Can Guard Have My Codriver Wake Me In Order To Sign Some Sign-in Sheet While I Need To Be In Sleeper?

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.

To answer your question, yes he can do that. Sleeping or not, you're entering their property and have to abide by their rules. It seems a little silly to me, but rules are rules I guess. He's probably either new or one of those guards who thinks he's a hotshot because he wears a security badge.

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.

No it wouldn't be an HOS violation to go On Duty Not Driving (ODND) in the middle of your sleeper break. You can legally go ODND anytime for as long as you want, whether you are "out of hours" or not. HOS only govern driving hours. So you could legally go On Duty to check in, but you would have to restart your 10 hr break in order to have legal driving hours again. But obviously that would be counter-productive to go On Duty for 5 minutes to check in and interrupt your sleeper break.

Personally, I would do one of three things:

1) Lie to the security guard and not say you have a co-driver in the bunk. Unless it's a military base or something, there's no way he's gonna check the bunk. Just stay in the bunk the whole time so your co-driver doesn't get in trouble.

2) Just sign the stupid piece of paper while logged Sleeper Berth and go back to bed.

3) Be honest with the guard and try to reason with him. Maybe he'll let your co-driver sign for you.

🏆Best Answer!

2) Just sign the stupid piece of paper while logged Sleeper Berth and go back to bed.

Don't lose sleep over this. Let mountains be mountains, and molehills be nothing much.

I would’ve just signed the paper for my co-driver, then let him know about it after the fact. You know, if I was close to my co-driver. That may be considered “bad advice” though. If you woke up, signed the paper and went back to sleep, you did the correct, safe thing.

@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.

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.

Pianoman is correct. Your 14 doesn't restrict you from being "On-duty". The 14 hour clock means you can't drive if you went On-duty 14+ hours ago, without a 10 hr break. You can be On-duty for as many hours as you want, you just can't drive until you've taken a 10, once you pass that 14th hour

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.

I'm positive I'm right but I left my little green book in my truck, so someone else will have to find it and cite the section number.

I can understand your codriver's position, but it stinks for you lol. You just have to sign it. You can go ahead and log On Duty if you want, but you'll have to take a full 10 hrs off afterward. Or just sign it while logged Sleeper, which is what most people would do.

I got this off the J J Keller DOT Hours of Service Rules - FAQs:

May the driver of a property-carrying vehicle be on duty for more than 14 hours?

Yes. A driver can continue to work beyond the end of the 14th hour of the day, but may not drive a commercial motor vehicle (unless using one of the 16-hour exceptions). The additional on-duty time will reduce on-duty time available under the 60/70-hour time limit.

You can work past even your 14 hour limit on a day. But guess what? You still have to be Off Duty for 10 hours before you can drive again. I think it works this way because of the rules around it, instead of being written down:
A. You drive 10 hours and you must stop.
B. You stay On Duty Not Driving for, say 8 hours. Maybe it's a terrible storm and you have to keep your truck from blowing away. I don't know.
C. Bed time! You cannot start driving again until you have 10 consecutive hours off duty.

@ 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