In two separate accidents that occurred just miles apart from each other, 10 people lost their lives. Local authorities are blaming the truckers involved in the accidents for the deaths, but this week a group of port drivers got together to hold a news conference to try and focus people’s attention on what they claim is really to blame for the accidents: The impossible position that truck drivers today find themselves in.
Savannah, Georgia, the city where the tragedies struck, is home to a port that, like many other ports in the United States, has truck drivers that struggle with their jobs. According to the truckers at the press conference, many among them are earning less than minimum wage – a fact that keeps pressure on them to stay on the road and makes them more susceptible when their companies tell them to keep driving even when they’re over their allowable hours. This, among other problems, leads to unsafe driving conditions, which in turn lead to accidents like the ones that shook Savannah.
“The truck drivers here in Savannah, we feel the tragedy and we feel the remorse,” said Jerome Irvin, a truck driver at the conference. He went on to say that truckers “are under pressure from all sides, the DOT, the trucking companies, the Ports Authority all play a role in this.”
Another driver, Carol Cauley weighed in as well.
“I really do not think it is a matter of speed, but I think it is a matter of if the companies were paying adequately, then these drivers could run a little slower and actually get some rest to handle what they need to handle,” said Cauley. “By the time it is over with, these drivers make less than minimum wage an hour, so their thing is they have to get back to get another load so they can recoup fuel.”
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Bill says
They are telling the truth. The Hours of Service force drivers to drive to fast in all kinds of weather! The 14 hour clock and that 30 minute break are the problems. I spent three hours sitting at a dock loading yesterday. That’s the equivalent of 6 thirty minute breaks with my Elog clock running. I then had 8.5 hours left on my clock to drive and needed all of it to get to where I needed to deliver. Guess what? After 8 hours I had to take another 30 minute break and couldn’t make delivery! It’s been rescheduled and I lose a days wages waiting! This puts more trucks on the roads that are already falling apart! After 26 safe years on America’s roads I’m done! Getting out of trucking! The foreign national drivers are taking over driving jobs at cheap wages. That’s the plan from corporate America thru congress and no one can make me believe otherwise! GREED IS AMERICAN BUSINESS!!!
Robert says
I agree all drivers are getting screwed. I can barely make ends meet and I get home every two weeks long enough to do my laundry and hit the road again. It seems to me that is what we do sacrifice sacrifice sacrifice and sacrifice
Fozzy says
How about the dead people?
Infosaur says
They vote.
Hottrod says
The new HOS is what is responsible for so many accidents because they force a tired driver to drive. If you are not a team, you can’t make decent money anymore in most cases.
Steve Bell says
You guys will never get it….You don’t need to work harder and for more hours…You need to get paid for the work that you do….
If you were getting paid a living wage…You would work for 40 hours and go home….Look around.everyone else in the industry is making money but you…and they aren’t working 20 hours a day 6-7 days a week…
As long as you will work for free..now one will pay me anything more…
Cody says
Its BS. I don’t car what HOS does to our industry. I can drive safely at a safe speed. As a company driver I never violated HOS and took home 70K+ a year. Once I got my own rig i male even more for less hours. Quit driving for companies like warner and swift. Then you can make real money.
DoubleJay says
You are 100% right. I’m on a dedicated account with a big company (NOT Werner or Swift) and we run TOTALLY legal. Our account manager is extremely safety conscious and won’t have it any other way. It’s a fun job and the money is GREAT. It CAN be done.
MovingForward says
It’s nice to hear those positive stories, and I hope to someday find a company like that or get my own truck. Personally, I’m sick of working for companies where the management team pushes us drivers to run illegally in order to make a decent wage… and joining one of those progressive labor unions to support the extreme Far-Left and their political games is not an option for me.
Bill says
I agree Cody. I grossed just under 200k last year and only worked 9 months. And I never drive tired. It can be done.
Geo says
I agree with the comment about foreign nationals being brought in to fill driving jobs.
I see big business pigs using our govt to accomplish slave labor and replacing people with robot trucks.
If we don’t speak up in a big way guys, we are done.
Corky Freeman says
The hours of service regulations need to be entirely scrapped, thrown out the window, and re-done entirely. These regs are 80+ years old. Put two lines on a log, on-duty and off-duty, that’s it. 14 hours (that’s plenty) to do what you wish, drive, load and unload, etc. Eight hours of straight off-duty time per day with two hours taken at however you wish at whatever time. Now to the pay aspect, an hourly rate for the 14 hours you are able to work. That includes time waiting for dispatch to take their head out of their ass and get you going, time waiting your turn at the dock, fueling the truck, getting jacked around at a repair facility, traffic jams, weather whatever. There are industries that determine what wages should be. I forget the name of that industry but they use several factors in determining what wages should be for a particular job. For sake of argument let’s say $18 an hour. With the mandatory overtime factored in the wage for an OTR driver should be approximately $300 per day. Now here’s where the wrinkle comes in. Your seat meat companies are not going to pay anywhere near that (initially) so they’re going to have to advertise wages at $12 an hour and guess what that will do their recruiting endeavors, especially when prospective drivers find out what they’re really getting paid. A lot of drivers today, especially the seat meat drivers, actually think they’re getting a lot more than that. A fair disclosure law to force the mega carriers to actually post what they’re paying their drivers and that would not be good for them. Now, once that is done then let’s talk about E- logs and all that stuff. At that point in the game e- logs would not become a problem. It would keep dispatch in check, and if a driver tried to game the system he wouldn’t be hard to replace. Just my humble opinion.
a. beatty says
I’m a living witness that if it wasn’t for the DOT putting rules in place (hours of service, 30 minute rest break, 70 hours per week, 34-hr restart, etc) trucking companies would really show us their behinds. They demand that if you don’t drive like we want you to they will either starve you out or fire you and DAC you negatively. And, the negative DAC will cost you work and its quite possible you may never get another decent driving job again. I said all that to say this, some sacrifice has to be made. I’ve noticed that “containers” are some of the most dangerous drivers on the roads today. It may very well be because they don’t make much money and they are under pressure to drive a little reckless to make a decent wage. I too am under the same pressure as an otr driver. But, I refuse to drive over hours, I refuse to drive fatigued, and I do take the 34-hr restart to get some rest after a long week of driving 65 to 70 hours. Yes, it has cost me a few jobs, a few dollars, and some headache, but thank the Lord, I have not been involved in any accidents. Another short thing, my cousin (a former local pulp wood truck driver) was charged with vehicular manslaughter because of a fatality that involved a vacationing family of four. He still has nightmares about that day, and regrets that he didn’t keep the most important thing the most important thing–SAFETY!!!
Douglas Kirk says
As I see it, the major problem is the 14hr rule. Who cares when you drive if you drive 11hrs in a 24hr period. Back in the day (I’ve held a commercial license since 1977) I nearly always had a 2 or 3 hour nap in the afternoon. Can’t do it now or you will get too far behind. Listen to your body and it will tell you when to stop. Why do the idiots in DC want me to drive when I’m falling out of the seat? Could it be they have no clue what the transportation industry actually does? Trucks are just an obstacle to people that have nowhere to go. We have the country by the balls, guys. Grow a set of your own and stand up for yourself. Not on the cb or in the restaurant at the truck stop. Do it where it counts and refuse to roll until the regulatory bullshit is changed.
Motherwol0172 says
I have been working as owner/op and driver in this industry since 1987. One of the biggest problems this industry faces is the unwillingness of drivers to stick together to reach a common goal. WE are the backbone of this nation. If we could ACTUALLY get everyone to shut down together to show solidarity we could accomplish great strides in majorly improving this industry as whole for everyone. I don’t care if it’s Swift, England, Prime ect. Numbers standing together is what is the ONLY way to make a difference. As experienced seasoned drivers it is also up to us to educate the new drivers and getting the brainwashed bs out of their heads. Want a difference in this industry???? Start there! Pay attention, educate and come together for a solution that benefits us all.
TBC says
I have been driving for sometime, I drove as a company driver, got my own tractor and drove as a mileage based dispatch, and drove for percentage.
I gross on average 165k-175k per year. I work only about 5 days per week.
For years I have taken a hour to an hour and a half break every day I have worked.
I feel for the company drivers and mileage based contractors, they get paid basically cr*p.
The 30 min rule in my opinion should stay, it does no make or break the driver wages, if they can just trip plan properly, their job.
But do not bring back that farce of a 34 hour restart FMCSA tried to pass off on us just to look like they were doing a job, I if didn’t know better, I would have thought someone was taking out their discrimination for truck drivers, like California, does to us.
Companies, like those of trucking, shipping should be looked at by FMCSA to set forth proper employment standards for drivers to prevent low paying abuse.
These individuals have very little if any respect for the financial stability of drivers and their families. And with DOT using drivers as a scape goat to promote themselves, I would say, “AMERICA JUST FORGOT WHO BRINGS THE BACON HOME”, without us FMCSA or any shipper, trucking company, or the burger flipper would not even have a friggin job.
We the American Trucker should have the same opportunity to fair and equal treatment just as anyone else.
The shipper is late loading, they are charged by the receiver, while the trucking company charges detention that the driver never sees.
Just like Steve said; as long as you let them work you for free then they will…
georgejansen says
minimum 2 hours on line 2 should allow us to pause the 14 hour rule, thus preventing us from fighting the clock. currently it takes 8 hours
Ahmad says
So how is it, is it 11 hours of driving for every 24 hours off duty or is it 11 hours of driving every 10 hours of rest or off duty?
I am confused, been off the road for too long.
Please explain that to me.
Than you
MovingForward says
The current rule:
As soon as you’ve driven for 11 hours, within a 14 hour period, you must take at least a 10 hour break. If I’m wrong with that understanding, I trust somone will correct me.
Infosaur says
Funny thing about the HOS rule in the North East.
There’s a critical shortage of parking up here. The nearest truck stops to NYC are 2 hours away. So the HOS law said a driver had to take his 34 up to 5am. Guess what? 7am every truck within 120 miles hit NYC at peak rush hour.
Now somehow they blamed this all on the NJ Governor as some kind of political scandal. “Bridgegate!” But the reality is the GWB had been having problems for MONTHS due to the increase in peak traffic volume. That morning was just particularly bad. (There was also a double fatality a month later that effectively shut the bridge for 16 hours)