Slow Rolling To The Dock

Straight out of the Exemptions To Hours Of Service Regulations in our High Road Training Program:

Adverse Driving Conditions Exception

If unexpected adverse driving conditions slow you down, you may drive up to 2 additional hours to complete what could have been driven in normal conditions. This means you could drive for up to 13 hours, which is 2 hours more than allowed under normal conditions. "Adverse driving conditions" means conditions that you did not know about when you began your trip like snow, fog, or a road closure due to a crash. Adverse driving conditions do not include situations that you should have known about through proper trip planning, such as congested traffic during typical "rush hour" periods. Even though you may drive 2 extra hours under this exception, you are not allowed to drive after the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty.

I've heard of companies that do not allow you to use this exception, probably because they abused it in the past and DOT has their eye on them.

So what you're saying is...I cant use that regulation just because the girl I wanted to do my mani/pedi wasn't available until after lunch and it is currently 10am?...............JUST KIDDING!!!

For real though, I had a run that was tight, 635miles deadhead from West Palm Beach, FL to Greenville, SC (truck governed at 63mph which only happens when the sun, moon and stars align AND I have a tail wind AND I am going down hill. Miles are zip to zip). Long story short...there was a crash in Jacksonville, FL AND construction going on. -

I was 7 miles away from the shipper when I ran out of drive time and had to slow roll to them at 2 something in the morning.

Backtracking a little....While I was in traffic, I called in to ask if I could go to line 4. They said no but, that little bit of time would have allowed me to get to the shipper with out having to slow roll!

I have since learned that I was a Jacka** b/c I should not have "asked" I should have "told" them or better yet, just go to line 4 b/c according to COMPANY policy, I had the right to go there while stuck in traffic. But, noooooooo I asked and got jacked b/c I didn't know company policy and FMRC regulation. Instead I relied <---did I spell that right? It looks funny- on someone else to tell me "their version" of the policy.

Not gonna happen twice!

If the crash in J-Ville resulted in I-95 being CLOSED DOWN - then the exception rule might have applied. There's a difference between bumper-2-bumper as a result of an accident - and having to re-route off the interstate because it was CLOSED.

The rule is very specific, and whether or not a DOT would cite you for it (if you were over on your logs), would be at their discretion, and for YOU TO PROVE OTHERWISE.

Safety would probably put it as a LOG VIOLATION - and in situations like that - you might want to back yourself up with PROOF of the "unforeseeable delay".

Again - the "exception" typically applies to FINDING SAFE HARBOR (truck stop, rest area, etc.) versus parking on the side of an interstate because you "ran out of hours" - not for making an "appointment time" - otherwise people would abuse the he11 out of it - and FMCSA would DO AWAY WITH THE RULE ALTOGETHER.

Rick