New HOS

As we all should know by now, the new rules are less than a day away, and I urge everyone to stay calm. It's really not a big deal. I say this from a perspective of one whom has seen the panic whistle blown time and time again over the years and every time it has been proven for naught.

The 34 hour restart rule as we know it has only been in place for 10 years and its time has passed, for whatever reasons the enigmatic rule makers have seen fit. I say "only" because I operated over 20 years under the previous system and the world turned just fine. To take it a step further, the HOS/Log books have been around since 1938, making this a mere blip on the screen.

I was around for the inception of the CDL and mandatory drug testing in 1992 and you would have thought the world had ended. There were dire predictions of a massive driver shortage. They said the tests were too hard, the qualifications too stringent and it would weed out all the old school drivers. But it didn't happen and the guys who didn't want to give up their dope found ways around the system or fell by the wayside and were never missed. The outlaw companies are still out there if you know where to look because for every system ever created, there are ways around it.

When the current 11/14-34 hour restart was introduced, it was almost as bad. Drivers were in disbelief over having to take a 10 hour break as opposed to 8. There would be no place to park with the drivers on extended breaks taking up the parking spots and the country would grind to a halt due to late freight all over the country, but it never happened.

Most recently the panic was over CSA, which would, again, create the infamous massive driver shortage. I don't know about anybody else, but I haven't seen a dang thing happen as a result of CSA.

Back to the focus of this post, as Averitt drivers, I see no cause for immediate concern. We simply don't run enough miles to merit a reliance on the restart. Sure, there are the occasional 3000-3200 mile weeks, but they are rarely consecutive, and unless we are on a hot freight streak, the weekends are generally long enough to pick up ample hours to run on. And as any TL driver knows, no matter how good a week you think you have going, there is almost always that bad day when you get stuck somewhere due to a load cancellation, waiting on night LTL run, or just for whothehellknows. That low mileage day will benefit your recap.

Whether you are on VHOS or Elogs, they know what your available hours are as well as you do and it serves no purpose from a profitability standpoint to run a truck out and not be able to cover a load with it or get it back home.

Just my opinion, but I think we will all be fine.

http://search.yahoo.com/r/_ylt=A0oG...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hours_of_service

 

Thanks, since I didn't even address the 30 minute break, forgetting how it could affect you food service guys and others in the service industry. I was focusing on things here at Averitt but you made a good point.

Our LTL shuttle (linehaul for most companies) runs have a built in 30 minute break provision already. As far as OTR TL, I really think the average driver runs more than 8 straight hours without stopping for a meal or to at least stretch the old legs.

 

You are correct on all points that we have effectively made a de facto return to the old system to some degree. And yes, 8.75 X 8 = 70 which means maintaining that average keeps you rolling indefinitely. Bear in mind that the 8 days were never a fixed set of days, but rather a rolling grid.

This week I went off duty at 3 PM Friday giving me a reset at 5 AM today, which is 36 hours. I have worked out a worst case scenario of 48 hours, having to include the two 1-5 AM periods.

 

I agree completely.