Just some of the stupid things I see

If you are dispatched from home, you are on duty until you return home. If you are dispatched from the terminal, you are on duty until you return to the terminal. It really isn't as difficult as you are trying to make it. You aren't being penalized for your home's location....you just cannot drive the truck off duty to get the truck anywhere the truck might need to go.

 

No problem, I have no load.

The problem IS, that when you have so many regulations and interpretations of these regulations... there are bound to be loop-hole that appear... to bypass certain regulations. (ie HOS and personal conveyance). Something similar has happened with tax codes.

 

Spendid,

Now here's the monkey wrench....

Say, I spent the previous day out... in the sleeper of my truck. I clearly wasn't dispatched from home(although, I see nothing in the interpretation that says I must return home... only I'm on duty when dispatched from home). Then, the following day. I do drop my last load.... no longer working or off duty... then legally drive home off duty... to be dispatched from home the next day, on duty again.

 

oh ok.I was'nt sure how that worked.

 

Your 2-day or 2-week or 2-month run isn't over until you return home or to your home terminal to be released from duty. The receiver cannot release you from duty.

 

Don't feel bad... it's a current loophole that allows off duty drive time... I also know for a fact that some of the bigger companies are also using it to shuttle empty trailers(usually in a close local) in spite of having EOBR's in the trucks. So the driver would not eat up hours...

I just wanna go home!

 

Ok, where does it say this in the interpretaion... There are no receivers where I drop. It does however say I can be off duty when I'm no longer responsible for work or performing my duties. " When a driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work "

ie My boss relieves me.

 

It isn't a loophole. It is there for a specific purpose. If you are on the road and done for the day, you can use the truck to get yourself to food, entertainment, etc., and back to the motel or truck stop for the night. If you are a local driver, you can commute to & from the terminal where you are dispatched from.

The companies using it to shuttle trailers around will get in serious trouble if they are ever caught....log falsification, HOS violations, etc.

 

You're missing the rest of it, though.

The time spent traveling from a driver’s home to his/her terminal (normal work reporting location), or from a driver’s terminal to his/her home can only be considered "off duty" IF the driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work.

Similarly, time spent traveling short distances from a driver’s en route lodgings (such as en route terminals or motels) to restaurants in the vicinity of such lodgings may be considered "off-duty" IF the driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work.

Just being relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work is not enough to meet the standard of "personal conveyance" if you are still moving the truck in a way that benefits the commercial operation of the truck (i.e. staging it in a more desirable location for it's next load).

 

here's a question, would a digital version of the document be legal? meaning if a driver is missing a hard copy but has a PDF on a computer is that legal?

probably not but its an interesting question to me.