TGO truckers, your opinion on new Fed laws for taking breaks

[TMF]

Would like to hear a "for" and "against" from those in the profession. I'm not knowledgeable enough to have a solid opinion, but would like to since I think this will have a large impact on the industry.

http://m.nbcnews.com/business/feds-truckers-clash-over-new-safety-rules-6C10489607

[TripleDigitRide]

I'm ready. Unfortunately, even as a local driver, this will be another pain in the butt for me. For those who don't have to fill out a log book, it's going to be extremely easy to get away without the 30 minute break. Because there is one day a week that I generally need to log, I have to log the rest of the days, too.

While it can't hurt, I highly doubt this will have much of a positive impact, if any. I don't have any statistics, but I'm pretty certain that the vast majority of drivers aren't driving for more than 8 hours without a break. Eight hours is a long time to go without, at the very least, stopping to take a leak.

Like many of these federal regulations, it's going to cost the driver. That's 30 minutes a day he/she won't be getting paid for their time. Just another reason why I'll never take a job that pays by the mile or by the stop.
Edited July 1, 2013 by TripleDigitRide

[itchytriggerfinger]

While not a trucker, I am in the business.  In fact, I'm a programmer and just finished up programming the new software to track HOS violations for our OTR guys.  What a PITA!   I agree with TDR that I don't think this is going to have an effect on crashes, which is what this rule (along with CSA2010) was setup to prevent.  What it is going to do is make for a bunch of violations counting against HOS points because guys will have a hard time keeping it straight.  I'm not saying they aren't smart enough to do it, it's just that confusing.

 

I know my guys would hate to hear me say it, but if I were on the road everyday, I'd take an EOBR all day long just so I could stay legal.

[TripleDigitRide]

While not a trucker, I am in the business. In fact, I'm a programmer and just finished up programming the new software to track HOS violations for our OTR guys. What a PITA! I agree with TDR that I don't think this is going to have an effect on crashes, which is what this rule (along with CSA2010) was setup to prevent. What it is going to do is make for a bunch of violations counting against HOS points because guys will have a hard time keeping it straight. I'm not saying they aren't smart enough to do it, it's just that confusing.

I know my guys would hate to hear me say it, but if I were on the road everyday, I'd take an EOBR all day long just so I could stay legal.

Yeah, it has become increasingly difficult to keep up with the ever-growing and ever-changing list of HOS regulations. Because of this, I would gladly accept the installation of an EOBR in my truck. All of our drivers are on a time clock, so even if the .gov makes EOBR's mandatory, I'm not sure we'd be included. I do know that I'm tired of paper logs.

[TMF]

And not to be unsympathetic to the truckers, but every time the gov screws with the trucking industry the consumer feels it. From a consumer standpoint we all should be paying attention to unnecessary regulations that impact our already stretched economy. I wasn't certain if this was actually solving a problem or another regulation to justify the existence of gov jobs.

I travel a bit myself, and I would be able to go quite a ways without getting up to take a pee break. Heck, when I used to make the I-95 run when I was younger I'd drive for nearly 6 hours without stopping. Pee breaks were done on the move. When I fly internationally I handle 12-14 hour flights just fine without getting up. I always figured truckers were better experts at it than me.

[NashvilleStage]

I think the new rules are going to have more cost than benefit. I work in the Audio/Visual industry doing live event production, and drive trucks of equipment out to the venue & back as part of the job. In my small experience, I found non-compliance with the HOS rules to be an issue, not that the rules were too lax. The one and only example that the article points to is a crash that was caused by a driver that had violated the *existing* HOS rules. As it is, following all of the rules (let along trying to find & learn them) takes more time & effort than just driving the dumb truck.

[LagerHead]

Pretty much all of the opinions above can be applied to just about every single thing the government does. They measure their success by the number of new laws/regulations/bills they sponsor, pass, or help in passing. Once the laws are passed they no longer care if they are effective, which is why it is so damn hard to repeal anything in this country. 

[Chucktshoes]

Pretty much all of the opinions above can be applied to just about every single thing the government does. They measure their success by the number of new laws/regulations/bills they sponsor, pass, or help in passing. Once the laws are passed they no longer care if they are effective, which is why it is so damn hard to repeal anything in this country.

Once again, if somebody ran on a platform of voting only to repeal current laws, regardless of party the cat would have my vote.

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

In germany its even worse..

If i remember correctly  you cant drive more than 8 hours,cant drive on sundays AT ALL..

And they used to have little paperwheels behind the odometer to record everything,speed how many km driven and how long etc...

[Timestepper]

With 2 1/2 million miles behind me (and hopefully more to come once I heal up!), my personal opinion is that it will affect different types of drivers (local, regional, long-haul, live-load, drop & hook, flatbed, reefer, dry van, tanker, over-dimension, etc...) in different ways. None of which will contribute to the overall safety of the industry.

 

In fact I'd venture to say that virtually NONE of the changes I've seen in the past 25 or so years regarding the laws which govern the transportation industry has contributed much at all to public safety. What HAS helped the overall safety of our industry is better equipment, better education & training of drivers and law enforcement and better <trained> dispatchers. I still get as tired now as I did 25 years ago and the changes in the hours of service regulations don't make me any more rested now than they used to. Granted, I'm a safer driver now than I used to be, but that has come through experience, education and training rather than being told when I can or can't drive, have to take a break and for how long.

 

And to answer the OP's initial question as it pertains to me, personally, I'm neither for or against: I'll generally be able work around it and not have much of an inconvenience, but it ticks me off when someone who doesn't know me (or any other driver for that matter), from Adam tries

to make me believe they know more about my personal physiology than I do. :(

Edited July 1, 2013 by Timestepper

[Chadastrophic]

The 8 hours BS is easy to fudge on paper, but the one that gets me is the new 34 hour restart rule. That is basically going to make night drivers take a 48 hour break to get their restart.

I just quit my job driving where we ran loose leaf, once e logs are mandated that company will sink. My next job however WILL be paid hourly. Looking to go somewhere that is a LTL type company.

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[itchytriggerfinger]

Sort of off topic, but elogs don't hurt you. We run over 800 OO trucks and we've proven those using elogs make just as much money, and are often top revenue producers. Not to mention those who have switched are more often than not waived through weigh stations and of course, aren't getting CSA points for bad logs.

[Chadastrophic]

Sort of off topic, but elogs don't hurt you. We run over 800 OO trucks and we've proven those using elogs make just as much money, and are often top revenue producers. Not to mention those who have switched are more often than not waived through weigh stations and of course, aren't getting CSA points for bad logs.

I'm not saying elogs are good or bad. Is what it is. The way my last job ran it would have been impossible to do on elogs. Produce delivers at 3am.

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[TripleDigitRide]

I'm not saying elogs are good or bad. Is what it is. The way my last job ran it would have been impossible to do on elogs. Produce delivers at 3am.

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The shippers, carriers and consignees are going to be forced to adapt to these changes.

[Erik88]

The new Kalifornia carb regulations are very interesting/scary as well.

 

One of our carrier partners at work has already been fined $175K in CA. These new regulations will put the smaller guys out of business in CA.

[56FordGuy]

I'm not saying elogs are good or bad. Is what it is. The way my last job ran it would have been impossible to do on elogs. Produce delivers at 3am.
 

 

Some days, it just is what it is. I've...known guys...that left out at 6:00 AM, and rolled back in at 1:00 AM. "A log book on my dash, and one under my seat..." as they say. Unload the last piece of heavy equipment at 10:30 PM and head home. Those days are quickly fading though, and I think we're all glad to see them go. E-logs seem like they would just speed the process along. 

[Chadastrophic]

Itll speed the process and increase prices. I used to run semi local. Leave at 8pm, drive 5 hours, unload produce from 3am to 5am, drive an hour, get loaded and sleep for a couple hours, then drive for another 5-6 hours back, and park the truck at 230ish pm. No 10 hour break. Just no way to do that legally AND still make money.

I'm done with that though. Looking into LTL options for hourly pay and being home every night.

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