Well, the good news is that someone in the Congress finally heard that many drivers and companies are unhappy with the new HOS rules. An amendment to a transportation bill was proposed that could have reversed the HOS rules immediately and let truckers get back to their old schedules. The bad news is that there will be no time to talk about the amendment before the August vacation. The other bad news is that once they return from their August vacation, members of Congress will only be working for nine days in September.
Once October rolls around, the amendment may get a chance to see the light of day. The amendment is being proposed by Rep. Richard Hanna who reached out to other members of the House of Representatives for support. In his letter he said that the new HOS regulations “decrease driver flexibility and raise costs for the already over-burdened trucking industry.”
“It is estimated that the trucking industry will lose $376 million annually due to productivity loss and compliance costs. With rising maintenance, labor, and fuel costs, this important industry and the small businesses it supports simply cannot afford to be burdened by regulations that do not even include a ‘real-world,’ statistically-valid study,” Hanna stated. “Sadly, these additional costs will be passed along to hard-working Americans—with prices rising at supermarkets, restaurants, and everywhere else our nation’s consumers shop.”
And yet despite all that, it looks like drivers will have to put up with the new changes for at least another two months before any conversation about an amendment to the rule can even begin.
Next Story: Missouri To Pass New Ticketing Law
Source: overdrive, huffington, washingtonpost
James C says
Excuse me, what?
“The bad news is that there will be no time to talk about the amendment before the August vacation. The other bad news is that once they return from their August vacation, members of Congress will only be working for nine days in September.”
I wish I only had to work nine days in September!
What the HELL are we paying taxes for?! To give our already too fat and overbloated governmental bodies 3/4ths of a month off?!
Get your asses to WORK, congress! That’s like, what we are PAYING you for!
Andrew says
If they’re only going to work 9 days, we should too. When they go on hiatus, we park all the trucks. Lets see how long that’ll last, right?
…unfortunately not everyone has the gut to do such a thing.
Kate L says
True that, Andrew!
LonesomeTrucker says
The guts… or the money.
Don’t forget that these ‘representatives of the people’ still receive their full salary, while they are on vacation.
I kinda like the idea though, of parking all our trucks when these politicians go on hiatus.
On a more serious note: I am glad someone in Washington apparently listens and even takes the effort to amend the new HOS. But I am not at all sure it will really change anything. I would be surprised when the amendment passes and things go back to ‘normal’ before the end of next year.
Anyway, here’s to hoping they surprise me.
No Gut's No Glory! says
Well stated! If ALL (or at least half) of drivers parked their trucks for 3 days, would send a message to the industry that says “you’re not in charge of ME! and if I keep working for FREE then your trucks may not keep rolling”!
What will they do? Fire all the drivers in an industry that has more than 100% driver turnover anyway? That’s Funny! No guts no glory! Just tell me when to park it!
Jennifer says
My husband is always talking about how awesome it would be to park the truck for a few days and let everyone know just how dependent we are on those trucks. Everything would come to a screeching halt. I’ll bet America would listen then.
D Thorpe says
Must be nice to work only 9 days a month. Park the trucks until this gets handled.
YeOldeDave says
Personally I think the less time Congress spends in DC, tyhe better off we ALL would be!
Kerry Q says
This new law is screwing up everything…my husband is a OTR driver and I use to see him every 2 weeks for at least 2 days…now they have him out for 3 weeks and they are trying to get him home..I may be able to see him this weekend…I hope.
I’m sure I’m not the only wife out there with the same issue…I say all the wives should get together and go to DC to protest…even the government has to worry when the wives get together…cuz as any man knows…”When Mama ain’t happy..nobody’s happy!”
Two Thermos says
Basically, Mr. Steve Bell has done an admirable job summing it up. This damn job needs to be paid by the hour and until it is, driver’s time is pretty much worthless.
Greg says
I didn’t see a bill number.
May I please have it so I can call my congressman and demand that he support this bill?
Jonp says
Reps are in recess and in thier districts now. It is a great time to visit if you home or call your local office. Don’t rave about stuff, be specific with issues or Bill #’s you interested in.
john says
hourly wouldn’t pay me enough.everyone should get a percentage of the load and throw mileage out the windows. you make more and work less if you play it smart.
Jakob says
if you go on strike and park your truck then yes the company will fire you, there are 100 others out there for your job. We are a number and thats pretty much it, I wish we got paid better. We work more hours than any other person in the world in my opinion, even when we are not on the clock we might be trip planning, might be doing other work related stuff so we dont use the time on it. When we are not working we still are away from our families. I look back when I used to complain about working 60 hours a week as a Chef but now I consider going back since at least I was appreciated and made a ton more money.
SawedOff says
I recently left the oilfields of East Texas to start pulling a tanker out here on the road. Now before some of you start chastising me for leaving a well paying job to get back out here, there are numerous good reasons for my decision. The main being that the work is playing out and there are competitors on every corner.
The worst thing I’ve noticed about the HOS is the 14 hour “box” we are put in. That is the stupidest s*** I’ve seen. All they’re doing is trying to make our jobs more like shift work. HEY FMSCA PANDEJOS, trucking is not shift work!!Many pick ups and deliveries are scheduled in the dead of night by shippers/receivers. And some of us with 24 hr windows may prefer to deliver or pick up late at night in major cities to avoid traffic. I’m not sure, but taking 10, 20, or 200 trucks out of morning rush hour seems safer to me. By putting us in this box means we have to go like hell with very little time to take a break or nap. How did they fix that problem? Oh, they make us take a 30 minute break around 8 hrs. So now we’re cut back to 13.5 hrs. Not to mention the parking fiasco that has been made worse, especially since so many” sheep” carriers are going to electronic logs. Now geniuses, tell me how that is safe? Personally, the 10, 11, 14 and 34 restart is fine, but do away with the “box”. Let me decide my schedule. I know when I’m tired and when I’m ready to run better than any sleep scientist, and certainly more so than some overpaid bureaucrat that doesn’t know jack about trucking. If my “shift” carries me to 18 hours, so what?? Look at my book and you’ll see that I took some sort of break or two in there somewhere. I will be contacting my local rep asking him to support any positive changes.
Bill Haslet says
I drove a trk for 20 yrs (1985- 2005). Heard the lets park the trks every wk.Other drivers said they heard if from the sixties.So after 60 yrs it’s not going to happen.
Chris says
The DOT hours of service rule doesn’t even improve safety! It actually reduces it by pressuring drivers to save time and skimp on other areas and tasks. Let us do our job patiently! If you want to improve safety take the phone out of that four wheel drivers hand and create more lanes on the road for traffic to flow. Don’t make us just sit at over-crowded truck stops!
scrapyard says
I would love to see congressman get by if they had to keep a time card and then be paid hourly. Even if they make forty dollars an hour they would go broke.
mischiffmakr says
I believe the last time trucks were parked was in 1977 and it worked, somewhat. There was nothing wrong with the old 8, 10, 16 rules of old. I agree that the 14 hr rule needs revamped. But nothing is ever going to go back to the “Good ole days” if we keep hiring non-English speaking people just because they’ll work cheap and we need to keep the Mexican drivers in Mexico. The ATA is one of the entities that pushed for the new rule. How bout we form our own organization, Trucker Against Corrupt Organizations and Politicians, and have a real representation of our industry go to the legit lawmakers to make changes.
rufus crank says
company drivers need to be paid on salary. that way they know how much they are going to make,and if the truck is sitting the company is still paying for it. Also by using this pay format,O/O rate would increase because the only reason freight is so cheap is because the big companies pretty much exploit company drivers to the point of tears.
matt says
I worked for years o salary as a driver. that one thing. took 98% of the stress out of my head. it also made me a better safer driver. I never had to worry about if i was going to have the money to pay the bills. these days, I stay away from companies that have piece rate or veritable pay packages. that tells me they are out to rob the drivers of pay. the reason trucking companies pay the way they do. is becuase driver get confussed about how each load pays. which makes it easier to short drivers pay. and ad in costs that the company doesn’t want to pay for such as tolls,scale tickets,lumper fees, and other hiden cost from other drivers loads. if they were to pay hourly wages to drivers. trucking companies would go broke over the fact that drivers would catch them in there scam of robbing drivers. so i case you are wondering. about all companies want to e-mail you your settlements. and they only pay direct deposit or put it on a fuel card. once it in the account or it’s on the fuel card. and you go to check it or get money out of it. you have just accepted the pay for the amount of work you done for them. so it’s only good business to keep up theses payroll practices. so drivers are and have been in a up hill battle on pay. and the driver is always on the losing end of it.
robert hamrick says
just have the fuel tankers go on strike, the rest would take care of itself.