours, or go a little over, and log that you took your break fifteen miles back. You will most likely have to leave some time on the table, to ensure you don't get a violation. In some areas, this may mean shutting down with an hour and half or even more than two hours left that you could drive, because you can't risk being caught with no place to park. That's just the way it is.

 

Parked on the freeways too

 

Once in a while Ive put her into closed strip bars around back. The Law local has alot of fun with that. They interrupt my rest in the weedgrown lot thinking Im engaged in prositution.

Nothing is further from from truth. He he. Excepting one black man in Raliegh during a tornado emergency (9 miles and closing, I had selected that one due to the hotel with basement next door) he made small talk taking up my valuable cab being wasted with words... finally he asked e i I would enjoy the service is half wife for sale.

A little profanity took care of that problem and was time to go. Darn tornado was 4 miles and closing. Raliegh airpoint was begin procedures to protect many people.