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ODFL | What do you do when running out of time?

DayliteDean said:
I've been under the impression that the weather exemption was history when the driving shift was changed from 10 hours to the present 11 hours in 2003.
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No. You can use 1 extra hour driving in adverse weather unknown to you at departure, but not to exceed 14 hrs total time. If you have already used 2 1/2 hrs of on duty not driving time, then you only get an extra 30 min of driving. Using personal conveyance to come in on is definitely not lawful. And yes they can find out if you were legally under an adverse weather exemption by a lawyer at $350.00/ hr if there are a couple of million dollars on the line. Believe me, It is an easy 33% of 2 million dollars. Even if the accident is not your fault, you will still be guilty under the law for violating your hrs of service. Screw the dispatcher and terminal mgr. Call your safety dept and ask to talk to the dir of safety himself and ask him if he really wants you to place your company under that sort of indefensible liability because they don't want to come out and pick you up. Even at midnight, the GO has a safety supervisor on standby for calls like this. And then just sit back and smile and wait for the phone call.... They will be pissed for a while, but they will get over it. BECAUSE THEY KNOW YOU ARE RIGHT, AND THEY WILL GRUDGINGLY RESPECT YOU FOR IT. OR you can keep playing the percentages and risk it on a roll of the dice each time. After all, you are only hanging your a$$ in the wind for the length of time you are willfully in violation of DOT rules. Sure you are a good enough driver to risk it, but what about that teenager that was texting when he crossed over into you? Or spun around in front of you? Or.....? BTW I am not referring to you specifically DD, but only in a general sense to every driver who may need assurance of what to do.
 
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hangbelly said:
No. You can use 1 extra hour driving in adverse weather unknown to you at departure, but not to exceed 14 hrs total time. If you have already used 2 1/2 hrs of on duty not driving time, then you only get an extra 30 min of driving. Using personal conveyance to come in on is definitely not lawful. And yes they can find out if you were legally under an adverse weather exemption by a lawyer at $350.00/ hr if there are a couple of million dollars on the line. Believe me, It is an easy 33% of 2 million dollars. Even if the accident is not your fault, you will still be guilty under the law for violating your hrs of service. Screw the dispatcher and terminal mgr. Call your safety dept and ask to talk to the dir of safety himself and ask him if he really wants you to place your company under that sort of indefensible liability because they don't want to come out and pick you up. Even at midnight, the GO has a safety supervisor on standby for calls like this. And then just sit back and smile and wait for the phone call.... They will be pissed for a while, but they will get over it. BECAUSE THEY KNOW YOU ARE RIGHT, AND THEY WILL GRUDGINGLY RESPECT YOU FOR IT. OR you can keep playing the percentages and risk it on a roll of the dice each time. After all, you are only hanging your a$$ in the wind for the length of time you are willfully in violation of DOT rules. Sure you are a good enough driver to risk it, but what about that teenager that was texting when he crossed over into you? Or spun around in front of you? Or.....? BTW I am not referring to you specifically DD, but only in a general sense to every driver who may need assurance of what to do.
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Exactly. But some terminals have their own set of rules or dispatch has no regard for our regulations. In a earlier post I stated that I pulled off 3 miles from the terminal. Come get me.
 
DayliteDean said:
I've been under the impression that the weather exemption was history when the driving shift was changed from 10 hours to the present 11 hours in 2003.
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The 2 hour weather related, or accident delay that allows you that extra time to get back to the terminal, is supposed to be used only once in any 7 day period, Sheriff.
 
Grumpy O' Man said:
Exactly,Both times I ran out of hours I knew several hours before I would not have the time..I called ahead several times to give my terminal a heads up and what exit I would meet them at..Never ran out completely..Always had a couple minutes to spare when I logged out and someone was there waiting on me.Never had to wait..Again,called communication..
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It happened to us a lot in the Pacific NW in the winter, If I knew I couldn't make Ontario, I'd call central and tell them I was going to go to bed in Lagrande Oregon. Also a couple of times in Baker Oregon, We had motels scattered around that we used and La Grande was one. They asked me a couple of questions and then oked my decision, I'd call the motel for a reservation and proceed there. I would take my 10 and come in after my rest. They were great about that at ABF. Oregon closes I-84 if it even feels like snow in the air anymore. I remember 1 time I called central and told them I was going to be out of hours and didn't have a clue where I was going to find a motel. He told me to let him handle that. He called back in 20 min and gave me the motel and the company credit card number for the motel. That was before they issued us corporate lodging credit cards. "Call us after your rest and let us know when you depart again, sir." Those people were a pleasure to work for in the winter. But they knew all of us and knew we would chain and get through if it was possible so they never gave us any BS. I really appreciated that trust. Same about dropping triples in inclement weather. The last thing a driver needs is to fight with a jerk dispatcher while fighting the weather as well. Some drivers say that that cell phone is not for company business, but I looked at it differently. We always called if we were running late to let them know. What the weather conditions were and the chain requirements and road closure situation was to use alternate routes, etc. I ran a scanner and kept them updated for other drivers benefit as well. Central knew several of us ran a scanner and trusted our info and appreciated that. It made the job easier for all of us...
 
hangbelly said:
It happened to us a lot in the Pacific NW in the winter, If I knew I couldn't make Ontario, I'd call central and tell them I was going to go to bed in Lagrande Oregon. Also a couple of times in Baker Oregon, We had motels scattered around that we used and La Grande was one. They asked me a couple of questions and then oked my decision, I'd call the motel for a reservation and proceed there. I would take my 10 and come in after my rest. They were great about that at ABF. Oregon closes I-84 if it even feels like snow in the air anymore. I remember 1 time I called central and told them I was going to be out of hours and didn't have a clue where I was going to find a motel. He told me to let him handle that. He called back in 20 min and gave me the motel and the company credit card number for the motel. That was before they issued us corporate lodging credit cards. "Call us after your rest and let us know when you depart again, sir." Those people were a pleasure to work for in the winter. But they knew all of us and knew we would chain and get through if it was possible so they never gave us any BS. I really appreciated that trust. Same about dropping triples in inclement weather. The last thing a driver needs is to fight with a jerk dispatcher while fighting the weather as well. Some drivers say that that cell phone is not for company business, but I looked at it differently. We always called if we were running late to let them know. What the weather conditions were and the chain requirements and road closure situation was to use alternate routes, etc. I ran a scanner and kept them updated for other drivers benefit as well. Central knew several of us ran a scanner and trusted our info and appreciated that. It made the job easier for all of us...
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I see that I-84 was closed yesterday from the Idaho border to Pendleton. I did the same thing. It’s called pre planning your trip and communication between you as a driver and dispatch. I never had any arguments with dispatch. There were times that I had the run changed due to the fact that my 2 lane, 5128 foot mountain pass either had wrecks or was experiencing whiteout conditions. That was made before I left with respect to my meet partner. They never questioned my decision.
 
Also there was times that I would meet my meet driver and a major snowstorm was moving in on the pass, I would call dispatch and they would send me to a different destination going west rather than north. Now I know that there’s drivers thinking as they’re reading this that I was some snowpussy, nope just respected the weather to move the freight. It’s basically snow season the end of October until the beginning of April. A normal day I was throwing iron 2 up to 5 times.
 
flybynite said:
Also there was times that I would meet my meet driver and a major snowstorm was moving in on the pass, I would call dispatch and they would send me to a different destination going west rather than north. Now I know that there’s drivers thinking as they’re reading this that I was some snowpussy, nope just respected the weather to move the freight. It’s basically snow season the end of October until the beginning of April. A normal day I was throwing iron 2 up to 5 times.
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You have that pdx privilege. They cater to you pdx drivers while surrounding terminals are given mty’s for a snowy mountain pass and icy roads. If you say anything snarky comments from pdx dispatch are made when you question if it really is worth it to go to Hermiston with mty’s just to lay down when the next night will be perfect weather,, whole nother world for drivers outside pdx., I even hear one dispatch check another driver speed to question why another driver wasn’t wanting to run extra on a icy night,,.. yeah great ppl there so safety focused
 
BillyLo said:
You have that pdx privilege. They cater to you pdx drivers while surrounding terminals are given mty’s for a snowy mountain pass and icy roads. If you say anything snarky comments from pdx dispatch are made when you question if it really is worth it to go to Hermiston with mty’s just to lay down when the next night will be perfect weather,, whole nother world for drivers outside pdx., I even hear one dispatch check another driver speed to question why another driver wasn’t wanting to run extra on a icy night,,.. yeah great ppl there so safety focused
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There’s only one safety focused……….supposedly. The great, the world renown, the man above all drivers, you know who, drum roll please……TS!!!!
Just see what he says when you go to him with a safety concern, “Not my job.”
 
BillyLo said:
You have that pdx privilege. They cater to you pdx drivers while surrounding terminals are given mty’s for a snowy mountain pass and icy roads. If you say anything snarky comments from pdx dispatch are made when you question if it really is worth it to go to Hermiston with mty’s just to lay down when the next night will be perfect weather,, whole nother world for drivers outside pdx., I even hear one dispatch check another driver speed to question why another driver wasn’t wanting to run extra on a icy night,,.. yeah great ppl there so safety focused
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Many times I've had to go to bed in Fla because those West coast PIE chains wouldn't handle the East coast Fla Blizzard ice.
 
SMOKESTACK said:

What do you do when running out of time?​

P - park it .
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Exactly Smoke. But the newbies or I should say driver’s with no real hands on experience, that don’t know reality, but will sit there and argue with a veteran driver about placards or hooking, you think they know what the laws are?
True story, about 7 years ago I was building my triples and a new hire driver came over and asked me about placarding his trailer. I looked at his paperwork and showed him that he didn’t need placards, under 1000 lbs. He then proceeded to argue with me. I told him to flip a different placard on each side of the trailer and make sure that he puts a different one in each of the holders and with 12 different placards he’ll at least be right on one. Then I walked away. Yes, dispatch ripped me when I got back that night, but it was worth it.
 
flybynite said:
Exactly Smoke. But the newbies or I should say driver’s with no real hands on experience, that don’t know reality, but will sit there and argue with a veteran driver about placards or hooking, you think they know what the laws are?
True story, about 7 years ago I was building my triples and a new hire driver came over and asked me about placarding his trailer. I looked at his paperwork and showed him that he didn’t need placards, under 1000 lbs. He then proceeded to argue with me. I told him to flip a different placard on each side of the trailer and make sure that he puts a different one in each of the holders and with 12 different placards he’ll at least be right on one. Then I walked away. Yes, dispatch ripped me when I got back that night, but it was worth it.
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Probably the B word, was mentioned a few times, when they ripped you?
 
White said:
Amazes me the guys that have no idea what the laws are. Or how to utilize & maximize LEGALLY. Same schmucks driving 2 mph in the yard starting their night. I’ve been on the dock couple hours, get the fluff out of my way.
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I used to get yelled at in Peoria like that when I would circle the building looking for my set. Must have been you?
 
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MidnightRider said:
What do you do about running out time when you are close to a terminal? I’m talking about driving time or going over your 14. Management, dispatchers, and everyone in between has a different opinion on what we should do wether it’s sit and wait, use PC, use adverse conditions, etc. OD really needs to get everyone on the same page about this. There is no clear defined policy and procedure for what we are supposed to do.

By the way, if you say to park and wait to be rescued, good luck with that. Some coworkers have been told it would be 6 hours or 12 hours before they were helped. That is unacceptable. OD needs to do better than that.
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I take a
 
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