rest

We have issued serious civil penalties on complaints where a dispatcher ordered a driver to violate the rules. It helps to have that tape recording, or a Qualcom message to support your contention but first you must complain to the FMCSA.

But don't be confused. Careful examination also showed that many driver complaints of this type were not in fact an order. When a dispatcher says "Do it or be fired" it is an order. If the dispatcher says "I really need you to do this" it's not an order. That is what usually happens and then the words are taken out of context to be an order.

 

Exactly my point. If you are in the sleeper for your break and decide to go in and take a shower or eat, it is a duty status change requiring a logbook entry. In order to make the entry you have to be on duty therefore violating the 10 hour break.

 

It depends on the state that the person being recorded is located in and where you are located.

There are 12 states that REQUIRE BOTH PARTIES consent to taping.

link used http://www.pimall.com/nais/n.recordlaw.html

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]There are twelve states that require all party consent. They are:[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]California
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Illinois
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Montana
New Hampshire
Pennsylvania
Washington[/FONT]​

In addition the FCC has requirements:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Federal Communications Commission goes further into details on recording telephone conversations and states that the party recording must give verbal notification before the recording and that there must be a beep tone on the line to indicate that the line is being recorded,.[/FONT]


If you record across state lines it gets sticky.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Calls Crossing State Lines
Calls that cross state lines become complicated legal issues especially when one state is a one party consent state and the other state is an all party consent state. What has happened is that you didn't violate the law in the one party consent state and violated the law in the all party consent state. Moreover, since the call went across a state line, the federal laws would certainly apply. The most famous case involving this type of issue is the Linda Trip case. You will recall that Linda Trip recorded the telephone conversations of Monica Lewinski concerning her relationship with President Clinton. Trip was in Maryland and Lewinski was in DC. Note that Maryland is an all party consent state while DC is a one party consent state. The law is actually quite fuzzy on these issues. The recorder is advised to assume that the sticker law would apply.[/FONT]

 

Isn't that really irritating ? Get it there ASAP but take the time to reply to messages every hour . If you have a Qualcomm they should know where you are and be able to estimate the eta themselves . I wouldn't have responded to any calls or messages until I arrived at the destination . If I'm loaded and enroute I ignore the Qualcomm until I make a necessary stop like fueling or stopping the end of the day .

 

They can ping the truck and did. But the intention behind the many messages was to try and get me to increase the speed to deliver. I did not.

 

If the drivers loggs are legal, how do you determine fatigue?

It will vary by officer, because it is very subjective. There is no machine that you can hook up and determine who is fatigues like you can a DUI / DWI.

Mark

 

90% of the dispatchers will not do this to ya, they understand it to. They will just let you sit and wait, and hopefully think about your past choice, waiting for the next load.

Remember that we OTR drivers get paid by the mile.

Mark

 

May is very good about delivery times. Several loads I told my DM "I can't make it on time", and they'd get the delivery time changed. Didn't matter if it was before I accepted the load, or if I was 3 days into it.

No problems if I stopped for a nap, either.

 

Good question. FMCSA worked on the answer for 11 years that I remember & couldn't define it. I guess the states have had better luck, or really stupid ideas in the regard.

 

It is a duty status change from line 2 to line 1 which may be completed on your RDS after your rest period is completed. Technically you are still off-duty on either line.