Time on pretrip?

I agree with you...But the original question was "Is there anything in DOT regs that states how long an effective pretrip should be?". You stated in your reply like you knew of a reg that required a minimum of 15 minutes ("The pre-trip is suppose to be a min. of 15 minutes."). I just wanted to see the req if you knew of one, as your earlier answer implied (what I bolded above).

 

Simply stated the log is divided into 15 minute segments. There is a section that covers recording actions that take less than that. However to answer the main question. How long for a pre trip inspection? The pre trip is intended to be short review of the previous post trip inspection. Post trip is the one that the vehicle inspection report is filled out for if you look at the reg's there is no quote of a required time to be shown on the log other than what it takes to do it. However I do not believe a full and complete inspection can be done in less than 15 minutes. And in some states when the CDL skills test is given they devote as much as an hour to the vehicle inspection portion of the test alone. It may take 15 minutes some days and it may take 30 minutes on others. You should record on your log however much time it took you to do one and if you fail to do a good one and the scale puts you out of service you have no one to blame but yourself.

 

It does if you understand a logbook. He can do however long it takes he is not shortening his inspection any, but by logging anything over the min requirement he is losing time for driving.

 

Its up to the company however here is what the DOT regulation states.
Now NO WHERE in the DOT book does it tell anyone how long to log anything for.

First clarification is: Logging anything less than 15 minutes you are supposed to flag how long it took you. So if you did a post-trip in 8 minutes you should flag you did a post-trip in 8 min in the remark section

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.


POST-TRIP INSPECTION: My understanding from reading the below DOT regulation is that you are supposed to check your equipment very thoroughly # the end of the day. Read below plus it has to be done in writting which makes it take that much longer. Therefore you would be spending more time.

§392.7 Equipment, inspection and use.


No commercial motor vehicle shall be driven unless the driver is satisfied that the following parts and accessories are in good working order, nor shall any driver fail to use or make use of such parts and accessories when and as needed:

Service brakes, including trailer brake connections.

Parking (hand) brake.

Steering mechanism.

Lighting devices and reflectors.

Tires.

Horn.

Windshield wiper or wipers.

Rear-vision mirror or mirrors.

Coupling devices.


For some stupid reason I can not find the pre-trip inspection right now. I think my computer is over heated. l.o.l.
But when I find it I will post it. It's pretty basic. sorry I am about to get kicked off the computer

 

He should be inspecting the truck on his pre-trip as well.

It's like this if he does a good post-trip inspection # night then he lays down for 10 hours he needs to do a pre-trip and check what could go wrong while the truck was sitting for 10 hours.
There is many things that could go wrong and most of all he needs to make sure anything that he found wrong on his post-trip was fixed. If items found to be wrong on the post and he put the truck in the shop or had someone messing with it. I say this qualifies another good inspection and should be logged on line 4 for however long it took him.

The pre-trip the driver must be satisfied the truck is in safe operation, thus why I tell my drivers if you took less than 7.5 minutes flag it on your log and if it takes you 30 minutes to do a pre-trip you must log line 4 for 30 minutes.

The post-trip I tell them I know it's going to take a minimum of 15 minutes and actually a good post-trip is going to take # least 30 minutes.

Just my advice on teh pre-trip & post-trip.

Drivers are always responsible for the equipment and should be reporting everything wrong with it.

 

Logs,

I'm just guessing here. But I'd almost be willing to bet, the majority of drivers do it completely bass akwards from your description. If they do it at all.

I want a thorough inspection for my pre-trip. And a quick once around for a post trip. I do a walk around (and fluid check) or two, during the day if I stop. I also have a nasty habit of checking the steer box/section, whenever I stop. I lost one once (under power)...been paranoid ever since.

 

the lady that just did the aduit at the company that i work for states that 15 minutes is the norm for a pretrip pulling a dry van, they would like to see 30 minutes on a pretrip pulling a flatbed and then a then a load securement check within the first 100 miles of your trip and you can flag this as you can flag posttrip inspection. hope this helps