Driver Controlled Idling (DCI/D.C.I.)

Can anyone verify this? I got this from my old notes, so I don't know if it's completely accurate but I'm pretty sure this is the way it was explained to me. (This was Swift, but I assume all the companies that do this use the same formula, because they all talk about the percentages the same way.)

Okay, IDLING TIME (or D.C.I. - Driver Controlled Idling) is calculated from the moment your load is dispatched until the moment your next load is dispatched. It is basically the % of time your truck is idling compared to the total time your truck is on (idling + driving). For example (we'll start with easy numbers), if your truck is on the move for 7 hours and idles for 3, you take 3 divided by 10 (10 being the total time the truck is on, 7 + 3). Anyway 3 divided by 10 = .3, or 30%.

(It is important to note that DCI is NOT the percentage your truck is idling per day - this is important because if they have you sitting in Houston at the terminal without a load for two days, the way they calculate DCI means your DCI will skyrocket, even if you only have the A/C on each night for 6 hours while you sleep (assuming 6 hours is enough - which for me it's not!). In other words, you are penalized for not having a load ... as if it was YOUR idea to just sit around.)

Let's look at a realistic example. Say you have a dedicated route from Flint, MI to Omaha, NE. This run is 724 miles and just about 11 hours exactly according to Yahoo Maps. (I know car & truck speed limits are different, but let's assume we're speeding a little to keep the numbers round.) Okay, 11 hours driving and 8 hours in the sleeper berth with the A/C or heat going (assume it's August or January). 8 hours idling divided by the total hours the truck is on, which is 19, = .42!! This is twice as high as what's acceptable. (Swift said 20% - it had been 25% but it went down when gas went up, as if the price of gas should dictate how many hours you are allowed to sleep comfortably!!)

When I was with Swift, my idling time varied, but I think usually it was around 35-45 whenever the weather was extreme. Oh yeah, please note that your DCI is not averaged out through the whole year. So you could have ultra-low DCI during the fall & spring and the instant summer hits they start threatening to write you up and fire you (or give you the crappy loads, which will only make your DCI go up because this way you're driving less).

So for anyone who wants to tell me how EASY it is to keep your DCI down to 20% I'd like you to please give me some real-world example & numbers how this is possible. Are you folks driving 20 hours a day and sleeping 3?? That doesn't sound too legal, and it's probably not good for your kidneys either (amphetamines will mess you up, man!).

Look, people, I KNOW these big companies need to keep gas costs to a minimum and I know they have to have rules they apply to everyone for blah blah blah reasons. But I don't see why they can't give us a number that's REASONABLE and enforce THAT. I mean you bust your ### for these companies and all they do is whine and threaten you.

(Edit - When I had a truck that had Opt-Idle I was never hassled, even when my DCI was over 20%. I don't know why this was! If you're not familiar with Opt-Idle, it's this thing that automatically starts & stops your truck according to the temperature in your truck. Personally I hated it, because every time the truck started the Opt-Idle beeped really loudly, and every time the truck shut off the truck shook like it was getting hit by another truck. Anyway ... I also had an International with no Opt-Idle, so in the summer it was idling whenever I was sleeping. Oh yeah, as far as that Webasto heater thing ... uggh.)