You Run Out Of Time On 14 Hr. What Do You Do?

Let's say you're at a receiver and it takes hours to unload. You run out of your hours so you can't drive away and you can't stay there. What can you legally do?

Thanks, Mark

Park on the street if you can (usually won't trip the elogs if you're quick). If you can't, and this is something I've done, go ahead and drive to the nearest safe place to park knowing the elogs will throw you a violation and call your company to explain. They can sometimes remove the violation on their end.

My company allows 1 hour of Off-duty driving per day. This is so we can get to a safe place to park after unloading, or to a restaurant, walmart, etc. But it's only when empty. Loaded, we have to drop the trailer before OD driving.

Unfortunately, sometimes we get stuck at shippers or receivers. That's just the way the ball bounces. That's when you have to do like Adam said.

We have 50 miles of off duty, PC driving available to us. Also pulling dry van that is very rare. We have at least 2 shippers I've been to who have overnight parking areas. These two know they take forever to load. Funny thing is they are both paper recyclers. Also, if you learn the split sleeper rule, you can use that to your advantage.

Hi, Mark. Being your first post, and the type of question you ask, I'll fill in a bit more for you.

This situation is not uncommon. If you were figuring to end your day after this delivery, you should have a likely truck stop in mind. Or at least find a close by parking place. If you didn't expect a long wait, and the clock starts ticking loudly, let the dock supervisor know as soon as you suspect your time will run out. You may get permission to stay there.

If you have to bust your 14 hours, you have some options. First, as Big Scott and Turtle explain, the company might automatically give you some slack on the violation. If your target parking area is close by, you might be able to drive over there S-L-O-W-L-Y (less than 10 mph).

There has been some discussion here about forcing the issue, that you will be breaking the law if they force you to drive after your 14 hours expire.

If we run out of hours on our 14 hour clock, we are sitting there until we have hours whether they like it or not. It is illegal for them to force you to move the truck. If they give one of our drivers a hard time, we simply let our company know and they handle it by calling that customer, reminding them that the reason we are out of hours is because that customer detained us unreasonably long and if they have the truck towed, that the customer is responsible for the tow bill. If that customer is near one of our terminals, one of the mechanics will drive a service truck to that customer and drive our truck back to the terminal while we drive the service truck lol.

Turtle wrote:

My company allows 1 hour of Off-duty driving per day. This is so we can get to a safe place to park after unloading, or to a restaurant, walmart, etc. But it's only when empty. Loaded, we have to drop the trailer before OD driving.

Be careful here...DOT will definitely take exception to this if pulled over and they check your logs. You will get a ticket for falsifying your logs. Although Prime may allow this; if under a trailer you cannot legally drive while off-duty, especially if the 14 is exhausted. Must be Bobtailing and not under dispatch. Ask Prime if they will pay your log violation ticket. Crickets...

Refer to this:

Learn The Logbook Rules (HOS)

And this:Got Pulled Over.

The problem with us is that our appointment times almost require us to use the full 14 hours and the appt setters dont seem.to understand only 50% of customers have parking, room.for parking, or that a 22 hour day is possible. The majority of the loads ive been getting lately are one drive shift 500 mile loads.

Perfect example... I was 2 hours from my pick up appt of 1000, my hours came back at 0730. the trailer was supposed to be loaded already. the delivery was 400 miles away from the pick up. so im driving 520+ miles in one drive shift. the trailer wasnt ready. i got out of the customer at noon..head straight to delivery that was scheduled for 2100 that night. My clock started at 0730, so it ends at 2130. customer took like five hours to unload with no parking. so that's 0230 they get done....but the shipper was supposed to put a temp recorder in the trailer before they sealed it and did not. So now.back and forth for another 30 min about that. my compamy is supposed to get fined if i dont record the temp.monitor. Normally i would.sleep during unloading but they were so rough the entire time it was like WW3 was declared in the trailer.

Now its.almost 0300. Ive been up since.0700, and the cistomer has no room...and i mean no room for.me to park.

its tiny Northeast back roads with no places to park. nearest truck stop is 15 miles away which i kmow ill.have to pay $13 for parking.

this is not a.matter.of trip planning. i couldnt leave earlier cause i didnt have hours, couldnt leave later or would miss the appt. couldnt stay at the customer to complete an 8 sleeper.couldnt do an 8 sleeper in between the customers.

i originally hoped i could get the load and run it in and get unloaded early, but it turned out the reciever didnt open until 2100 anyway.

this is much more common in our Northeast regional.which is ridculous because there is far less parking, and much more traffic.

heres another example.of stupid appts. pick up from Newark on Mon at 0700. Anyome with a map and a 40 IQ can see NYC and Newark are really close and 0700 on a work day is a mess. Plus theres 3 airports and a shipping port.

receiver appt is 1300...320 miles away. i asked to change the receiver appt and was told they close at 1300. i said fine, ill wait until tomorrow. i got "do your best to get there".

had i gone the route they sent, i wouldnt have made it on time. i know the area so took some back roads to get around the traffic. even still, i got there 8 minutes before the appt. two weeks.later, i got.the same.load..with 1500 at the reciever. i was livid! I thought they closed at 1300???? smh

and this is why i hate the Northeast. not the traffic, lack of parking, small towns, tight backing....because on top of all that...we often get stuck in rolling 8/2 splits just to make the appt times.

anyone who has been here for awhile.knows i do 8/2s quite a bit. but there is a difference.of.doing them when i want, and i feel rested from them, and doing them because i have to and it is expected. also, being a "getter done" driver gets loads like this thrown at you. ive become a lot more demanding over the years. Now i look at this stuff, give my ETA and figure its their problem. you set a ridiculous appt, im.putting in QC a reasonable time. if they dont like that...tough. and i will.not acceot a service failure for.something i told.them was impossible from the start.

Turtle wrote:

My company allows 1 hour of Off-duty driving per day. This is so we can get to a safe place to park after unloading, or to a restaurant, walmart, etc. But it's only when empty. Loaded, we have to drop the trailer before OD driving.

Be careful here...DOT will definitely take exception to this if pulled over and they check your logs. You will get a ticket for falsifying your logs. Although Prime may allow this; if under a trailer you cannot legally drive while off-duty, especially if the 14 is exhausted. Must be Bobtailing and not under dispatch. Ask Prime if they will pay your log violation ticket. Crickets...

Refer to this:

Learn The Logbook Rules (HOS)

And this:Got Pulled Over.

You're right G town, I totally brain farted that answer, and worded part of it wrong as well. Once the 14 is up, you're cooked. I've spent my share of nights at a customer as a result.

Regarding the off-duty driving however, I've been told by our logs dept. I'm allowed to drive a"short distance" after unloading to find safe parking, only when unloaded and only if not under the next dispatch. But that still doesn't allow me to violate the 14-hour rule.

Anything else like restaurant, Walmart, etc must be bobtail only.

Turtle wrote:

My company allows 1 hour of Off-duty driving per day. This is so we can get to a safe place to park after unloading, or to a restaurant, walmart, etc. But it's only when empty. Loaded, we have to drop the trailer before OD driving.

Be careful here...DOT will definitely take exception to this if pulled over and they check your logs. You will get a ticket for falsifying your logs. Although Prime may allow this; if under a trailer you cannot legally drive while off-duty, especially if the 14 is exhausted. Must be Bobtailing and not under dispatch. Ask Prime if they will pay your log violation ticket. Crickets...

Refer to this:

Learn The Logbook Rules (HOS)

And this:Got Pulled Over.

You're right G town, I totally brain farted that answer, and worded part of it wrong as well. Once the 14 is up, you're cooked. I've spent my share of nights at a customer as a result.

Regarding the off-duty driving however, I've been told by our logs dept. I'm allowed to drive a"short distance" after unloading to find safe parking, only when unloaded and only if not under the next dispatch. But that still doesn't allow me to violate the 14-hour rule.

Anything else like restaurant, Walmart, etc must be bobtail only.

I hear yah Man...no worries.

I'd still be careful driving off-duty under an empty trailer. It's considered "work".