Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart Drive Test
talking to you today about logbooks and
exemption from keeping a log book in the
United States of America. This is for
American drivers who are not required to
keep a log book as per the rules for
hours of service regulations in the
United States. Now these are a little bit
complicated and there are some technical
terms, which took me a little while to
figure out and understand. And hopefully
I can clarify some of this for you and
relay some of this information to you. So
what we're going to do today - we're going
to talk about logbook exemptions for
those drivers who don't need to keep a
log book; however, saying that, even though
you don't need to keep a log book
because you're following certain rules
in the United States according to hours
of service regulations, paperwork still
has to be kept on the part of your
employer. And oftentimes that employer
will pass that paperwork down to you the
driver in the form of a trip sheet. So
what we're going to do, is we're going to
talk to you today about the rules, the
paperwork you need to keep in order to
be exempt from keeping a log book. We'll be
right back with that information - stick around.
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Hi there smart drivers, welcome back. Rick
with Smart Drive Test talking today
about logbook exemptions in the United
States. In order to be exempt from
keeping a log book in the United States
there are some rules that you need to follow.
As well, there's a couple of technical
terms that you need to understand. The
first technical terms are the difference between
interstate and intrastate. If you're
working intrastate, you're working within
a state and not crossing state lines. So
for example, if you're in the state of
Ohio, you're only operating within the
state of Ohio. So if you're working
intrastate, you can drive or operate
within a 150 air miles of
your home terminal. 150 air miles is
approximately 172 land miles. If
you're working interstate, you can only
work a 100-mile radius from your
home terminal. For example, if your home
terminal is in California and you're
going to interstate, you're going to run
into Nevada, you're going to run into
Arizona, and possibly Oregon. So that's
interstate and it's only a hundred air
miles, which is approximately a 115
land miles. And basically what
they're doing--the bureaucrats and
authorities--are basically building in a
bit of a buffer there, so that you don't
get caught out if you're out working and
your dispatch sends you out another 10 or 15
miles. So that's the difference between a land
mile and an air mile. An land mile is the
conventional 5,280 feet and an air
miles is 6,076 feet. So it's a little bit
more than a land mile. The next thing is
is the number of hours that you're able
to work in a work cycle. You're allowed
to work a 12-hour shift and must have 10
consecutive hours off between work
shifts. And you're only allowed to drive
a maximum of eleven hours within that
12-hour work shifts. So those are the rules
that govern and make you exempt from
keeping a log book. As well, you have to
work within a work cycle and the two work
cycles in the United States are 70 hours
in eight days and 60 hours and seven
days. Now you can work on the bigger
cycle if your company operates seven
days a week if your company operates
seven days a week--you can work on the 70
hours in eight days. If your company only operates
six days a week, you work on the less
cycle. And you have to keep track of the
number of hours that you're working in,
either one of those cycles. And I'll put a
video up here for the complete video on
how to calculate
your work cycle. As well, you're going to
need to keep records of the number of
hours that you're working every day and
the number of hours that you're working
in a work cycle. Now also know that the
work cycle is a rolling work cycle. So if
you're working in the 70 hours in eight
days, the hours from nine days ago
drop off and you get those hours back.
And again you'll see that in the video
for work cycle calculation. And if you
need to reset your work cycle, you can
reset it by taking 34 hours off.
So the 34-hour reset and again I'll put
a card up here for you for the 34-hour
reset. And finally, the employer needs to
keep paperwork and the employer is going
to pass that paperwork off to you. So
even if you're not keeping a log book,
you're still going to have to keep
records of the number of hours that you
work on a daily basis and the hours that
you work within a work cycle. And that is
often going to come in the form of a
trip sheet. And again, I'll put a video up
here for you on the complete video on
how to fill out a trip sheet, and
different examples of trip sheets. Trip
sheets are a little bit specific to the
company that you're working for, so
different companies will have different
worksheets. All these rules and
regulations are for property
transporting vehicles; in other words, are
not transporting passengers. The rules
are a little bit different for
passengers and if you're operating a
vehicle that you think you're exempt
from keeping a log book and you're
transporting passengers look up those
rules to make sure that you're in
compliance. But as I said, this is for
transporting freight, for the most part
and for truck drivers. Question for my
smart drivers: if you're exempt from
keeping a log book, what paperwork do you
keep instead of keeping a log book? Leave
a comment down in the comment section
there. All that information helps out
the new drivers coming into the industry.
I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test. Thanks
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again for watching - good luck on your
road test. And remember, pick the best
answer not necessarily the right answer.
Have a great day. Bye now.
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