Big Sleepers and 34 Hour Restarts

[Streakn1]

It seems the trend in expedite trucks is to buy a big sleeper with all of the amenities on-board to be more comfortable and save on motel bills. Great idea until the "34 hour restart!

Why buy these sleepers so that we don't have to go into the truckstop to eat,pee,and shower, only to be told that we must either be in a motel room, at home, or at the very least "not in the truck" to get a 34 hour restart. This has recently been told to me by D.O.T. and safety. I have also been told that we must be able to produce a motel receipt if we stay in one during our restart.

Can you not "legally" stay in your fully equiped sleeper and get your restart? We recently wasted $180.00 for a room to get a restart as our truck sat just outside our motel window. Only doing what we were told to do. How insane!!!

 

[layoutshooter]

I can't wait to hear more on this one. We almost always stay in the sleeper. It cuts down alot on the motel bills. I have never heard that it was not allowed.

 

[Critter Truckin]

When have you heard this? According to what I've been told, whenever you are not driving/on-duty, you are resting. There have been many times where we have sat over a weekend for more than 34 hours. We log it appropriately and voila... reset! I've never been asked to produce a receipt for a hotel or anything of the sort to show that I actually stayed in a city. If you are in the sleeper for 34 hours, you've reset... pretty simple.

Don't take it the wrong way, but methinks you got hosed.

 

[greg334]

Why buy these sleepers so that we don't have to go into the truckstop to eat,pee,and shower, only to be told that we must either be in a motel room, at home, or at the very least "not in the truck" to get a 34 hour restart. This has recently been told to me by D.O.T. and safety.

What?

Someone is full of s***.

The 34 hour reset can be in the sleeper in combination with off duty time. The guidelines explain it pretty well and even the HOS FAQ section has this;

G. SLEEPER BERTHS

G-1. May a driver spend part of his or her 34-hours of consecutive off-duty time in a sleeper berth?

Yes, provided the 34-hour period is consecutive and not broken by on-duty or driving activities.




HOS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

 

[Critter Truckin]

So yeah, what Greg said... only I didn't get the sources. What a copycat!!!

 

[Streakn1]

Per the D.O.T. officer I spoke to:
A 34 hour restart cannot be a combination of off duty and sleeper berth during the 34 hour period. Also said that you cannot log 34 hours in the sleeper and get the restart, it must be all on the off duty line. Went on to say that if they choose to they (D.O.T.) can request proof of where you stayed (motel receipt,etc) while out of the truck getting your 34 hour restart. I was told that if you log off duty yet stay in your sleeper for the 34 hours, that is false logging and subject to fines.

 

[dieseldiva]

I see that you drive for Fed Ex, are you saying that someone in safety there confirmed this??

 

[Critter Truckin]

So then my suggestion would be to get a whole lot of microwaveable meals, some movies, crank on the generator (if available) and get the pen ready for the sleeper line.

 

[davekc]

Wow.....I can go back to buying the little 36" specials.
Can't say I have ever heard of this.

 

[are12]

Don't know what D.O.T officer you were talking with but it seems he does not have a clue - either that or maybe you just misunderstood what he said???

A 34 hour restart can be a combination of off duty and sleeper berth. The only thing that off duty means is that you are away from your truck and away from any duties or responsibilities for the truck, such as shower's, meals, sitting in the driver's lounge watching TV.

If we are sitting in the same location for 3 days, we will show midnight to 8:00 am in the sleeper, then off duty from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, then back in the sleeper until 8:00 am the following morning - and no one can question that.

Don't you think if this was not allowed, some one from your companies Safety Department, would have contacted you by now??

 

[layoutshooter]

My wife told me she asked that same question from FedEx Safety when we where there last. They told her that The sleeper and off duty time count towards your 34 hours reset.
Layoutshooter

 

[nightcreacher]

Gary,I dont know where you were,or what DOT officer you talked to,but hes all wet.34 hour reset can be any combination of off duty and sleeper birth,as long as there isnt a break in time,as on duty not driving or driving.I do my resets just that way,part off duty,part sleeper.but remember,if your under load,and you dont have a paper ,that states your not responsible for the load, when off duty for more than 15 minuets,you cant legally go off duty,but you can go into sleeper birth.

 

[arkjarhead]

So if you go by the house under a load and stay for 34 hours or more it's not a resart? I did that a bunch of times. Good thing I never got caught. Of course I didn't know I was doing anything wrong.

 

[nightcreacher]

Ark,not many DOT officers ask to see if your permitted by your company to go off duty,and you may never find that guy thats looking to make a name for himself,but it is in the green dot book,if i was out in the truck id give you the exact law and code number.Ive had many arguments with FDCC, tying to get a card that lets us go off duty,when i was at Con-Way Now,they gave us one.

 

[LDB]

I never use line 2. I'm either off duty, driving or on duty not driving for pti or fuel or something. The only time I'd ever use line 2 would be to split log an 8 hour sleeper to stop the clock. In all the time the 34 hour rule has been in place I've logged a LOT of them, all on line 1 and all while using my sleeper as my "house". I'm sure if that wasn't right I'd have received "love notes" from safety about it.

 

[nightcreacher]

you save a lot of question by useing the line 2,shoot,ive shown 24 hours on line 2 before,it doesnt mean your asleep,your just there.wait til some dot guy wants you to explain where you were sleeping,or what you were doing for those 34 hrs off duty.dont say sleeper,you put in line 1,dont say motel,he might want to see receipt

 

[Crazynuff]

The FMCSA regulations do not state you must get a motel or stay anywhere or even get any rest to log off duty. You must simply be relieved of duty .

 

[buckeyewildman]

hmmmm does this mean i have to get a reciept from my wife when i,m home to proof where i spend my time if i was home more then 34 hrs just wondering

 

[panther_art]

I think that dot was getting day cabs mixed up with sleeper berths, because isn't that the way they (day cabs) have to do it, provide a motel receit for there 34 hr restart if they are so many miles away from home.
Just asking, you know sometimes these people with a badge get things mixed up a little.

Panther Art

 

[ATeam]

We had this question come up some time ago and got our answer from our safety department. A 34 hour reset can occur with any uninterrupted combination of sleeper berth and off duty time. However, if the truck is under load, and you are attending to the freight, you must log your time as on duty not driving.

If the truck is loaded and you are trying to reset, a hotel receipt would be a good way to prove that you were in fact off duty and not attending the freight. If the truck was loaded and you were in it, the truth of your off duty time may be more difficult to establish.

The question rose for us when we once had a load we picked up just before Thanksgiving, very close to home. Because of the holiday, we had two extra days to deliver the load. Because we were sleeping in the house, we were able to reset while the truck sat loaded in the driveway. There was nothing special about the freight. It did not need to be attended around the clock. It just needed to be delivered on time by an exclusive-use truck.

We would have been able to reset had we slept in the truck and logged the time as sleeper time. But in this case, the reality of our off duty time was easy to establish. If you are in a circumstance where it is important to prove off duty time, a hotel receipt would certainly help.