Should I PC home, 5 hours from home?

No, actually it's not. It's very well documented in the guidance that going home is still part of the trip and therefore not allowed.
Just because someone doesn't like the guidance doesn't mean it's a grey area.

Now if you want to argue guidance as a whole is a grey area, well you might have an argument there.

 

I agree. These are questions that the driver should have asked the travel agent BEFORE the travel agent went home for a holiday weekend. No offense, OP, but you don’t “boo freaking hoo I miss home, oh what ever should I do?” on a weekend, let alone a holiday weekend.

They should have planned better? You should have planned better. You know your HOS better than the office jocks. You should have had a game plan before they assigned your last load. Want better? Be better.

Six back quiet.

 

Here's the issue. Understand I am neither agreeing nor disagreeing with your or anybody else's position on PC. In that link you provided is a statement that does muddy the waters a bit and that is why I advise caution and asking what the carrier PC rules are.

Right from that link and was the source of my first link. Take note of what I made bold. That same statement is at the end of the next paragraph as well.

The following are examples of appropriate uses of a CMV while off-duty for personal conveyance include, but are not limited to:

1. Time spent traveling from a driver’s en route lodging (such as a motel or truck stop) to restaurants and entertainment facilities.
2. Commuting between the driver’s terminal and his or her residence, between trailer-drop lots and the driver’s residence, and between work sites and his or her residence. In these scenarios, the commuting distance combined with the release from work and start to work times must allow the driver enough time to obtain the required restorative rest as to ensure the driver is not fatigued.
3. Time spent traveling to a nearby, reasonable, safe location to obtain required rest after loading or unloading. The time driving under personal conveyance must allow the driver adequate time to obtain the required rest in accordance with minimum off-duty periods under 49 CFR 395.3(a)(1) (property-carrying vehicles) or 395.5(a) (passenger-carrying vehicles) before returning to on-duty driving, and the resting location must be the first such location reasonably available.
4. Moving a CMV at the request of a safety official during the driver’s off-duty time
5. Time spent traveling in a motorcoach without passengers to en route lodging (such as motel or truck stop), or to restaurants and entertainment facilities and back to the lodging. In this scenario, the driver of the motorcoach can claim personal conveyance provided the driver is off-duty. Other off-duty drivers may be on board the vehicle, and are not considered passengers.
6. Time spent transporting personal property while off-duty.
7. Authorized use of a CMV to travel home after working at an offsite location.

That phrase was put there for legal reasons. In fact, much of the FMCSA guidance is full of that legal crap! This does make it confusing and is why I tell folks all the time to ask what their carrier PC rules are OR contact your local FMCSA office and ask them!

Me? Personally, I would not PC further than I had to so I can find a safe place to park where I can take care of my physiological needs to take my break. I have spoken to many fleet owners about this. Not a single one has told me they would allow PC except that 3rd point above UNLESS there was an emergency and even then most likely would get the driver a rental car.

 

This is why I strongly dislike personal conveyance. The FMCSA has deliberately refused to make any of this regulation, leaving it ultimately up to the personal interpretation of each indvidual motor carrier enforcement officer you encounter. Sure, CVSA says the officer is suposed to follow FMCSA guidance however there is no regulation requiring such and since the officer is ultimately enforcing a state's adaptation of the federal rules they may or may not recognize PC.

PC only exisits as an absence of prohibition, meaning it must be permissible, nothing more nothing less.

So, to the OP's question, my answer would be NO, unless the motor carrier that is responsible for safety on the truck you are operating gives you explicit permission. Now, if the OP is an owner operator with their own authority they can assume all the risk they wish and decide for themselves if they are comfortable defending their actions. If they are employed by or leased to another carrier then that is no longer their sole decision, at least not if they want to stay employable.

Would I PC 300-500 miles just to be home for a holiday, probably not as it would be expensive and extra risky given the crash rates rise significantly on a holiday and I would have to be able to defend my actions in court if something bad happened. That distance I'd grab a rental car and go home that way, leaving the truck and risk of operation sitting parked safely somewhere.

Does the FMCSA guidance allow for this? Well, that is debatable, as evidenced by some opinions from folks on here that I have respect for that can't even agree. As someone who makes their living doing this, I advise against using PC for anything that couldn't have been done in a taxi or Uber reasoanbly, and that does not include a 3-500 mile trip home. PC is intended to allow for the occasional repositioning of the truck to run errands, eat, or get to an appropriate place to safely rest. Nothing more.

One last note, a question was raised in this thread about moving personal belongings with a CMV. That's allowable and is not covered under any of the regulations although I caution you to make sure you have the explicit permission of the motor carrier that owns the base plate, trailer and insurance unless you are an owner operator with your own authority as they may not approve of moving personal stuff with their equipment. Even if you are a owner but leased to someone they still have control over what can be done with the equipment.

 

I feel the same way. I also know why the FMCSA won't add this to the HOS rules. If they did make such a rule every safety group in the US would file a lawsuit against the FMCSA much the same way they did the revised HOS rules that allowed the reset and the 11-hour day.

The FMCSA also has another problem and is something they don't want to address. Shippers and receivers all across the US have little to no regard to a driver's "clock". I'm not going to rehash all the narratives found in the Federal Register about "fixing" the COERCION guidance as it relates to this issue.

At some point, the FMCSA to quote a somewhat vulgar phrase has to either (Redacted) or get off the pot when it comes to this serious issue.

 

The guidance says you can PC home from a trailer drop lot or from a terminal. It also says you can't PC home from a shipper or receiver, which confuses the matter. Sometimes it pays to remember the definition of a regulator is someone with a law degree and no clients.

BTW it's also explicit that you need permission from the motor carrier to use PC at all. So I assume that means either a message granting permission or some language in the carrier's driver handbook. The regulation and guidance should be thought of as an outer boundary around what is permissible and the carrier's policy as an inner boundary.

Five hours? I doubt your carrier would tell you it's OK, even if you did just do a drop and hook.

 

My previous career had me working all the holidays. Pick and choose which holiday, if big on family. Christmas or Thanksgiving. You are in a field that is going to have you away during the holidays, simple facts.

 

The original notice of changes - FMCSA-2017-0108 mentioned it, under examples - "Time spent traveling to a nearby, reasonable, safe location to obtain required rest after loading or unloading."

The website guidance is not binding for a carrier, the notice is.

The FMCSA is clear that the word "reasonable" is part of the criteria for the use of PC, it is considered something that is open to interpretation by the enforcement officers and by the carrier but not by the driver. They addressed the concerns of the parties that made comments, they were clear that this was a limited move with limited purpose.

This word is also in the original notice about PC in 1997 which I cannot find in electric form to post.

 

And yet you can't produce the wording....
Why not just admit you are wrong and move on, or at least produce anywhere where it says reasonable other than point 3.

 

This is the oldest I can find. This is NOT currently active. LINK!

All old guidance has been removed.