Comments By Eddie F.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrSPtLx7VG0

Hi Folks,

I just stumbled on this handy gadget. It looks like it's only been out on the market for a few months. As you can see, it offers a truck driver's GPS housed in an Android tablet computer. Based on what I've seen, it goes for $269.00. If it works well, that's a good price for what it does. Of course, an Android tablet is no substitute for a laptop computer, but you can't beat the tablet form factor for reading ebooks in bed. (Of course, you can also browse the internet, watch videos, and listen to music/audio books as well).

If you have an Android smartphone, there is an app called ScreenShare, which must be installed on both your phone and the tablet. (It's on the Google Play store web site). With these apps running on both your phone and this (or any other) Android tablet, the tablet displays exactly what the phone displays, on the bigger tablet scareen.

Here's a suction cup mount for the unit that I saw:

http://www.opip.com/product/Car-Holder-for-iPad-GPS-Tablet-PC-with-Multi-Function-_p16862.html

The suction cup on this mount can attach to a weighted base, which I have seen for as little as $10.00

My thanks to Brett and everyone else for all the helpful articles!!!

Thanks very much, Jersey Mike and Starcar.

There always will be cops who will look to bait or taunt a driver into losing his cool and saying something stupid. When I went through the California Highway patrol scale at Donner Summit, the technician who inspected the truck and my log commented, out of the blue, "I bet you guys would like to get home sooner than later". On the other hand, the Nevada Highway Patrol cop that stopped me was not only polite but even helpful. In the case with the CHP at Donner Summit, I think that the uniform cop at the desk basically told the technician to back off. Fortunately, no ticket in either case.

The Nevada cop did mention that they pay special attention to rental trucks on the road.

A former Contra Costa County (California) sheriff's deputy that I met made a point of telling me to be careful of the CHP - that they had a reputation of being head-busters.

Guy,

Doing a little digging on the net, the number of miles exempted from logging seems to be 100, not 150 miles. If something has changed, where the exemption is now 150 miles, could you give me a citation for that? That would make a huge difference, as google maps seems to say that the **road** miles distance from Roseville, CA to Reno, NV is 115 miles (so air miles should be less). Thanks again for your help.

Why did you use the example Roseville, CA to Reno, NV? Do you live in Roseville?

Daniel B, yes, I live and work in Roseville. Actually, I just looked up the latitude and longitude coordinates for both Roseville, CA and Reno, NV on Google. I then went to the NOAA site that gives the distance between the two sets of coordinates, and found there was 83 nautical miles between the two cities. However, I'm sure they'd find a way to nail you for that, so it's best to just do your logbooks, and be done with it.

PS: Watch out for that CHP scale/inspection station at Donner Summit. The cop in the jumpsuit is a first-class butthead. On the other hand, the CHP scale/inspection station between Sac and Fairfield was very polite. When I got the right-arrow to pull over, a cop came out and apologized that the arrow was stuck from the previous truck.

Guy, thanks for your reply, and your superb knowledge. I agree with Kevin, that you would make an excellent lawyer.

On the subject of the common law: I remember a non-CDL driver received a seat belt ticket, and used the common law argument in court, claiming that there was no injured party. The judge replied, exactly as you mentioned, that public safety concerns trumped his right to drive without wearing a seat belt.

Yes, you are correct that I was lucky to avoid the Out of Service imposition. Fortunately, a cooler-headed cop was in charge of the station, and must have said something to the "hot dog" that did the Level One inspection.

I also fear that someone who takes cops to court (sues them to get their bond revoked, or something similar) may soon find his CDL revoked under some pretense. He may spend more time in court (or jail) than behind the wheel.

Thanks again for your help.

Guy,

Doing a little digging on the net, the number of miles exempted from logging seems to be 100, not 150 miles. If something has changed, where the exemption is now 150 miles, could you give me a citation for that? That would make a huge difference, as google maps seems to say that the **road** miles distance from Roseville, CA to Reno, NV is 115 miles (so air miles should be less). Thanks again for your help.

Guy,

Thanks very much for the explanation and clarification about logs, and being over 150 miles, etc.

I'm waiting to hear back from this other fellow about whether or not a CDL driver can apply the common law to defend against a ticket, etc. The common law is all about: if one doesn't damage anyone else or their property, then there is no harm and no foul. If and when he writes back, I'll post his answer here.

Thanks very much again, Guy..

Hi all,

Perhaps some of you have heard of car drivers claiming "the common law right to travel", and signing tickets with "without prejudice, all common law rights reserved, no contract" above their signature on the ticket. CDL drivers are,of course, "driving in commerce", so I'm wondering whether or not they can do the sorts of things I mentioned.

I mention these things because I had to deal with a power-tripping jerk of a cop who wanted to nail me at the California Highway Patrol scale at Donner Summit (on I-80) for a logbook violation for not having 7 days of logs to show him, despite the fact that I only drove one previous day the past week, and it was well within the 100 air miles of the base. He also threatened to put the truck out of service for 10 hours - all because Penske Truck Rental didn't have a valid registration for the truck. (Fortunately, there was a cooler cop in charge. I wasn't written up for anything, only handed a notice for the expired license).

I already asked this other fellow I know of online, who is into the whole personality sovereignty situation, defending oneself in court, seeking remedies from tyrannical cops, etc. But I was wodnering if any of you had some thoughts on these situations.

Thanks very much.

Old School, thanks again. Regarding the side-swipe accident with the car hauler: I got a written warning from my driver manager when I returned to the home terminal, but nothing more.

Thanks very much, Old School !!

What about insurance to cover for situations where the driver clearly is at fault? Example: as a student driver, I side-swiped a car hauler at a truck stop. My carrier (Swift) covered the damage to the car hauler (the ramp, with no car on it). However, my mentor mentioned that I was lucky that there wasn't a car on the car hauler where I collided with it - if that was the case, he said that I would have been personally liable for it. Does anyone know about liability (and insurance) for something like that?