My elog broke and I ran paper for 1st time

Something went bonkers with my elog and it's locked up.. Can't do #### captain type of thing.. Honestly, was so much more relaxing not worrying about running out of hours.. I ran at my convenience, stopped when I wanted to and did what would have taken 4 days in 3 and now I'm back home..

Picked up 2 cars in CFL, ran them to Baton Rouge the same day (well 30 miles out) delivered them the next morning found a return load 4 miles away going to Ft Lauderdale. Picked it up, but didn't go too crazy on the return stopped a bit before i75 somewhere on i10. Got up the next morning ran to Ft Lauderdale, delivered by 4:30pm then dead headed home 250 miles because it was Fri and only thing going to ORL from down there was a Lamborghini that required a enclosed trailer..

Now here is the take away.. I didn't really cheat on miles I ran per day.. I could have ran the same miles over the same period of time on elogs. However what I did do was cheated the reset times and my 14hrs..

1st day was mostly legit.. as far as hours go but it would have been a stresser on elogs. I left the house around 11am went to a auction.. Spent 2 hrs getting 2 cars because no one was working on the "1st". Ran somewhere around 700 miles shut down at 1am, 30 miles away from drop.

Woke up about 8:30 with no alarm set just naturally woke up.. Wasn't in a rush to go anywhere but still slept around 8hrs. Was not at a location I could get a shower or even food for that matter , so I left and delivered my load by 10am.. Yep I didn't do a full 10hr reset, because why twittle my thumbs for 2 more hours?

I dropped the cars ran up the road to a McDonalds ate some late breakfast then found a load going to Ft Lauderdale less than 4 miles away. Took a little bit to get squared away on the pick up, but got it loaded by 2pm.

I drove about 2 hours or so out of Baton Rouge hit a Flying J got a shower and sat down ate at Denny's. Continued driving and stopped around 12am at a pilot off of i10 a bit before i75. Was about 400 and some change miles..

Went to sleep, got up next morning at 7am.. again not to alarm just when I woke up. Grabbed a shower, but wasn't anything I felt like eating at the pilot so I rolled out at 8am.. Again not a full 10hr reset..

Stopped a bit later after fueling up and ate a late breakfast once again somewhere on i75 before Gainsville. Ran the turnpike down to Ft Lauderdale and delivered at 4:30ish..

Was unloaded did a quick look at the boards but Fri evening after 5pm wasn't getting nothing so I dead headed 250 miles home stopped ate along the way, made it home around 11PM slept in my own bed..

So 3 days out.. Had I ran on elogs I think this trip would have been 3.5 days because I don't believe I could have made it to the last drop in time so I'd have to do a reset down south and wait til Sat to unload then drive home..


So does this make me a criminal a outlaw trucker, because I ran how I felt like running, wasn't stressed and got home a day early? I think I'm gonna build a 99 truck because this was so much nicer than running on elogs.. I get why so many guys gave up trucking once they got forced on elogs. It's not about running a thousand miles a day and driving sleepy, but rather being a human and deciding what and when you will do something not waiting on a clock to tell you when you aren't tired and when you are not.

 

That's actually a difficult question. I'm not outright against log keeping and max hours worked and so forth because if not many guys will try to drive from NY to CA in 2 days making a danger for everyone.

However the way it is now, is just not right. It way too rigid with out enough flexibility. I also think the 10hr reset is ridiculous. I understand the reason behind it is to stop companies from abusing drivers but I own my own company, I run my own truck & numbers. I can decide for myself how much I want to abuse myself so the one size fits all doesn't really fit me.. There needs to be better or more options because if I drive until 12am I don't want to sit around until 10am before I can drive again because I'm gonna wake up by 8am anyway. All making me sit until 10am does is forces me to driver later that day or extends my trip because I can't hit the drop off appointment now..

 

Shoplifting is a crime because you are stealing something from someone.. I can't steal hours from myself.. It's my life, I should be able to choose how I use the hours of my life. Why should the govt be able to steal hours from me? Shouldn't that be the crime?

 

Every thing looks as it should on the logs. You can't go too crazy in FL anyway because they track you while you are in the state. Every time you pass or stop at a weigh station or agricultural station they are tracking the time & date. They will match those times to your logs if they get suspicious so it's not like you can even run crazy outlaw just better utilizing my time to benefit me.. It was more about adjusting adjusting start & stop times is all.

 

I didn't drive any more hours than I was legally allowed except when I went home, I can do the same miles on elogs I just didn't sit for the time they think I should sit and rather than spend an additional night in my truck I drove home empty maybe going over hrs by 1.5 or so that day.. Maybe I could have been mugged had I slept in some parking lot in Ft Lauderdale.. I still slept 7 & 8hrs the 2 night I was in the truck..

You might be a good programmed robot..I'm not so well programmed to be obedient..

I'll tell you what is unsafe.. If I wake up at 8am because my body determines I need to wake up. Making me sit around for a clock to expire for an additional 2 or 3hr more makes me drive later that night. Which means I'm awake much longer and driving much later..