![]() There’s a limit to using personal conveyance for ‘commuting’ “If you’re in Alaska and you unload, can you go 68 miles to the closest truckstop? Yes.” 4. Seidl also notes that there’s not a specific distance limit. ![]() Then proceed to the next closest reasonable spot. Use your smartphone, he says, and take time-stamped photographs, panoramas, or video evidence that it is full. But Seidl recommends drivers document the fact that the closest place was full. What if the nearest truckstop or rest area doesn’t have any parking available? Then you’re allowed to use personal conveyance to travel to the next closest, safe, reasonable parking spot. “Conversely, you are allowed to head in the direction of your next shipper and/or receiver as long as that location is the closest, safe and reasonable place to obtain rest.” “You can’t go to the truckstop 28 minutes in the direction of your next delivery if there’s one 12 minutes away in the opposite direction,” Seidl says. ![]() ![]() It also means that if the closest, safe, reasonable place to rest is in the opposite direction of where the driver’s load will be taking him in the morning, that’s where he needs to head – not in the direction that will take him closer to his destination. “The federal government now is taking cases galore on people driving to residences when they shouldn’t be or all the way to their terminal, when they should be going to a nearby/reasonable/safe location.” "A good rule of thumb is if you’re trying to convince yourself that it’s not work, then it’s probably work.” The only caveat to that is if your residence and/or terminal happens to be the closest, safe, reasonable place to obtain rest after loading or unloading. Similarly, he says, that means drivers can’t just drive to their terminal on personal conveyance after loading or unloading, either. “What if your residence is 200 miles away and there’s 28 truckstops in between you and there can you drive home using personal conveyance? No.” “You have to go to the closest, safe, reasonable location to rest,” Seidl says. One of the examples in the guidance, and the one that addresses the scenario we cited at the beginning, is this one: “Time spent traveling to a nearby, reasonable, safe location to obtain required rest after loading or unloading.” Drivers will have a much easier time articulating to a roadside officer why they used personal conveyance if they have access to this document during an inspection. Seidl suggests drivers laminate the last page of the PDF version of the guidance and keep it in their truck, because it specifically addresses under what circumstances a driver may operate a commercial motor vehicle as a personal conveyance, complete with examples of what is appropriate and what is not. So is driving the truck to have maintenance performed. “A good rule of thumb,” he said, “is if you’re trying to convince yourself that it’s not work, then it’s probably work.” “The key is, are you doing something that would be considered work related to and benefiting the carrier? If it’s not to their benefit, and it’s not work, then it most likely falls under personal conveyance.”įor instance, he says, if you’re driving to a plant or terminal to be loaded or dispatched, that’s work. Seidl emphasizes that personal conveyance has nothing to do with sleeper berth or on-duty/not driving status. Motor carriers can establish personal conveyance limitations either within the scope of, or more restrictive than, this guidance, such as banning use of a CMV for personal conveyance purposes, imposing a distance limitation on personal conveyance, or prohibiting personal conveyance while the CMV is laden.” Personal conveyance does not reduce a driver’s or motor carrier’s responsibility to operate a CMV safely. The CMV may be used for personal conveyance even if it is laden, since the load is not being transported for the commercial benefit of the carrier at that time. “A driver may record time operating a CMV for personal conveyance (i.e., for personal use or reasons) as off-duty only when the driver is relieved from work and all responsibility for performing work by the motor carrier.
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