Comments By Anttjuan R.

@Matt M.

Top earners are not going to go on duty if they can help it, they are going to finish their 10 hour break and keep on rolling.

Yeah I realize that's where me and a lot of drivers that I've met in person differ. Some want to be out on the road for many months at a time and are willing to deprive themselves of sleep, food, showers all for the sake of making as much money as they can. Not saying that's wrong, it's all just personal preference. I prefer to be a little more balanced even at the cost of big paychecks.

@Old School Hey thanks for the advice. But perhaps I should've given more context to my question. I've been a truck driver for over 3 years now. Is that still considered new? The majority of those years have been OTR but now I've been on the same exact dedicated lane for a little over a year and am very content with it. I don't think I'm out of tune with my expectations. I came here for input on my situation, which you and many others have given and which I am also very thankful for. I'm sure many years down the line, I will continue coming back and asking questions that may seem very basic to others. But I am not of the mind-set that companies or corporations can just use us however they want without regard to our reasonable well being. They may try, but we too should be heard. Anyway, not trying to make this long but my point is that I am simply exploring what my options are in this particular situation. If something like this can be avoided, then why not? That is what I am in the process of finding out. Just sitting here and staying quiet will get me nowhere. If in the end nothing at all can be done at about it, then I at least learned something new.

All that jostling around while going down the road, hitting pot holes, stopping, starting, getting fuel, etc, etc. None of that robs you of your sleep?

Nope. I sleep through it all.

But having to sign in at a secure location where the guard needs to keep track of who, and how many persons come and go through the gate is a big issue?

The big issue here is SLEEP, not anything else.

This is part of team driving. It's a part of the job you chose. Embrace it - you're a Team Driver.

Of course I'm a team driver. I never said otherwise. What I gather from everything you're saying is to just "deal with it." Perhaps that's what YOU would do but I am first going to look at my options to see if there is anything that can be done in case this becomes something persistent. Maybe getting proper sleep is not a big deal to you but it is definitely important to me, so calling it "incidental" or a "small thing" is relative.

@ Errol V. Wow that is interesting. I certainly did not know that. So hypothetically speaking, on my log I can be on-duty for 20 plus hours straight without any violation as long as I'm not driving? That's definitely new to me but thanks for the citation because I see it now.

And @Pianoman I guess you were correct after all. But yeah I did sign it while on sleeper and will continue doing it that way if I have to but it's just the hassle of having to wake up just to sign it and then try and sleep again that bugs me. We'll see what happens but if it comes down to it, I may consider buying a stamp where I can put signature on it and I'll just authorize my codriver to go ahead and stamp my signature every time he arrives. I know I'm going to lengths here but I cherish my sleep! lol

By the way, I should probably clear up that I AM the one in the sleeper, not my codriver. If my codriver was in the sleeper and I was the one driving, I would totally sign it for him, or just tell the guard I'm solo. My codriver is unwilling to do this for me though for fear of getting in trouble which I can understand. That's why I'm resorting to finding another way.

@Pianoman

You can legally go ODND anytime for as long as you want, whether you are "out of hours" or not

I don't think that's true. If you've used up your 14 hour clock, you cannot legally be on-duty anymore until it resets. At least that's what I remember. Can someone confirm this because that's one of the things I'm counting on to not be interrupted while sleeping.

So I'm a team driver and recently my codriver drove in to the receiver and the guard asked if he had a codriver and he said yes he is sleeping. Then the guard told him to wake me up so I can sign the sign-in sheet. Obviously, i was upset that I had to be awoken 5 hours into my sleep just to sign some paper. My question is, can the guard actually do that? Wouldn't that technically count as me having to go on-duty to do that? And if that's the case, that means my consecutive hours of being on sleeper-berth would be broken which means I'd have to start over again with sleeper-berth hours. Not to mention, it would probably be an HOS violation to go on-duty again after my clock has expired and hasn't reset yet. Anyway, I've been on this dedicated lane for over a year now and this is the first time we've been asked to do this which makes me think this gaurd was new. Can't imagine having to do this every single time my codriver comes in because I need to have a good continuous sleep to be able to drive refreshed. Isn't that the whole point behind the Sleeper-berth laws? I'm trying to use these rules and technicalities to my advantage so that I don't have to be woken up again for something dumb like that. Please help.

So I did a lot of research on understanding how splitting sleeper time works and I still have these remaining questions:

I know that if I start my shift at midnight, my 14 hour clock is set to expire at 2pm. But if I sleep for 8 consecutive hours within that 14 hour time, then my 14 hour clock will expire at 10pm. Am I correct so far?

Okay so when I was looking this up, I kept seeing something about how the remaiming 2 sleeping hours can restart my 14 hour clock fresh even if I took it at a different time than the 8 consecutive hours I had previously taken. So then my question is, do I have to take those 2 remaining sleeper hours within the 14 hour clock for it to work or can I go to sleep for only 2 hours after the 14 hour shift ended at 10pm and expect a new 14 hour time at 12am midnight? If the answer is the latter, how long do I have before sleeping for 2 hours won't work anymore and I would have to take my usual 10hr sleep?

That is question number one. Number two is: just as 8 consecutive hours in sleeper makes 14 hour clock freeze, is the case also with 2 hour sleeper? In other words, if I start my shift at midnight and then sleep for two hours and then continue work, will my 14 hour clock set to expire at 4pm now instead of 2pm?

Correction: The app is actually called "Placard Wizard Mobile".

I have a hazmat endorsement but never really carried a hazmat load because I don't really know how to placard correctly and I've heard stories where people get ticketed at weigh stations for having improper hazmat placards. I am thinking about downloading an app called "Hazmat Placard Wizard Mobile" where you simply punch in data from you bill of lading and it will tell you the correct placards to put on. But I'd also like to learn for myself just to double check. How did YOU learn and is there a website you recommend that makes it easy to understand? And have you ever used a hazmat app such as I described?

I also remember learning in orientation that the placards must be placed at least 3 feet away from any sign or logo but I always see trucks having them way less than 3 feet, and sometimes even right next to the logo. I want to know as much as I can about hazmat. And just to make sure, all truck drivers in the U.S. carry the same little orange hazmat book in their truck right? That way I know we're on the same page.