Drive times weigh heavily on trucking companies
11/8/07
Central Penn Business Journal, PA
central

I want the split break to change back to the "old way" and that would be it! Everything else is fine! What we need to do is train drivers better on the 11,14,70 & SPLIT BREAKING regulations. The auditors/dot should help "TRAIN" drivers to understand all the regulations. SPLIT BREAKING IS VERY EASY TO DO TODAY!
companies should understand drivers should not be pushed to run illegal and it should not be condoned!

Drivers should understand they should not take a load if they can NOT do it legally!

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"Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then."

I am very straight laced, and do things as legal as possible.... but most drivers don't. How many times have you heard drivers bragging about driving 18+ hrs none stop? I've heard alot of conversations like that at the truck stops.
All this law will do, is make people like me poorer, and won't effect other drivers, because they're already driving illegal.

This law is going to accomplish nothing, but create an annoyance for those with two log books.

I tried to split my break once, and got a log violation. I was talking to my fleet manager over the phone about it as I was looking in the FMSCA regulation about it..... I still don't see what I did wrong with it.... he just said, "Well, you should never try to split it anyway. It's impossible to do." So I've never tried it again. Was this convo, and violation more than likely because I was working for Swift? lol Or is it really virtually impossible to do it right, even if you're looking at the little green book while you're attempting it?

Don't feel bad. I used to split break to deliver the loads, but had to redo the logs because the company did not allow it.

Agree completely! I just don't understand the 14 hour rule! It forces the driver to continue driving when fatigued. Under the old HOS, you could stop and take a four hour nap and then continue on. It's insane to increase drive time, but stipulate that the 11 hrs driving must be done within a span of 14 hours. And split-breaking does little to alleviate this. To blow it somewhat out of proportion, if they were to increase drive time to 14 hours, what sense would it make to additionally stipulate, "Okay, you can drive up to 14 hours. BUT! You have to do it within 14 hours!" Insane? I think so. And we're only three drive-time hours away from that little scenario.

There I go again, responding to a post that's almost 2 yrs. old!

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11 hours is perfect in my opinion.

And the 14 hour rule is good in most ways (not so good at times)

I think they should leave the HOS as they are...because if they change them, we all know they will only screw it up worse.

In the end...we will pay for it with less mileage pay if they decrease the time we can work.

We don't need more miles !!!!!!!!!!


We need more money per mile and real detention pay

when the logbooks running you are at work and should be payed for every minute

I'm ok with the 11 and 14, but I hate the 70 hour rule. Drive for 3 hours, shut down and wait for midnight to drive again. (when I can't take a reset)
I hate the restart when I start it in the morning and then the next afternoon I have 70 hours available.

Agree, but it'll never happen. Read this excerpt from an article I read regarding the Bush administration changing HOS:

...In introducing the changes, US transportation secretary Norman Y. Mineta claimed the new rules would improve road safety. Mineta, a former executive for defense contractor Lockheed Martin, made it clear, however, who the real beneficiaries would be, noting that the measures would save big business $98 billion annually by increasing driver productivity and reducing freight costs by 1 percent.

Truck drivers have long been exempted from basic protections such as overtime pay and minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). As a result, truckers work far longer hours than most workers, averaging a 65-hour workweek. The new regulations will further intensify the exploitation of truckers while granting the employers the new scheduling flexibility they have long demanded.


Trucking companies claim the new extended hours are needed to ease driver shortages. But this is an artificial shortage, like that of nurses and teachers, which is brought on by low wages and substandard working conditions. This was confirmed by a 1997 truck driver survey financed by the University of Michigan Trucking Industry Program (UMTIP), which found unprecedented “churning” in the trucking industry as workers went from company to company in search of better wages and shorter hours. The turnover rate for drivers is estimated to be between 110 and 150 percent.

The survey, conducted at Midwest truck stops in 1997, noted the median employee in the US earned $28,222 (in 1996 dollars) by working 1,868 hours. Truck drivers, however, worked 3,000 hours or 37 percent longer hours. If they worked the same number of hours as most US workers, truck drivers would see their average earnings fall to $22,000 a year—under $12.00 an hour.

From another article:

...Your article fails to mention the growing number of immigrants major carriers bring in to the country to fill driving seats . The driving shortage is due to carriers being unwilling to pay a decent wage . House Representative Defazio of Oregon told the Schneider CEO . " If you're trying to put drivers in the poverty class you are headed in the right direction " This was after that CEO's stating the answer to the driver shortage is to have immigration laws eased . Schneider recruits world-wide using the maximum number of immigrants allowed . Going to safersys.org will show the nine companies petitioning for speed limiters have a much higher accident rate (over 130 fatalities and thousands of reportable accidents ) than that of better paying , responsible carriers .


It is what it is and what it is is what it'll always be. My road dog just says, "Grrrrrrrrrrrr!"

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