DOT Inspection This Week

??? Editing doesn't extend your 14... your 70 it can.. but only 8 in sleeper can do the 14

Editing only changes the 14 if done so before driving occurs. Once the QC logs drive time editing can only effect the 30 minute break time and extend the 70.

Most DOT officers are not idiots. They know the restrictions we all operate under, they know how limiting those restrictions can be to our income, and they know we're all out here trying to make a living.

It follows, then, that they know most of us are trying to maximize the time we can squeeze out of our logs. They would have to be pretty naive to think that drivers don't "tweak" a little bit here and there.

As long as your logs are legal and reasonable, and you are neat and professional (both in your attitude and in how you maintain your equipment), I don't think any of them will give you a hard time about it.

It's like speeding. Technically, officers could probably spend every single minute of every day, 24/7/365 issuing speeding tickets to everyone going 1mph over or more, but realistically they're just not going to have the time, resources or desire to do that. They let slide the ones who are still acting reasonably, and they catch the ones who just push it too far.

Ding ding ding !!!!!! Persian for the win.

Thanks guys (and gal--lol Rainy), I was really worried about that. Like I said, no 11, 14, or 70 hr violations (or 30). Two main things I need to worry about. I forget to update the load tab sometimes since I didn't start fixing that til recently. Also, sometimes I go places off duty. I know I'm not supposed to, but if I'm on a tight load and I have to pick up a prescription from Walgreens along the way, I might drop my trailer in a truck stop and bobtail there. G-town and anyone else working at Swift knows what I'm talking about...Change the duty status (to any of the four), drive up to four minutes (allowing it to kick to Driving status), then stop and change to Off Duty and wait for the fifth minute.

I did it just this morning, logged SB. I was parked on a street with no bathroom and I had to do #2. I doubt an officer would take that as an excuse, so I was really just taking my chances with that one. But come on, seriously, I ain't taking a dump on the street.

I'm just hoping if I get an inspection, they won't notice that or it falls off the 8 days first. Fingers crossed.

Don't ever think that falling off the 8 days is the end of things. The company has to keep records for a certain period of time and occasionally the FMCSA comes in and does an audit of fuel, invoice and driver logs to see if they all match up with the miles run. If something is found such as log falsification the driver and the company can be fined.

Keep Logs updated, if Electronic do you have a cheat sheet you can give DOT officer so they can look through your E-Logs, they will be grateful. Pre-Trips, Tire-Brakes-Lights check along the route, Post-Trips are all important.

Go around and clean all your light lenses and license plates and windshields/mirrors and if you have wheel covers on your drives clean those off as well. Keep your inside of your truck somewhat clean. The cleaner and better organized your rig usually the less time they will spend looking for things.

So did anyone get inspected? I haven't really noticed any activity out of the ordinary myself. Most weigh stations I pass are closed. I drove through 2 and got waved by, which is just about normal.

Thought I made it through unscathed but then I got hit with a level 2 in Nevada this morning at 2am. The guys on either side of me were getting level 1's. Also got to see a trooper chase down someone that blew by the checkpoint.

No skin off my back, easy free money for passing an inspection. That's only the second inspection I've had in two years at Prime, the other was a month or so ago in Montana (level 3).

Only ran across on open ambush site.