I am just curious what happens when you are at a shipper or reciever and you run out of your 11 or 14, and you cannot legally leave when you are done...and say they don't allow overnight parking. I am curious about what the FMCA regs say about this and if they override any local laws or prohibitions for overnight parking. Can they legally make you move off the property in such an event and who is liable? Can DOT get the driver in trouble for this? What do you do if caught up in such a cirumstance?

Ryan

 

Yes they can. It is private property after all.



Make every effort to get the name of the person who has told you to leave the premises after you have informed them that you have exceeded your HOS.

Make a note in your log book in the comments section that you have been told by "X" to leave the premises immediately upon completion of your loading/unloading, and then proceed to the nearest safe and legal spot to park and shut down.

It is going to come down to what the entire series of events are leading up to this. If you pull in to the customer with only 15 minutes of time left on your current duty cycle then odds are that most of the blame is going to fall on the driver. If on the other hand you get there with 3 or 4 hours left and they hold you up for 8 hours then there is going to be lots of blame to go around in the event of an accident.

If you are feeling completely unsafe to drive due to fatigue do not leave the property. Let them call the police and explain what is going on to the cops and let the police assist you. It is also a good idea to let dispatch know what is going on in either case.......and remember to keep good records. This is what can make or break you.

 

We had a driver at a WalMart who was delayed in loading by 4 hours. He ran out of hours at the dock. WalMart security told him to move. He refused citing the federal law regarding HOS and he absolutely refused to turn the key. He said the only way he was going to move was by police escort
to a safe area. The police came and they escorted him to a safe area off WalMart property for the night. Private security has no authority in these matters.
And no ...........he wasnt escorted to jail. :lol:

 

If we all did this, it would change the amount of time wasted loading/unloading.

 

I can understand this driver's issue with the long delay, but wouldn't have gone better for everyone if he had pulled the trailer out of the dock and parked somewhere in the Walmart year to take his DOT break? IMHO, as it was with the cops getting involved and his having to be escorted to a safe area was more disrupted to his break and real rest.

 

Private security has the same power as the property owner they work for ie Walmart. A property owner is under NO obligation to let a driver stay on the property because his hours are up. Even if it took longer than usual to get loaded. If you need to leave the property just pull out into a safe place nearby and park. But I wouldn't start challenging security or property/business owners, you may end up getting arrested for trespass.

 

Hmmmm...I gotta wonder about this one.

If you are out of HOS, and have been sitting on a Shipper's or Receiver's property for more than half of your allotted 14 hour day..does either party (Shipper or Receiver) have a legal responsibility to provide a driver with a safe place to park, to put in the DOT mandatory rest period?

Now...If a driver does what has been customary and expected, for say the last 30 years....log all time spent sitting at a dock as OFF DUTY...then there is not going to be a problem.

Now...there are those whom say that the Owners of Private Property take precedence over DOT regulations....However.....49CFR..which are the laws which cover the FMCSA regulations, takes precedence over any state or local law, except those that provide for greater safety to the public. FMCSA regulations say that once you are out of HOS, you are no longer allowed to operate a CMV (except in a declared emergency), until the driver has completed a break, as set forth in the regulations.

HMmmmmmmmmmm.... I think if a property owner..or the representative of the property owner, is going to insist that a driver remove himself and his unit from said property, then what Inmate say's in his scenerio..call the Local Police..and if they will not respond then the State Highway Patrol for the area..to get an escort to a safe haven is the proper thing to do. It is no more chicken-shit a reaction, than a shipper or receiver whom takes far to long to get work accomplish, at the driver's cost, telling said driver to leave the property illegally.

Yup..instead of falsifying logbooks, I think getting the Police involved may just be the cure to Shipper's & Receivers whom drag their feet simply because they can get away with it for free. LOL...if a State Trooper arrived at a facility, checked out the drivers logbook, and said that the truck was just gonna have to sit there until it was legal...what exactly could that facility do?

As long as Trucking Company management & drivers feel that shipper's & receiver's are under no obligation to obey FMCSA regulations, those facilities will continue to operate in the manner in which they have always operated. They will continue to force truck drivers to falsify logbooks, to do their job.

 

A while back on a different thread, someone mentioned a website where you could submit your questions to state troopers (or something like that). Anyone recall that website?? This subject would be a good question for them....

 

http://www.olblueusa.org/askthelaw/ 8)

 

Thanks TK!