1st Hos Violation

With swift and I went over my driving clock by 1 minute. My 1st and hopefully last hos violation. What should I do and will I get IN Trouble?

This happened yesterday btw.

What should I do and will I get IN Trouble?

Naj, a one minute violation is nothing to be concerned about in my opinion. You didn't give us any details, but more than likely you were in the process of getting parked somewhere. You maximized the use of your time and that is a good thing. You are not going to get in trouble over a single minor violation like this. Start making a pattern of not managing your time properly and then it will become a problem for you. I can tell by your response to this one time event that a pattern of misbehavior from you is highly unlikely. Take a deep breath brother and carry on - you are not in the dog house! You don't even need to do anything. If you happen to be talking to your dispatcher you could just tell them, "Hey I accidentally went over on my time yesterday. I just messed up and couldn't get parked in time. I will make sure it doesn't happen again." Nothing more than that needs to be said.

Let's look at the big picture here. You've no doubt seen us referring to Top Tier Drivers. Those are productive safe efficient drivers who are easy to work with while getting a lot done out here on the road. I have had the management guys in trucking tell me that whenever they have a really productive Top Tier Driver they allow them some liberties that they may not give to others. They have proven themselves responsible and reliable. Management understands that sometimes things happen out here that are simply unavoidable. A great driver will always be conscious of his hours and how they need to be managed, but occasionally something just goes wrong. I've had a few minor violations and nothing was ever said to me. I've certainly never gotten in trouble over something like you described.

The key is to be a great driver who is getting a lot accomplished without needing a lot of attention from your dispatcher. If you can keep that up you will be destined for a rewarding and prosperous trucking career. Don't even let it bother you Naj. You made a minor mistake. Just don't create a pattern of minor mistakes and you will be moving toward a great trucking career.

Don't sweat that violation one little bit Naj. In a company as large as Swift, they see violations much much worse than yours on a regular basis. Often the same drivers will mis-manage their clock over and over again. Those are the drivers Swift will be concerned with. Your 1 minute ding is nothing more than a blip. No worries.

Truth be told, I regularly push my clocks to the last few minutes of either the drive clock or the 14. If I think I can make it to that next rest area with a few minutes to spare, I'm going to go for it. Any slight delay of even just a few minutes could easily put me in violation. Thankfully I've been able to squeak by with only one 1 minute violation such as yours.

The rewards for that risk can be great. Better miles, longer runs, preferential treatment by your dispatcher , etc. But by trying to maximize our days into high productivity, we flirt with the fringes of the HOS. You may occasionally get a blip such as yours. As long as you don't let it happen often, you'll be fine. Drive on, driver.

Naj,

I wanted to chime in on something that Old School said about mentioning this to your dispatch. Each company is different so my comment concerns Prime’s procedures and my experience. As a general rule, my FM is not concerned about HOS , accidents, repairs, etc. except as those might affect my ability to pick up or deliver.

In addition to your FM (dispatch), Prime has a Logs Advisor, Road Assist Advisor, Safety Department, Fuel Desk, Tractor Shop, Trailer Shop, Permits, Claims, etc. For the Prime drivers, if you go to the phone app and click on “My Prime Portal” and then “My Contacts” it will give you the entire list.

The reason why I mention this in the context of HOS, Prime’s Logs Advisor, who is someone specifically assigned to a group of drivers, is responsible for your logs including any HOS violations. And in my experience, even massive abuse of PC will not necessarily trigger an audit from your Logs Advisor. My TNT trainer blatantly violated PC on regular basis, however, such blatant HOS violations did not trigger an audit.

I violated one night after I got to a receiver. I barely made it there on my 14-hour clock, which expired after I checked in. I violated because I did not switch to yard move when I turned around in the parking lot. I never heard anything from my Logs Advisor.

That being said, the lack of regular oversight should not encourage any HOS violations. My trainer got pulled into a California weigh station for a level 1 inspection. He had just driven about 5 hours on PC advancing our load. While we were sitting there, I was waiting for the CHP officer to say “e-mail me your logs.” If he had checked his logs, my trainer would have received multiple HOS violations for log falsification.

My violation for being on the drive line, instead of yard move would have been an easy explanation to either my Logs Advisor or a DOT officer. At Prime, neither we or our Logs Advisor can edit drive time, other than to assign it to a different driver. My trainer’s 5 hours of driving on PC would have resulted in a citation, in addition to the other violations during that past week.

You may want to find out if Swift has a similar compartmentalization of duties for driver support. The reason why I mention this, is because knowing who is responsible for what can help you in being more effective as a driver. When I had my first accident, I called my FM to let him know, solely for the purpose of timing on my delivery. He directed me to safety and told me to let him know when I was rolling again, which I did. Another example involves Prime’s Road Assist Advisor who is responsible for repairs on the road. If you will go to a terminal for a repair, its best to contact the tractor shop directly. Plus, the direct conversation with the tractor shop may be more productive, because you will speak directly to the technicians/mechanics who work on the trucks rather than your Road Assist Advisor who doesn’t have as in-depth working knowledge of the trucks.