Few Questions

It depends on the device but with omnitracs as soon as login you're placed on duty. You need to change it to off duty if you aren't intending to go on duty yet. About all the eld does automatically is that, putting you in driving once you start rolling and putting you in on duty when you stop driving.

What qualifies as driving is set by the company within bounds. Most are 2 miles AND over 20 mph. You can go any speed for less than 2 miles or any distance at under 20. I worked for a company that had it set to 1 mile OR 10 mph. You're placed in driving for any distance over a mile regardless of speed or for any distance if you get over 10 mph.

Elogs are 5 minute resolution and are rounded. Any duty change lasting less than 2.5 minutes is not recorded. Your driving tracks back to when you started moving. So you could drive for 2 minutes stop and go off duty and the driving won't show up. If you start moving it's track back and pick up that twi minutes. You have to set the brakes and turn the truck off. It will not track back through that.

Overall driving is the violation so that's the one thing you don't have control over. If your company allows off duty driving you can use that to run down to the gas station for a soda but otherwise it's too far. Maybe in the middle of the night if you don't mind it taking a half hour to get there.

 

The receiver that I go to on a daily basis now is running out of the raw product that we deliver to it. Now here is a big loophole that milk haulers are now using. for the first 172 miles(150 air miles), these hours are not counted and upon the return trip, at that point, they turn the ELD off again. I have talked to several DOT troopers and they are really up in the air about this exemption, but right now there is nothing that can be done.

 

How many times have we gotten to the truck early? Not even dispatched yet, just checking things over, maybe hook to a trailer, run it over for fuel or a wash? Making sure everything is ship shape... Now, I can't do that stuff without being flagged. I own my truck, and I take satisfaction in going over her, checking this and or that. Running her over to the air line to squirt some air in, same with the trailer. I'm not on duty, not in my mind, I am doing what any responsible O/O should be doing before hitting the road, that is when I go on duty. I know, I can hear it now, I'm cheating and an outlaw because I will not bend down and lick the boots... Using the logic that I am about to be hit with, should I go on duty when I have the week off and am tinkering with the truck at the house?

 

What a mess.

 

Let em run out of product.

If I go to the store and find that the shelf is bare? Fine. No problem. I'll go back home in peace knowing exactly why that shelf should be empty now. Be it far from me to raise hell about it in the store. I could... if I am feeling the need to get rid of some stress.. But I wont.

DOT will do what DOT will do. #### their eyes. But... DOT says if they cannot do anything? Shrugs... here have a doughnut and coffee out of the thermos. Might as well take a moment and let it go. Until next time. Make things a little bit easier.

 

You operate the same as I do. Or I should say as I did. I have always arrived to work early to just make sure about things. Can't do it any more. A #### shame.

 

If the truck moves, the eld connected to the ecm will record miles. If a driver is logged in he will be promoted to account for the missing miles. If no driver is logged in, there will be miles assigned to “unidentified driver”. Unidentified Driver will have to be identified at some point. Is this correct?

 

This is my understanding but what do I know, just an old man trying to still be productive but thinking that Solomon the wise man was right when he wrote in the Book of Ecclesiastes "Meaningless! Meaningless!-----Everything is Meaningless" "What does a man gain from all his labor"

 

I am using keep truckin. It does not put you on line 4 the moment you login. It just shows you today's log, with line drawn to whatever time it is and what you left it on, for me I only log out when I get home so it's line 1. You have to be real careful about the 5 mph limit. Your company in the admin tab on login can ratchet that down to zero. I have mine setup anything below 5 mph will not trigger a driving event.

There is no more moving the truck above 5 mph without it being recorded. What you can do (if enabled) is push change status ...click on duty.... check box for yard move...which lets you move around and driving is recorded on line 4 instead of line 3. I know that probably doesn't help you much....but it is what it is.

For me and when my mechanic moves the truck around it gets recorded as an unidentified driving event. I just leave it like that. The next thing is to setup a 2nd driver as mechanic so I can assign that to that driver. Those events are what they will look at.

You can also move around on off duty pc....again if enabled. You have to hit change status first and click off duty and check pc box for it to work. The line will show as all on line 1 and whenever you broke 5 mph it draws a green line. They will look hard at that too. It also says location data every time you change duty status so there isn't any wiggle room for going off duty here and going in duty somewhere else.

About all I can think of this snowy Christmas morning.

 

I have come to the decision that I really do not care about a "log violation" on this piece of manure. If the company wants to correct it, they can. If DOT wants to write me up, more power to them. I am too old for this "circus".