Am I In Trouble? Does The 2 Hour Driving Exception To Mechanical Failures?

I'm a new (LTL) driver and I broke down yesterday and couldn't complete all of my deliveries. After the mechanic fixed the problem I headed home. The boss aked about my driving hours and I told him I should be fine because of the 2 hour driving exception. He's not a truck driver and hadn't heard of the exception and I'm a new driver. I truly believed the 2 hour driving exception appllied to mechanical failures. It seems I may be wrong. I did not have the FMCR Safety Regulations book with me but I rememberd from school that there was an exception to the rule. I rememberd there was more to it than just un-forseen snow and fog but, I couldn't remember exactly what. I thought since I had the paperwork from the mechanic I would be coverd but I can't find where it states anything about mechanical failures. I don't believe being a new driver or a dummy is a good excuse to the boss or the DOT.

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the exception only applies in situations where you need to drive a little longer in order to find a safe place to park, and then only long enough to do just that. I don't think I've ever heard of "needing more time to make deliveries" as a situation falling under that exception.

According to my drivers manual, " Repairing, obtaining assistance, or attending a disabled vehicle " all count against your 14 hour clock.

Also " Adverse driving conditions include snow, sleet, fog, or unusual road and traffic conditions that are unexpected. This would be conditions that were not known prior to starting a trip."

Sounds like you might have gone over. Good luck

Hi Persian Conversion. I didn't finish making my deliveries, I drove home. And hi Chris. I am aware it goes against the 14 clock but I was mostly concerned about the driving hours and not total work hours for the day. I seen where the adverse driving conditions included snow, sleet, fog, or unusual road and traffic conditions that are unexpected was mentioned but, I "thought" it also mentioned something about "other un-foreseen things that can't be planned for". I know break downs are a completely common thing and one can figure they're going, but not the moment they're going to happen. I'm wondering if the exception covers mechanical failures. Thanks for your replies.

Oh, sorry I guess I misread that! I see it now though. Are you on paper logs or electronic? If paper, I would say you can make it so you don't really have a problem. E-logs would be a different story though. Or you can just hope and pray that you don't get your logs inspected for the next 7 days, and after that it will fall off. But I still don't think you have a viable reason for extending the drive time, since it was not an imminent threat to safety or anything. It was basically that you just wanted to get home, right? Again, I'm not sure of the law, but I would imagine that keeping schedules just doesn't fall under the exemption category, regardless of the mechanical failure. I could be wrong though.