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Scottt · Joined: 31 May 2007 Posts: 104

My co driver drives during the day and I drive at night. He always wants to be first at the shippers gate on Monday morning so he always wants to go to the shipper on Sunday night and sleep at the gate.

My question is if I sleep 10hrs Sunday night and we take off Monday morning do I have to show the 11hrs he drives in the bunk too so a continous 21hrs in the bunk??

Can a co driver ever be off duty?

If we stop to eat during the day am I off duty to eat??

If during the day I am awake and help tarp a load I realize that should be on duty but it screws up your 10hrs off duty. Will the DOT believe you are in the bunk that many hours if you are called in for a inspection?

no_worries · Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 856

Quote: My question is if I sleep 10hrs Sunday night and we take off Monday morning do I have to show the 11hrs he drives in the bunk too so a continous 21hrs in the bunk??

If your co-driver is on line 3 (driving), you must show in the sleeper or on line 4 if you're in the passenger seat. You can show off-duty anytime the truck is parked, so long as the other driver isn't on line 3 at the same time. So, if I understand your question, you would be in the sleeper while he's driving, but once he arrives at the customer and goes off line 3, you can use any combination of lines 1 and 2 during that time.

Yes, you can be off-duty to eat, or any other time you stop the truck.

Quote: If during the day I am awake and help tarp a load I realize that should be on duty but it screws up your 10hrs off duty. Will the DOT believe you are in the bunk that many hours if you are called in for a inspection?

The truck is stopped, if you want to break up the sleeper time, simply go off-duty during that period when your partner is showing on duty for tarping. We often show 10-12 straight hours in the sleeper and sometimes we really are in the sleeper for that entire time. We've never been questioned about it. But we usually try to break it up. If one person stops to fuel, the other might show off-duty during that time.

Scottt · Joined: 31 May 2007 Posts: 104

Thanks

You answered my questions just as I thought the rules read. My co driver and I have been argueing about the off duty. He claimed it was impossible to be off duty at anytime.

mike3fan · Joined: 04 Aug 2006 Posts: 1707 Location: michigan

sleeper berth is a place not an activity,so 21 hrs could be easily explained to an officer (tv,movies,reading etc.).

no_worries · Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 856

Mike, the problem with that is sometimes an inspector will get a hair up his ask and start asking you about whether or not you went to the bathroom, or took a shower, you get the drift. While these can be explained away, I've always felt it was better not to give them a reason to look closer in the first place. We've shown long periods in the sleeper, but try to break it up whenever we can. It's not hard to do, the truck is never running non-stop for 21 hours. But you're right, it's perfectly legal.

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