Mandatory safety Meetings - On Duty Required?

"Telephone calls of this type do not prevent the driver from obtaining adequate rest"

Ehhhh, i understand the legalese definition but cant say a phone call from dispatch in the middle of a 10 or 12 is going to work for many nighttime drivers, and I at least personally ended up with only 4 hrs sleep a few times because of it

And specifically from work calling, its usually gonna mess with you more tgan say a call from mom asking hows life

 

True, but there are plenty of things that by law or regulations are off duty but prevent you from getting rest.

This is a scenario I tell non-trucking folks so they can understand the flaws in HOS. Driver a is local. He finishes at 6 pm and starts 6 am. As soon as he gets off work he gets a call; "you da man! We're going out tonight and you're our designated driver. Debbie's sister from Socal is in town, and she wants to have horizontal fun. You in?" So driver a is in, parties with them, sipping coke, and goes home with Debbie's sister. He falls asleep at 4, wakes up at 5:30 and is back at work at 6. According to the letter of the law, he is 100% in compliance.

Now driver b is over the road. He stops at 6, has dinner, takes a shower and is in bed by 8. He wakes up at 5, does his pretrip, eats breakfast and is ready to go at 5:45. He can't wait and leaves at 5:50. 100% in violation with an ELD (paper, we round to the nearest 15 minutes). Clearly driver b is much more prepared to drive than driver a, but driver a is the one in compliance.

 

They are both in compliance, driver two is a slacker and slept in two hours.

 

Hey, i resemble that remark, slacker that is

 

Driver b is in violation. He did not get 10 hours before driving.

 

Well, you never did say when driver b went off duty, but if it was 6pm, he wasn't in violation as only 10 hours is needed so he can drive at 4:00am......

 

He shut down at 6pm and rolled at 5.50 am ... he was shut down for 11 hours and 50 minutes.

 

Good point. Typo. Should have been stopped at 8.

 

Kinda figured that was your point ...

 

They make us go on duty for our safety meetings.