Off duty status question

True story.

Had a driver once that was putting "PIPI" 2 or 3 times a day in the remarks section of his logs.

Now, I am familiar with "PTI" and "DOT", but not "PIPI". So I asked him what that stood for.

He replied with an absolutely straight face, "You know - Pee Pee!"

Too much information sometimes...

 

Uh, I am posting hypothetical situations for the basis of discussion. If you go by the letter of the regs then who is wrong? Obviously I'm not going to log all that crap. And I am not trying to tell anyone how to do their job cuz frankly I don't give a flying #### in a rolling doughnut how you do your job. And I resent every part of your post. next time you see a thread by me, don't bother posting.

Thank you goodbye.

 

Wow! some things haven't changed, the mean remarks will never change huh..
Let me just explain that I have seen two inspections on my desk from DOT and the driver was fined for this. These are just the one's I actually seen and was not years and years ago and I have been doing logs for 21 years.
One driver shows in the sleeper for "x" amount of hours, the officer ask the driver, "you was in the sleeper" here, driver "no sir, I was at my sisters", then why are you logging sleeper, that's a false log. The driver called me saying, why didn't they tell us there is a difference on lines 1 & 2? I said was you sleeping in orientation during logs, well maybe a little.. Ok.. There is your answer, I clearly explain this and always have prior to drivers getting wrote up for it.
Driver 2 showed off duty for "x" amt of hours, officer asked where was you,? driver said sleeper, officer said false log. There is a reason for line 1,2,3 & 4.

Off duty means you are relieved from all responsibility, when under dispatch the company must allow you to log off duty for meal breaks/personal time or it's on-duty when eating etc. This permission must be given to you prior to dispatch,most companies do this by giving you a card when you hire on. Look on the back of your medical/qualification card, that's where most put it.
If you are not under dispatch and you are away from the truck, this can be logged as off duty, however if your body is in the sleeper you must log sleeper.

(1) Off duty. Except for time spent resting in a sleeper berth, a continuous line shall be drawn between the appropriate time markers to record the period(s) of time when the driver is not on duty, is not required to be in readiness to work, or is not under any responsibility for performing work.

(2) Sleeper berth. A continuous line shall be drawn between the appropriate time markers to record the period(s) of time off duty resting in a sleeper berth, as defined in §395.2. (If a non-sleeper berth operation, sleeper berth need not be shown on the grid.)

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regu...fmcsr/fmcsrruletext.aspx?reg=395.1&guidence=Y

Regulation Q&A
Question 26: May a driver record sleeper berth time as off-duty time on line one of the record of duty status?

Guidance: No. The driver’s record of duty status must accurately reflect the driver’s activities.

Question 1: How should a change of duty status for a short period of time be shown on the driver’s record of duty status?

Guidance: Short periods of time (less than 15 minutes) may be identified by drawing a line from the appropriate on-duty (not driving) or driving line to the remarks section and entering the amount of time, such as “6 minutes,” and the geographic location of the duty status change.

If you are doing anything work related it must be logged on line 3 or 4, if you "flag" something work related while showing sleeper, you can be written up for false log. It's saying you can notate on your log that you stopped for 7 minutes but not actually change your status to on-duty, in that scenario you are not saving time on your 70 hour because lines 3 & 4 count against your 60/70 hr.

Lets say you show a break of 10 hours in the sleeper, many officers (not all) will say, you never once got out of the truck to do anything, driver say's sure sir I went to the bathroom, the officer could write him up, once again for a "false" log unless he noted a change of status on his log.

Going from sleeper to restroom is a duty status change.
Is it kind of crazy, maybe but just trying to save each of you a possible fine down the road. Many officers will say, lines 1 & 2 is the same, it doesn't matter. Then you have many other officers that know, this is an easy way to get a driver. If you don't know how to answer if asked, you could cause your own self to get a ticket, no watching needed.
There is nothing against the regs from allowing a driver going from line 1/2 on their 10 hour break so why not log it as you do it If you are taking only an 8 hour sleeper break, you must be in the sleeper for the 8 hours.

If you are driving and stop and use the restroom for 5 minutes you can leave it logged as driving and note the 5 minutes on your log and not subtract that 5 minutes off your "11" hour rule (the book still needs to change the 10 to 11 on many cases)
See below:
Question 22: If a driver logs his/her duty status as “driving” but makes multiple short stops (each less than 15 minutes) for on-duty or off-duty activities, marks a vertical line on the grid for each stop, and records the elapsed time for each in the remarks section of the grid, would the aggregate time spent on those non-driving activities be counted against the 10-hour driving limit?

Guidance: No. On-duty not driving time or off-duty time is not counted against the 10-hour driving limit.

What you chose to do is your choice,however for those doing it correctly should not be criticized because they are the one's that won't have to worry about DOT writing them up and the driver giving his hard earned money to the state he/she was written up in Keep up the good work to those that listen and or are doing it correctly already.
Slam me all you want, probably won't read it for a while anyhow l.o.l.
for the old one's here that know me, I
keep trying to visit daily but darn farm town has me whipped.. l.o.l.

 

or don't flag anything more then you have to period and if the officer ask tell you were in the sleeper the whole #### time

 

I don't see anything wrong with what has been posted...and especially not what you quoted.

Your duty status must be kept current to your last change of duty status. If your log book shows you are in the sleeper, but you are in the truck stop taking a shower, is your log book current to your last change of duty status? NO! So, in order to be current, you would show yourself going off duty before you head into the truck stop. When you return, you draw the line back to the sleeper. If you were only in the truck stop for 2 minutes to empty your bladder, then that change of duty status would just be flagged...with no time shown on line 1.

Granted, there is a difference between the precise letter of the law, and the way things get done in the real world. In the real world, NOBODY flags every single little duty status change they make each and every day. However, if you wanted to follow the regulations exactly as they are written, you would be doing just that.

So rather than taking your 0-1 year experience and talking down to a guy who is just starting out, why not take the time to read up on the regulations yourself? Reading some of your posts, it probably wouldn't hurt you to do so.

 

When they ask me, I look them straight in the eye and say, "I piss in a bottle, #### in a bag and whack off in my socks. Want to know anything else?"

 

TMI............

 

I do whatever I want when off duty and leave it as off duty until I'm dispatched.

 

I know technically it's wrong, but I log my entire break on line 1. I do this because I have an elog. I'm not going to spend the two to five minutes it takes to boot up to log going in to the T/S, or to switch from line 1 to line 2 when I'm ready to go to bed.

In theory the new HOS - which will be out sometime between tomorrow and the day of judgement - will clarify this and allow time spent in the sleeper as off duty.

 

"An example of a truck driver log book in the United States. "PTI" is short for "pre-trip inspection", as the driver is responsible for ensuring that the vehicle is fit to be driven (i.e., no flat tires, loose bolts, or broken parts). "On duty" time includes fueling, repairs, loading and unloading. "Off duty" time incudes meals and rest stops." Wikepedia