Update on driving a semi tractor

Yes. I also thought, that a lot of drivers lose their CDLs due to various bad luck. Is that true?

i
Reply to
Ignoramus2551
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I think most of the CDL driver turnover is due to burn-out from the long hours, idiots in yuppmobiles cutting them off, so-so pay, etc.

Reply to
Pete C.

Bad luck like...getting caught cheating on their hours, taking drugs, getting too many speeding tickets, and drinking on the job? Yeah, a few of those happened. There are probably some who lost their licenses by driving unsafe trucks for others, too.

Lots of truckers got out when the price of gas went up. Many were on set price contracts to deliver Load A to Point B and got hammered when gas tripled overnight. A neighbor's daughter is a trucker, and she said she saw abandoned trucks all around the dispatch yard in Portland a couple years ago. Guys lost their asses and walked away.

-- Inside every older person is a younger person wondering WTF happened.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Take me, for example. I am not a speeder. If the speed limit is 55, I will be driving 60 or so. And yet, once every 2 years I get caught speeding, because I did not notice a sign or some such. I was not intentionally speeding, I just had a misfortune of not noticing some sign.

This is what I call bad luck.

Reply to
Ignoramus2551

Unless there is some new math involved (I was taught old school math) that is the VERY definition of speeding. Yes you can expect to get a few MPH leeway, but speeding it is.

The fact that you intentionally are speeding, "just a little" is irrelevant. In essence you are doing a constant risk/reward analysis and deciding that getting there a little sooner is worth the (truly minimal) chance of getting caught.

Yes it happens to all of us, but it is still speeding, and perhaps an indication that we were not paying attention to driving.

And to be speeding, and to pass a cop looking to fill his quota.

jk

Reply to
jk

The rules are VERY strict for CDL holders, and most of them apply regardless if you are in a commercial vehicle or not. Hours of service is about the only area that doesn't apply. Medical disqualification is another big one.

Reply to
Steve W.

"Getting there sooner" is seldom the issue. When every vehicle on the road is passing you, you are going too slow regardless of what the signs say, and when you are going slower than traffic you increase the risk of being involved in a collision. And in most localities traffic moves 5-

10 over the posted limit.

In some cases there are setups--there is a sign which is carefully places behind shrubbery or some other obstacle in such a manner that you don't see it until after you have been clocked.

Reply to
J. Clarke

I suppose it's luck, but I, too, drive 5 - 10 mph over the limit, or with traffic. Except when I'm on the main arteries in NJ at rush hour or on a Friday night on the shore highways, when traffic is doing 75 -

  1. Then I hunker down in the slow lane.

Knocking on wood here, but I had my last ticket in 1982. My insurance guy says I'm "pure profit." d8-)

Reply to
Ed Huntress

Yes, exactly. Now, do I need to keep a log if I drive for myself and run local errands to pick up or deliver stuff?

Reply to
Ignoramus7130

On 3/9/2012 8:39 AM, Ignoramus7130 wrote: ...

There's the rub..."yourself" is now the business in most cases that would require the big rig. They're not going to care much if you're claiming it's just a trek across town for the BIL to do his deck over the weekend, say. Once you get a commercial vehicle it's pretty much commercial no matter what.

You can certainly ask for the rules of whether/how/when you can/could differentiate when you get the license, but I'd expect you better treat it as if you're in the cab you're on the clock (not that I'd think you'd come close to time limits unless you were on the presumably rare to never occurring long-distance pickup/delivery) 'cuz an up-to-date log is going to be the first thing they'll ask to look at if it ever were to come to it.

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Reply to
dpb

Absolutely not true. The FMCSA guide book on hours of service requirements specifically covers "personal use of a CMV" and the fact that you are exempt from hours of service requirements for such use. They give the example of using your semi to move your own stuff as an example. If it is not in any way being used in commerce / support of a business it is exempt. This does not however mean that you don't have to log those hours in a log book since the commercial logs are required to cover all time prior to when you are on-duty, but the times you are driving for personal use whether in a CMV or not you can drive as long as you want.

I don't have the link to the guide handy, but it is fmcsa-guide-to-hos.pdf and page 6 covers "Personal use of a Commercial Motor Vehicle".

Reply to
Pete C.

Larry Jaques on Thu, 08 Mar 2012

14:55:23 -0800 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

Lot of companies went belly up in 2008/09

Reply to
pyotr filipivich

On 3/9/2012 9:20 AM, Pete C. wrote: ...

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The question as I see it is/will be whether the use really is or is not personal as opposed to business--I interpreted from Iggy's post he's thinking that going and picking up a piece of gear or delivering it isn't necessarily business related and I'm thinking the regulators are going to think it is unless it really is personal...

Granted if he really is doing the BIL's deck that counts but if the BIL is getting the Bobcat that doesn't seem so clear can be divorced from the business.

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Reply to
dpb

I think the bottom line is that if you are doing any driving that fits under "commercial" you need to log pretty much all of your time since even personal driving for the period before you go on-duty for commercial driving needs to be part of the commercial driving log. My point was that the regulations do specifically address / acknowledge that there is indeed personal use of CMVs that is exempt from at least some of the regulations.

Reply to
Pete C.

On 3/9/2012 1:01 PM, Pete C. wrote: ...

And we're after the same point...I wasn't arguing/intending say that there isn't personal use allowed for (altho I grant I didn't know chapter/verse to quote; instead I suggested Iggy ask about it when/if he needs to know) only that ime the interpretation of those who care is to presume commercial use and it'll be the driver's onus to prove otherwise.

We have problems similar to that even w/ the exempted farm use vehicles that they try to enforce reqm'ts by using their uniforms and the fear factor on hired hands drivers who aren't necessarily fully up to speed on what they don't need to since they are working for farm hire.

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Reply to
dpb

That all depends on the errands. If for instance you are driving around for practice and decide to pick up a meal to bring back to the shop and it doesn't involve you being paid in ANY way then you wouldn't need to log it. However if you are going to an auction to maybe buy some stuff that you intend to bring back and refurb for sale then you will need to log that time (and the time you spend at the auction) If you are delivering an item for a customer you need to log that as well.

The exemptions for personal use allow you to drive around and do some things IF they are not in any way related to the business. For instance say a friend is building a house and asks you if you could pick up the supplies. That is personal use UNLESS he pays you for it on the books. No need to log that as driving or on duty not driving.

BUT the catch comes in with the rules that state you have to show activities for the days prior to the times you do need to log. That could trip you up if you don't track hours spent off duty.

Also grab a couple of packs of bills of lading so you have them handy.

Reply to
Steve W.

Perhaps keep laminated quick reference cards in your farm vehicles with the appropriate exemption information highlighted?

Reply to
Pete C.

...

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Not a bad idea, that... :)

But, still won't stop them from stopping them, unfortunately. :(

We're right on the border of two states and well under 100 miles from three others and have either farming operations in or get supplies/equipment from or take products to all five. There's a power struggle betweenst and amongst all of them at the State level on jurisdiction and different load limits, etc., etc., etc., and proving how tough they are that we're caught up in their petty little squabbles as collateral damage.... :(

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Reply to
dpb

I will try to keep a log of my CMV driving, it is now pretty clear to me, based on the above, that I need to do it.

Reply to
Ignoramus7130

Ignoramus7130 fired this volley in news:jJOdnQbRxqy4P8fSnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Ig, a commercial driver needs to log ALL OF HIS ACTIVITES 24/7, not merely his driving. There are many activities that constitute "on duty". Any time on duty limits your time of service while driving.

However, there are relaxed logging requirements for "local drivers". Investigate the most recent rules concerning that -- it used to be that anywhere in a 50-mile aerial radius from 'home base' used to be exempt from logging requirements (not time-of-service, just logging).

LLoyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

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