I got in trouble for this..

[pipeman]

is there something about a 379 pete that makes the driver think he can do whatever he wants??

Yes, there is a psychological connection. The petes cause bad behavior. Scientists are still working to discover how this takes place. They are also working to figure out how a combination of multicolored toy trains, combined with a weak intellect, cause even worse bad behavior.

Scientists are also trying to figure out why Billy Big Rigger drains the air out of the seat and pushes it back into the sleeper in addition to having a sunvisor that covers the top half of the glass.

Such a BBR ran over a pedestrian at the Flying J at Sherwood Park Alberta last year, he was waiting to pull up to the pumps and as soon as the truck ahead of him was pulling away, he put it in gear and from his sitting position he couldn't see the fellow walking in front of truck to get into the building. He ran him over and was pulled up all the way to the pump when someone yelled at him. The body was tangled up in the suspension of the double drop lowbed he was pulling.

I've never driven one but I would suspect from that seating position you probably can't see a thing within at least 50 feet of the front of the truck.

[corydon]

How can anybody run over a adult person with the steers, tandems and the trailer wheels, without noticing????

It is not the truck, but the driver. Few years ago I stopped at the J somewhere south of Washington DC on I 95.
Had my little girl with me. While walking across the parkinglot I had too run with her, a Freightliner was flying across the parking....
Good thing I don't carry a weapon

[Ramona]

Ummm let me help you out here. I'm tall and usually in order to have a comfortable ride I have to slide the seat back, a lot and since I have been known to hit my head on the roof when having air in the seat after a bump, I tend to take the air out of the seat until I can feel safe enough to not hit my head. Personally, it's a much more comfortable ride for me having my legs extended to a comfortale position and being that I'm so tall, I can see the front of my truck. It has nothing to do with "being cool" but I can't say that about everyone as I've seen some REALLY short guys crawl out of a Pete after thinking the truck was on auto pilot. Now you know...

[brutus_kc]

An owner-operator has 3 trucks, a Peterbilt, a Kenworth, and a Freight Shaker. All 3 get wrecked in the same week. He tried to piece together one truck out of all the pieces. Would it now be called a Peter_Worth_Shakin?
On the on duty subject, Was at the MHC dealership a couple of weeks ago to drop my truck off for service. Went upstairs to the drivers lounge to wait for my ride to pick me up. Talked to a couple of drivers looking out the window to the shop. Went back the next morning, and saw those same 2 drivers down at the service desk asking when their trucks would be done. They had spent all day and all night in the lounge upstairs, sitting in the recliners. Don't know how they could sleep with the sound of the air ratchets, and other shop noises going on. One of the guys was an owner-operator and kept being told, the truck will be done soon, so he did not go to a motel. He had been broke down along the side of the road before arriving on a tow truck. (No it wasn't a Mack) So from what I saw, he had not been relieved from duty for over 24 hours, and was preparing to head back out on his run as soon as the paperwork was done. Hope he didn't have any problems without having proper rest for so long. So the question is, he was not "in or upon" his vehicle, but can sitting at the shop be logged off duty ?
Drive Safe!

[pipeman]

An owner-operator has 3 trucks, a Peterbilt, a Kenworth, and a Freight Shaker. All 3 get wrecked in the same week. He tried to piece together one truck out of all the pieces. Would it now be called a Peter_Worth_Shakin?
On the on duty subject, Was at the MHC dealership a couple of weeks ago to drop my truck off for service. Went upstairs to the drivers lounge to wait for my ride to pick me up. Talked to a couple of drivers looking out the window to the shop. Went back the next morning, and saw those same 2 drivers down at the service desk asking when their trucks would be done. They had spent all day and all night in the lounge upstairs, sitting in the recliners. Don't know how they could sleep with the sound of the air ratchets, and other shop noises going on. One of the guys was an owner-operator and kept being told, the truck will be done soon, so he did not go to a motel. He had been broke down along the side of the road before arriving on a tow truck. (No it wasn't a Mack) So from what I saw, he had not been relieved from duty for over 24 hours, and was preparing to head back out on his run as soon as the paperwork was done. Hope he didn't have any problems without having proper rest for so long. So the question is, he was not "in or upon" his vehicle, but can sitting at the shop be logged off duty ?
Drive Safe!

Porbably he could. He was sitting in a recliner in the lounge watching TV....I would call that off duty. Line 1 doesn't make much sense at times. You can log it for 3 days straight but it doesn't mean that you're rested well enough to drive, heck, you might have been on a 3 day drunk.

[Monty]

Have any of you considered going to www.askthelaw.org and getting the definitive answer to this question that seems to be so hard for some of you to understand?

Monty;knows the answer

[revvassago]

So the question is, he was not "in or upon" his vehicle, but can sitting at the shop be logged off duty ?
Drive Safe!

Good question. 395.2 says that on duty time is:

(6) All time repairing, obtaining assistance, or remaining in attendance upon a disabled commercial motor vehicle;

Which would lead me to believe that he was remaining in attendance upon a disabled commercial motor vehicle, and would therefore have to log the time as on duty(not driving), unless he was relieved of duty by the motor carrier and chose to stay at the shop.

[Ramona]

Tony wins the prize!!!!!!

[Timothy J. Begle]

Have any of you considered going to http://www.askthelaw.org and getting the definitive answer to this question that seems to be so hard for some of you to understand?

Monty;knows the answer

The boss over there taught me a few things about the regs.

I knows too!

[Timothy J. Begle]

If all else fails.

Read the regs in context!

[Shuffler]

(6) All time repairing, obtaining assistance, or remaining in attendance upon a disabled commercial motor vehicle;

Not so fast...

A driver sitting in a shop waiting room is not "remaining in attendance upon a disabled motor vehicle".

And who says the vehicle is "disabled" to begin with? (as specified in the reg above)
What about regular shop maintenance? Oil change?

According to the reg above:
The truck has to be "disabled" with the driver "upon" it (physically upon the truck), or...
The driver would have to be performing repairs, or...
The driver would have to be obtaining assistance.
After talking with the shop personnel, phone calls and paperwork ("obtaining assistance") the rest of the
time spent just sitting in the waiting room does not meet any of the above criteria, does it?
Wouldn't it be the same as sitting in a restaurant next door....or in the motel across the street?
You're doing NOTHING in relation to any work activity, and are effectively relieved of any duty
while waiting for your next opportunity to perform work again, correct?

[Ramona]

The lounge does not have a proper sleeping area. It was stated that he kept being told his truck would be ready in a bit, hence he was stuck with the truck. If he can prove that he sat in that chair for 10 hours SLEEPING, without being awakened by the intercom system, having to be awakened to check the status of his vehicle and was in no way interruted by the staff of the shop, then he could possibly convince a court to not prosecute him should he kill someone after sporadic sleep for two days.

Per the last company I was with, as long as I am in or upon a business to have their truck repaired, be it waiting for an oil change or having major repairs, as long as I am on their (the business) property and I do not have access to the vehicle supplied to me by the company, I am to log it as "on duty, not driving". The ONLY way I waas able to go to an "off duty" status was to leave the premises. I was under a Peterbilt contract and Peterbilt realized my truck would be unavailable to me a couple of times after 7:00pm and made accomodations available, NOT the lounge, but a room at a hotel they used, always a nice place and transportation to and from accomodations was supplied.

[pipeman]

The lounge does not have a proper sleeping area. It was stated that he kept being told his truck would be ready in a bit, hence he was stuck with the truck. If he can prove that he sat in that chair for 10 hours SLEEPING, without being awakened by the intercom system, having to be awakened to check the status of his vehicle and was in no way interruted by the staff of the shop, then he could possibly convince a court to not prosecute him should he kill someone after sporadic sleep for two days.

Per the last company I was with, as long as I am in or upon a business to have their truck repaired, be it waiting for an oil change or having major repairs, as long as I am on their (the business) property and I do not have access to the vehicle supplied to me by the company, I am to log it as "on duty, not driving". The ONLY way I waas able to go to an "off duty" status was to leave the premises. I was under a Peterbilt contract and Peterbilt realized my truck would be unavailable to me a couple of times after 7:00pm and made accomodations available, NOT the lounge, but a room at a hotel they used, always a nice place and transportation to and from accomodations was supplied.

Does he have to sleep??? He could be just Off Duty.

[revvassago]

You're doing NOTHING in relation to any work activity, and are effectively relieved of any duty
while waiting for your next opportunity to perform work again, correct?

"Effectively" relieved of duty is not relieved of duty. The motor carrier must relieve the driver of any duty via written instructions, and the driver must be at liberty to pursue activities of his/her own choosing and to leave the premises where the vehicle is situated. If the motor carrier tells the driver to wait for the truck, the driver would not be relieved of duty, and would therefore have to log the time as on duty (not driving).

The lounge does not have a proper sleeping area. It was stated that he kept being told his truck would be ready in a bit, hence he was stuck with the truck. If he can prove that he sat in that chair for 10 hours SLEEPING, without being awakened by the intercom system, having to be awakened to check the status of his vehicle and was in no way interruted by the staff of the shop, then he could possibly convince a court to not prosecute him should he kill someone after sporadic sleep for two days.

The only resting facility the FMCSA regulates is a sleeper berth. As Tim pointed out several times (even though it was not relevant to the discussion at all), a driver could stand outside his truck for 10 hours if he so chose, and would be in compliance with the FMCSA regs and could drive 11 hours. Furthermore, the FMCSA does not regulate whether a driver obtains sleep. They only regulate that a driver have a minimum block of time in which to have the ability to obtain rest. To log that rest as sleeper berth time, it must be within a sleeper berth. To log that time as off duty, it must be outside a CMV, and the driver must be relieved of duty by the motor carrier. It can be any combination of the two, as long as the time is not broken up by any on duty time.

[corydon]

PPPFFFFFF . Just put a line in that book

Can't believe a driver sits there all night.
Grab a taxi, sleep in a motel and have them call...........

When they are done with your truck, reschedule your appointment .
Too many folks are looking for (edited).