Paperless logs

Werner is the only one using them at the moment. Someone mentioned that if you try to go over your hours, they shut you down. If that's true, then even if you are 5 minutes from your destination your done. Who knows if that is true or not. Someone with Werner will need to set that record straight. On the plus side, you always know how many hours you have left and you won't need to draw lines on a paper. If DOT needs to see your logbook, you hand them the qualcomm with instructions on how to retrieve the data.

 

I worked for Werner for 1 year. If you exceed the hours rule by 5 minutes the computer will flag you and report it to log department. If you exceed hours by 15 minutes you will be sent a message letting you know you are in log violation.

I had one violation and it was 30 minutes over on the 11 hour rule. I had a am appointment in Chicago. Arrived in Chicago late in the evening with 15 minutes to spare on my 11 hours. I could not find a place to park in Chicago. Headed for a rest area for the night and got a lecture about trip planning. If I had paper logs I could have fudged the 20 minutes I went over the 11 hour rule.

The good thing about computer logs is the DOT never asked for my logs because you are more than likely running legal or in trouble with you company. It also saves time because you don’t have to draw lines or due the math.

I didn’t really mind the computer logs because I prefer to run legal anyway. There are times however when things happen that you have no control over and the computer is not very flexible.

 

How do the paperless logs handle traffic? I heard that it logs you to "on duty" if you're moving under a certain MPH.

 

I also heard that too. And I wonder why other companies haven't gone to computers. Not that I think they necessarily should but since we are in the computer age I am amazed it hasn't creeped its way into more companies for logging.

 

US Xpress has said that they dont want to go to Paperless logs because they arent reliable enough yet

 

i recently applied for a job at Ryder logistics. they use the paperless logs as well. my "hope to be new job" is basically going to be a yardman/shuttle driver, and the shuttles are only about 12 miles total round trip each time. as for the yard duties, i'd suppose for now i'd be logged in as "on duty not driving"?

so for now, Werner no longer carries that distinction of being the only carrier out there using this system.

 

Actually, that should be rephrased to reflect the fact that Werner is the only MAJOR carrier out there utilizing the paperless log process. You'd be surprised at the companies out there that do not use logbooks currently. Most of them are not major players.

By this time next week, I will be going paperless, and will have an On Board Recorder installed in my truck. The company I work for will be totally paperless by the end of the year.

I've heard this too, but common sense tells me that this would be extremely stupid, if it were true in any sense of the word. My bet is that there is a message generated to dispatch personnel, and they don't actually shut down the truck, but they send a message to the driver, informing them to hit the nearest safe place to park, and pronto.

After all, when has anyone seen a Werner truck sitting in the middle of the interstate lately with the driver informing them that the truck was shut down automatically?

They'll actually have to get up in the driver's seat of my truck to read the display. It will be permanently attached to the dash. I'm less than thrilled with that prospect, but then I don't anticipate it being an issue. I've never been so much as detained for a second by any scale since I have been with the company.

I was sure this past week, I was not going to be able to say that any longer. Coming out of Memphis this past Tuesday, the Arkansas scale pulled six trucks onto the scales for logbook checks. I was number six. The five in front of me all went around back for further checks. When I pulled up, I was waved right on through, and they didn't even want to see my logbook.


Gotta love that, I tell ya'.

Wiseway has a .6% OOS rate for logbook violations (6.78% is average). They have only a 5.8% OOS rate for equipment violations (22.9% is average). They have no haz-mat violations (but then we don't haul them either). They have had a total of 11 DOT reportable accidents in the past two years, or a 1 in 14 ratio in regard to DOT reportables. Their ISS-2 stands at 23, and I have yet to see but one company with a lower ISS-2 than that in the past five years, and they have since risen quite a bit above that now.

Oh, and by the way, we don't have Pre-Pass. We go into every one of 'em if they are open....dang it. :smt013

 

Thanks for clearing that up. I was thinking as I was writing that, that there must be someone else using paperless.

 

What has always aggravated me about the fact that Werner was allowed the distinction of testing the system and paraded it as if they were awarded a prize, in spite of the sheer fact that of the biggies out there, they have attained a horrible safety rating, and continue to hold that distinction, even though they are supposed to be 100% compliant in the logging department.

In fact, that is the only area in which they have improved. Their OOS rate for driver violations is only 1.5%, but they are currently running a ratio of 1 in every 6.73 of their trucks having been involved in a DOT reportable accident. Their ISS-2 assessment is running a very high 94.

Swift is currently running a 1 in every 8.30 ratio, and still logging on paper. I am amazed to see that they have dropped to a 72 in their ISS-2. That's VERY recent too.

The point is, if all these drivers are legal most all of the time, why are they still becoming involved in serious accidents? Both Swift and Werner have been at the top of that game for quite awhile, and are accident magnets. The ratios are also both worse from my last check of them.

A few years ago, they were in the 1 in 9 arena.