Quote:
Originally Posted by golfhobo
I hope I've been helpful.
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Not particularly. I have no confusion regarding the use of Line 1 or Line 2 (or line 5 for that matter, as I’m drinking a Guinness as I type this). For a long time after the inception of the 34 hour restart, I used a combination of Lines 1 and 2 to get a restart. I did however, run into officers who were unwilling to agree with me that the spirit of the law is that time on line 2 is essentially off duty time that is simply spent in the sleeper. Many officers seem to disagree and I have since stopped using it as such. We (me and my wife) drive as a team and the restart really isn’t important enough to me to worry about fighting a ticket over it.
There is no place in the regs (that I am aware of, at least) where it explicitly states that the sleeper birth may be used in part or in full to act as off duty time. I also am unaware of any guidance that has been issued on this topic. An argument can, in fact, be made that it is not the same as off duty time. To be off duty, you must be completely relieved of all responsibility for the truck, trailer, load, etc.. If you are a team, you could make the argument that your co-driver was responsible while you were in the sleeper. If you are a solo driver, and you are in the sleeper, you may still be responsible for the care of the equipment of the load and therefore may not be construed to be off duty when in the sleeper.
There is a reference (cited below for handy reference) in 395.8(f)(11) and (h)(2) that DOES talk about sleeper birth time as being off duty time,
395.8(f)(11) Total hours. The total hours in each duty status: off duty other than in a sleeper berth; OFF DUTY in a sleeper berth; driving, and on duty not driving, shall be entered to the right of the grid, the total of such entries shall equal 24 hours.
395.8(h)(2) Sleeper berth. A continuous line shall be drawn between the appropriate time markers to record the period(s) of time OFF DUTY resting in a sleeper berth, as defined in §395.2. (If a non-sleeper berth operation, sleeper berth need not be shown on the grid.)
I do find it curious, though, that in 395.2 Definitions, they chose to take nearly a full page to define On Duty Time, but they do not bother to define Off Duty Time. What this does is give an officer the opportunity to challenge you to show him in the regs where it states that Line 2 may be counted the same as Line 1 toward a 34 hour restart. If they ask, and you can’t show them (which you can’t) you are begging for a ticket. I don’t agree with it, but since I feel there is not enough evidence to back my view up, I’m not going to go begging to be screwed with.