HOS And Traffic Jam

Have any of you ever had to eat up 2, 3, or 4 hours stuck in traffic? Did it cause your load to be late? How did your company handle it?

Have any of you ever had to eat up 2, 3, or 4 hours stuck in traffic? Did it cause your load to be late? How did your company handle it?

Generally it's not a problem. I've been stuck for six hours on I-40 in Nashville (got 1-1/2 miles, did my 30 there, couldn't even get to an off-ramp). As long as it's truly out of your control, keep your DM informed and all is well.

Have any of you ever had to eat up 2, 3, or 4 hours stuck in traffic? Did it cause your load to be late? How did your company handle it?

Funny you should ask this. I was stuck for a couple of hours in traffic on I80 in IN and IL yesterday. I took a risk and logged On Duty Not Driving since we were going so slow, although I technically should have stayed on the Driving line. Either way it ate up alot of my 14.

I've seen trucks pulled off on the shoulder in slow moving traffic jams. I can only assume they were caught with only a small amount of time left on their 8 hours and had to take a 30 minute break.

Generally any kind of delay on your load, as long as it is communicated to dispatch, is no big deal.

I've had them due to traffic, receivers being slow on unloads causing me to be late to a second or third appointment, weather events, mechanical issues, all kinds of things.

Message dispatch when you think there will be an issue, give an eta if you can, and follow up when past the issue with an updated eta.

Now if you leave Barstow to deliver in Los Angeles an hour and a half before your appointment during rush hour, they probably won't excuse that.