Personal Conveyance question while on your reset?

This has and still is a hot topic with FMCSA, it seems like they keep coming up with more and more interpretations, or clarifications, of what PC is. I guess many have abused it and are surprise when they get ding for it.

 

I agree. Forget about the regs. If a driver asked you if he could run 40 miles to go shopping and a movie, you’d ask him why didn’t he stop at a place closer to a Walmart along his route?
It’s part of trip planning, hand. Measure twice, cut once.

 

doesn't matter if loaded or not you are under dispatch and you are parked in a safe location, you are not allowed to advance load ..... if you're a company driver drop trailer and bobtail on the company's fuel they can afford it
...... they were supposed to make the rules more clear on that but have totally fudged things up .... not being able to drive home empty was the main use when they started pc miles now you can't do it but you can bobtail back and forth to a terminal to get a trailer. just remember they know more than you .... just last week I was getting tired and really needed a nap didn't have extra time on my 14 and not enough time on load to take a full 10 hour break but plenty of time to take a 3 or 4 hour nap but those are illegal because if you take a nap you would be to tired to drive .. so get a cup of coffee and keep going and kill that extra 4 hours with your finger up your butt when you get where your going

 

This is exhibit A of why I stay so pissed off at the FMCSA and how they handle their guidance. They made a change on PC issued a statement and did not take the time to change the guidance part of 395. There are several places where the rules contradict. Now to you interpret comment. I don't do personal interpretations of the rules. I go by the FMCSA guidance. In the case of highly technical fringe things like some of the BS that's been posted on these boards, I can only go by my experience as a driver. I now no longer work as a compliance specialist because my health has got much worse. Because of this, I am no longer on the CVSA mailing lists. If I had been I would have known about this change. All I can go by is what the FMCSA publishes.

 

You could be in a safe haven and use PC to go to a restaurant or hotel, perfectly legal. If that safe haven has no facilities or food.

 

well my fellow TTR members are sort of all sort of right with their answers, a few things stick out to me, one is that this isn't an issue for the FMCSA, they could care less about it and that comes through with their BS guidance and still leaving it up to the states to figure it out. The other is the word 'reasonable' which does not mean a 300 mile trip to get pizza and soda. and the other thing is the word "safehaven" which does not apply to PC, it is only there for an exception for HOS and Hazmat.

But the one thing that is missed in this thread (but was asked) is this little fact - no matter what the FMCSA says, it still is the carrier who is in control of the PC issue.

They can and often set the rules for the driver and the FMCSA/state/supreme being have nothing to say about it.

So to the OP, no you can't.

 

Don’t worry. Drivers will certainly start abusing this rule and they will likely change it again.

 

i think there needs to be clearer rules in place.

i have PC'd 20 miles many times (the company allows 20 miles even the the official rule has no set mileage limit.....) in the direction of home terminal (the rules don't clearly state that this is NOT ok if the nearest safe haven happens to be in same direction as the terminal/or the terminal itself IS the next nearest safe haven---i have a daycab....) and there's nothing any of you can do about it.

 

I never said you do interpretations, please read my comments above one more time. This is what I said to you. "By the way Moose, I respect the fact that you don't want to give out false information on the site. You and I are on the same page.....Thanks"
I said FMCSA keeps trying to interpret and clarify the regulations.

 

If you are paid by the mile and you move the 40 miles in the driection the loads going...you just got paid for that 40 miles. Imo this means pc is out. You got paid so you were working. Plus the guidance says a resonable distance. Going almost an hour up the road is not really reasonable. I believe in this case a better trip plan was in order.

If the op was my driver, i would decline the pc and suggest he/she learn how to build a better trip plan.