“Dear Mr. President,
Millions of hard working American truckers, farmers and small businesses need you to take immediate and decisive action to protect them from a massive new regulation that is scheduled to go into effect just 39 days from today. I am writing on their behalf with a plan to help you do just that.”
So opens a letter from Rep. Brian Babin to President Trump that he shared on his Facebook page. This is the latest and perhaps last-ditch attempt from the Congressman to try and delay the compliance date of the controversial Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate.
In the letter, Rep. Babin asks President Trump to issue an Executive Order which would “provide an immediate waiver for all trucking sectors and operations subject to this mandate, until such time as it can be certified that implementation will not cause economic or other harm to the millions who are subject to it.”
Cost is indeed the main point that Babin brings up, emphasizing that the federal government expects ELD compliance to cost $2 billion a year with a “disproportionate impact on small business.”
Babin also brings up two other main points: Safety and cybersecurity.
Regarding safety, Babin writes that claims about the safety benefits of ELDs are “dubious at best.” He even emphasizes and underlines that “some of the large trucking companies with the worst safety records on the road have already been fully utilizing ELD’s in their fleet for years.”
On Rep. Babin’s third point, he writes that “there is simply no assurance at this time that these ELD’s, which are being manufactured with components from around the world and sold by numerous companies across America, are safe from a cyberattack that could cause these trucks, many of which carry hazardous materials, to inflict terror on Americans.”
Babin is seeking at least a three-month delay until April 1st, but also states that the delay should remain in effect “for as long as it takes.” Delaying until April 1st would prevent the inevitable confusion and delays from hitting during the peak of the holiday season, and would also put the compliance date in line with when the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) has said that it will start fully enforcing the mandate.
Babin closes the letter by warning President Trump about corporate interests who want the ELD regulation to go through as planned.
“A few powerful interests will tell you that this mandate is good for trucking, and our country, but millions of hardworking people across our country who came together exactly one year ago to elect you president profoundly disagree. I ask that you listen to those millions of voices, and give everyone at least another three months to get this right.”
You can read the letter in its entirety here.
Oh boy. I cant wait too see what happens. This will be the proof too see if Trump is for the truckers that voted him in. Or against the truckers that voted him in.
Bend over everyone, Trumps not going to do a thing till it’s starts to hurt the economy. Dec 18 the nightmare begins.
Sorry but it’s good for trucking let’s have a level playing field for all
It’s impossible for it to be a level playing field. If you pick up a load in California that’s going to South Carolina, and you have 1 truck, how many times can you relay s load, versus the number of times Swift can relay a load? What about fuel, tire and maintenance discounts?
What is your argument about relays ? Did you commit to pull a load you knew you could not deliver as a single driver ?
Exactly.!!! This is all about killing o/o and small companies
I would think from the remark you have made about Swift, that you assume they just woke up one day and they were this huge publicly traded Corp. that got their ,by magic ,and now you want your share ! Sorry not true, if you pay the same dues that company has paid to be where they are you will understand why they do not have much patience with small fleets and especially O/O’s !
Umm…naaah that doesn’t work for me! Tell those big self insured fleets to let their crash numbers be seen like everyone else! Paying dues? We all are out here paying dues! Owner operator trucking ain’t no hobby man! I’d like to see more tax breaks and some cheaper medical benefit packages come our way. We pay everything outta pocket. I understand that mega fleets get a huuuuge discount for buying trucks in bulk but where’s our incentives? After you or I (the little guy) signs that financial commitment, you’d better hook up and start hauling to pay for that sucker!
Hate to tell you this but o/o started the trucking industry long before your so called big companies came about.wasn’t for o/I the roads your driven you ads on know would have never been built.😂
Level the playing field? It’s already unlevel when the mega carriers go in and bid on frieght at 1/3 less than a small business can do it and then 6 months later their rates have to be adjusted for any number of reasons. So using the federal government to force us to us ELD’s is only level for them. So go on believing the mega corporation’s and we will all be working for the man!
You are probably already forced to have ELD. All the big companies say that cause their trucks are governed. Its a proven fact that that are dangerous. If you look at wrecks, the vast majority have ELD. These drivers are forced to race the clock all day. I’ve been a long haul driver for 13 years, without a scratch. I see trucks everyday speeding through work zones and towns because they dont have time to slow down. I went to a company for 3 months that had ELD, was the most stressful 3 months of my life. I think there should be a clause in this new “policy”. New drivers, under 2 to 3 years experience can be regulated with ELD and governed trucks, but seasoned drivers should have the choice to take it or leave it. I would even be willing to pay an extra tax to be exempt
If you want a level playing field then let me buy fuel tires, and parts at the same rates as mega carriers also if I have 2 trucks and must park 1 then I should not have to pay ins on 1 like if you have over ten then you only pay on the ones running on the road.
A level playing field? You have been brainwashed by your mega fleet or the ATA!
Like hell it is
What level playing field? Schneider and Swift have thousands of trucks and terminals and drivers! They can get another driver to switch a trailer whereas an owner operator has only 1 truck- so much for the level playing field argument!
Sorry but it’s not good for trucking, at least not for all segments of trucking. This is nothing more than an attempt by the ATA (American Trucking Association) to squeeze the owner operators and small independent companies out of business. It works for the coast to coast guys but for the local/regional guys it’s going to kill us. Some arrogant suit from Prime inc. cried the same line a while back about a level playing field, my opinion is what’s the need for a level playing field? We’re not in a ball game, I’m trying to make a living with my truck, why do I need to pay for a log service when I’ve only had 1 log violation in 20 years using paper? Thank God my truck is a 98 and exempt for now. I’ll just keep rebuilding it till that’s the ATA and FMSCA cries about that!
The only way this will work for short haul guys is to repair the HOS rules. I haven’t liked this 14 hr window crap since they started it, that alone is the reason you see so many freight haulers in the ditch, dosing off pushing every mile out of that damn 14 hr window, not being able to nap because the clock is running.
So what’s next? Big brother gonna tell me where to fuel and what kind of truck to buy. Please no more stupid regulations!!
When did you graduate cdl school uh
👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Funny all these reasons your claiming aren’t the problem with them . The problem is you can’t run illegal anymore . The real problem is low pay to make u run harder to try n make a living. Been on ELD now 6years with no big deal some nights I have to shut down a hour or so early but still got there on time . Will level the playing ground for everyone
The regs are set up so nobody can run legal. Do you spend “all” time at a shipper or receiver as on duty? “All” time waiting at fuel line, inspection lane, when the pre trip takes an hour in stead of 15, do you log that as on duty? Nobody does.
Show me the truck driver and I’ll show you the crime.
Good comment. ELD’S only give the illusion of being “legal.”
If I’m out of hours at receiver and I ran out of hours I’m still driving to a safe place to park. I violate it cause eld doesn’t care if your forced off property of receiver it doesn’t have reason abilities. Red line too bad!
Good response!
I think they mean more on the line of straight driving, miles/hours. I can’t begin to count all the times someone in dispatch or those so called safety/compliance guys who mark up all the mistakes on your logs say to me to to go here, do that, live off load, and I’m going on 14 to 16 sometimes 18 hours and they turn around and want me to do something and not log it in or I will get fined later on for it, but low and behold if I refuse to do it. Know what I’m saying. They speak out both sides of the mouth, maybe ELD’s will end some of it. I mean ,I don’t want to be out there on a 18 hr day to begin with.
Where s the crime? If you logged everything precicely as it takes place, would you be an over the road driver away from your family to make a slave s salary as many companies dont pay for first p up..first drop etc..The REAL crime is how truck drivers are treated and this elog is going to kill them off! As an example in LA I was in traffic for 3 hours…logged in 50 miles and yet my 14 hours doesnt stop! That s a crime!!
I agree! ELDs are necessary to keep us, the motoring public, safe. No more running illegal, no more being pushed to drive over the hours of service. The DOT and local authorities are tired of scrapping bodies off the highways because of truck drivers and companies pushing freight too hard because they have nothing but a log book to monitor them.
only 3percent of wrecks are caused by trucks the other 96 is stupid 4 wheelers who thinks you know everything. and 1 percent is wildlife. bodies get scraped up because cars.
Do not know where you got your numbers, listen up, those numbers are fake News.29 % of accidents on US highways involve a HOV, and 73% create a fatality !! It is true most accidents are preempted by a 4 or 2 wheel vehicle , but because of the larger disparity of vehicles, the numbers continue to rise ! Commercial drivers need to get back to Bing professionals instead of road warriors ! Another thing every one better get used to. The government is going to force everyone in the trucking industry to move more freight either by, relay for those companies that have the resources, or By TEAMS for those that do not.
Some 35,000 fatalities occurs annually on the road, on average. Some 75% (I’m using even numbers to keep the math simple – you can look up the numbers and do an exact calculation, if you wish.) of ALL wrecks do not involve a commercial vehicle AT ALL – that leaves about 8,750 fatalities that involve CVs.
Of that 8,750 fatalities, about 80% are caused by the car driver, with the truck having 0% fault (think car cuts off a truck to make the exit and hits the brakes, truck runs over car before truck driver can do anything). That’s about 7,000 fatalities, which leaves about 1,750 fatalities that are caused by the direct action or inaction of the truck driver. This also includes the wrecks in which the truck driver is killed in single-vehicle wrecks.
This works out to about 5% of all fatal wrecks are caused by trucks.
These numbers come from the government. Look them up…
That’s not going to happen there’s already a shortage of almost 50,000 drivers. The ELD is going to cause big problems for the industry especially with the food industry. Just watch what happens if its fully unforced on the 18th. Do u really think that 50 to 60 percent of the trucks that don’t have the ELD installed will have it done by then. It’s not possible. Like the FMCSA is going to put 2 million trucks out of service if its not installed.
Good to know someone is paying attention. And as far as cheating on our logs just look at the big carriers dedicated drivers logging off duty when unloading at several stops that’s in the thousands per day.
Good will you pay the shopping bill for us all
Do you not realize the “motoring public” is in greated danger. These ELD force drivers to speed through workzones and towns cause they dont have time to slow down. 99% of the trucks i see speeding through workzones have ELD with the trucks governed. Drivers are forced to race the clock all day.
Have you ever run an ELD? I have,and I can tell you for a fact that ELD’s are not safer. They make a driver more aggressive trying to get the job done. The hours of service, mainly the 14 hour rule is the problem. We used to be able to take a nap on the sleeper at any time, and it not interfere with your daily hours. Now you can’t. Thus more fatigued drivers.Love you
In other words you think the gov’t has your best interest at heart. Newsflash , the companies are pre paid for the loads you carry. Whether or not you make payroll is of no consequence to them. This is all about big companies cutting labor cost. You’ll never see home time now !
It’s creating a stock market for the senators and Congress to invest in and get rich and the cost of the trucking industry and the driver once again feels the hurt in the pocket book more then anyone else
Why not do the smart thing? BAN ALL TRUCKS. Problem solved. Jeez that was easy
“ELD’s keep the motoring public safe” Got a chuckle out of that one! So the motoring public thinks it is someone else responsibility to keep them safe do they? I’m sure you have never heard this before but there is one thing that will keep you, the motoring public safe and only one. That is YOU the motoring public. Pay attention and stop blaming others for your stupid errors on the road..
The problem is there’s no FLEXIBILITY. I have had to stop 5 minutes from where I’m going to spend the night to take a 30-minute break, instead of just going on in and getting dinner. Already this year, I had to stop in a place that hit with snow – and was late because I couldn’t leave when I needed to; had I paper logs, I could have gone an hour further (past 70) and get to a safer spot away from the storm.
I have 33 years on the road, 27 of it flatbed, almost 4 million miles, 100% safe, almost all of that on paper logs. I have had to make more unsafe stops because of elogs than I ever thought about on paper.
There’s an old saying – you can run legal or you can run safe, but you can’t run legal AND safe. Sometimes to be safe, you have to run a bit illegal.
I’m sorry about this and I mean no disrespect to you but I run legal and safe. You have to choose your battles out here. I’ve only been out here a year and I’m still a rookie but if I can run legal and safe, anyone can.
And I don’t mean any disrespect to you, but you only being out here for 1 year so far are in no position to tell some of us, me being 15 years myself as well as others who’ve been out here significantly longer how we can run. You haven’t yet experienced any of those stressful situations yet with a very well paying customer who needs their product when they need it and you get delayed by a shipper or traffic issues. In cases of inclement weather, no one should push through if it isn’t safe. With only 1 year experience, you sound like a company driver who has a dispatcher who you report to and gives you your work. The owner operator world is significantly different in terms of customer relations compared to the world you live in. If you stay in this long enough, you’ll change your tune.
With one year on the road is still sounds like a baby with diapers on wait till you been on here 34yrs. I have made a very good living doing this all those years always on time with my deliveries and being very safe..
I’m sorry but my safety means more to me than their load, I run legally and safe. 15yrs out here in my 5yr as a O.O. You pick your battles I choose ME everytime
Anthony I agree with ya. I’ve been out here over 30 years & 13 years as an O/OP. I don’t need to be babysat by the FMCSA
31 years of trucking and each year has got worse. And just because you can do it, doesn’t mean anyone can do it!
There taken the fun out of trucking
Lol you said it yourself, you’re a rookie. Also, you probably have a home every night job which of course you can run legal and safe.
How is it that you have drivers with 30+yrs exp telling you one thing and then a rookie thinks his statement is valid? Lol.
Get some years under your belt and then talk.
I started driving in 1980. I used to be proud to say I am a truck driver. Not anymore. There aren’t many real professional drivers left.the trucking is gone nuts.these big companies are building these huge warehouses all over the country. That means more truck driver’s on the road that are not qualified to drive a car. These companies are begging for drivers. Driver’s are sleeping shoulders of interstates because there is no place to park. Drivers are fighting at the pumps because there is no respect.
You can run legal and safe AND pay those logging violations for going that xtra mile in a snow/ice storm just to get to a safe haven. It happened to me!! MORE than once!! Its unsafe and its unjust!!!
If you are in a storm or delayed by an accident, you can run 2hrs over your eld hos. This is on the FHWA- FMCSR website in the FMSCA guidelines. You have to note the delay in your log notes.
You are CORRECT Edward. Now if we can just get some of these hard heads to read this !!! @ hour adjustment for inclement weather, FMCSA
I disagree. Take winter driving for example. For me, it’s safer for me to run during day, while the sun is up and has melted the snow a bit. Not at night when the roads are frozen over.
Robert we were all rookies once 34yrs ago I was nobody can force a driver to run illegal, nobody! paper or Eld’s it’s all about money and control,more so control Think of why you choose this profession the freedom of not having someone looking over your shoulder everyday
these guys are trying to make $2500 a week though not a month.
Only a year ? Please , the only thing you can offer information wise is how to do a proper pre trip.
Test time . Snow/ice on ground. 60 mile back up on I45. Exits closed. 13 hours to get 37 miles to end of ice and another 30 miles until there is any kind of parking because ramps and mc donalds are full of 4 wheelers and semis. QUICK what do you do. You are over your legal time.
Been there did that. Normally 30 minutes Corsicana to Fairfield. Not that day
I worked for a company that used elds.. I Used to go over my hours all the time they never said nothing to me about it… I think it depends on your company and how Strict they will try and force it
Yes but if DOT asks for your log..your e stiffed!
Nothning better tells it then experience. People like you should open a youtube channel and talk about it and share with millions.
You are absolutely right. Sometimes running just a little illegal is the SAFEST avenue to take.
No such thing as little bit illegal, like a little bit pregnant, figment of your imagination, and when they do what they are suggesting about software that can read and calculate your ELD records for 90 days in the length of time it takes you to read this, you will realize they are completely set to make our highways safer at any cost, get ready people !!!
And is sitting on a busy offramp waiting for that 30-minute break to be over, when you’re 5 minutes from your night stop? Wouldn’t it be safer (while not legal) to continue that 5 minutes and get parked legally?
I actually argued with a state trooper over this, showing him my elog, and getting hungrier by the minute – I had run out of munchies in the truck. I managed not to get a ticket for parking on the ramp, but I had to drive that last bit with my blood sugar crashing – DEFINITELY not safe! Had I been able to finish that 5 minutes, I wouldn’t have had any problems.
But Big Brother knows best…
I agree if a person isn’t smart enough to shutdown when you can’t drive safe shouldn’t be driving a truck anyway.i been driving truck since 1980 never have had an accident. There has been days I have run way over legal hours. Then there are days I can’t hardly drive for more than three hours without taking a nap. If a driver doesn’t know his limits he needs to park it a get a different job.
I agree if a person isn’t smart enough to shutdown when you can’t drive safe shouldn’t be driving a truck anyway.i been driving truck since 1980 never have had an accident. There has been days I have run way over legal hours. Then there are days I can’t hardly drive for more than three hours without taking a nap. If a driver doesn’t know his limits he needs to park it a get a different job.
Amen Brother!
You’re wrong. If you were running a legal paper log, you would have been in exactly the same situation.
You’re simply asking the government to let you run illegal for monetary gain. Nothing more. Nothing less.
So then, what’s the difference between you and the street corner drug dealer ???
And, Trey is right … nobody’s freight is worth somebody’s life … ever.
Man you guys don’t get. Look at the accident rate now. You have to ask yourself, how many of those trucks have electronic logs? It’s not always about the money. Remember the driver who was murdered in Detroit at the customer? He shut down in a place that was unsafe. If he had shut down sooner, which may be 50, 60 miles away, he may have run out of hours, thus creating late load situation. Which would have to be rescheduled. That may be a week later. You can not regulate and legislate ones body clock. The number of hours you take for a break doesn’t matter nearly as much as when you take it.
These drivers need to start making smart decisions about where they park.when you run out of hours and it’s not safe to park there go on.i see so many drivers sitting on the shoulder taking there half break. How could anybody be that stupid and unsafe. You hear them say they were out of hours they had.where do they find these dummies. What do you think will happen if you get hit by a car and people get killed. Truck driver is responsible because he’s illegally parked.
Sorry I would have runned the 5, 10 30 minutes to get where I need to be. ain’t that much a difference. Now 2, 3, 1/2 a day away, that’s a different story. I mean the truck won’t cut off and stop running. so go get to that place, you deserve it, hot food ,hot shower.
That’s a lot of the problem with most driver’s are so scared that they’re going to get in trouble if they go over there hours by five ten minutes. If your company going to complain about that. Move on there are so many companies that are begging for drivers.
Exactly! Like I said earlier the elog doesn’t use reason in a pinch. It just redlines you that’s a computer.
Good comment! Life is about being flexible and the elog right now is too stringent for real life situations!
Amen Brother. .
Man those company’s have got you guys indoctrinated and brain washed real good don’t they? It’s called freedom, you know what this country used to stand for before you mindless zombies where let loose of your schools aka( indoctrination centers).
Well said! I agree 100 %
Right on!!
Amen brother.
AAAAH, I think your going on a bit much! But in away you are right so much about the freedom part. Most of us old school’s can’t come to terms with losing our freedom to decide. Our right to use our common sense. My god the truck is telling me how to drive it for the most part, F that!! Back in the day we decided how far to drive, when to pull over, we made to appointments. we took care on the loads and they got there. And it was good, and it was fun. Yes we had problems with shippers and receivers abusing our times and such but for the most part we were free to live and drive the way we choose. Not so anymore. I gave it up to much compliance/fines, Medical/DOT, overcrowded, road rage, computerized trucks ( Christ they don’t even have an exhaust pipe no more), After 46 years driving even before CDL was thought of I was probably done anyway, I said Bye.
Total agreement!
We are also a nation of law. May not agree with the laws.
Couldn’t have said it BETTER MYSELF
Your just pissed because you run for a Scum Bag Company that doesn’t trust its drivers. You would say differently if you ran for a much better company that trust its drivers. I have a very hard time running 11 hours per day. Matter of fact, I enjoy 500 – 600 miles a day and wish that all shippers and receivers did their job in getting trucks right in and right back out. The government needs to crack down on bad shippers and receivers because that’s where most detention stems from a lack of respect for truckers.
If your on an ELD, you aren’t running 600 miles unless you are going through north Dakota and Montana! More like 450-500 at best.
I’ve been on ELD for 8yrs and I can run 620 mi a day, all depends on road construction and I’m in a. 65mph governed truck, the major problem with ELDs is being held hostage at shippers and receivers
So true!
Well, I do over 600 every single day, in all 48 + Canada and on eLogs. Been driving for 21 years now, so hardly a rookie. ELDs didn’t hurt me at all, not one single bit. But then again I’ve always been running pretty much legal, even on paper.
so you average over 60 mph. you are the luckiest trucker alive. never hit traffic or traffic lights. no 45, 25 35 0r 50 mph zones. awesome. you and ol’ floyd up there.
It’s just a joke that goes back many many many years
I agree but we don’t need the government to crack down on shippers and receivers truck drivers need to. Boycott them disrespectful suckers. Find companies that don’t jerk You around. There are some.
AMEN
who you drive for …werner ….you must because you sound like your pushing for his crap …it isnt about running illegal its about everyone fighting for a space to park at the same time as well as running out of time before you can get to a safe haven and getting a ticket for out of hours ….while all these states are removing most of the places we can park at such as rest areas and shopping centers etc …ive been driving for over 20 plus years and this profession has went down hill drastically and the new wave trucker who come out of school brainwashed into thinking this is the way of trucking is soooo misinformed …3 weeks of school is not making a trucker by any means …although one thing is true from all the flack ive been hearing ….anyone can drive a truck …that part is true …but it takes a special type of person to be a trucker …not everyone can do it ….you have people still although there are massive fines set in place for the driver and the company for hiring a dumbass on phones holding them to their head and not alert to what is happening around them and texting and causing near wrecks …there is people being wreckless out there because of trying to hurry before they run out of time ….speeding …darting in and out of traffic …..road rage …and not paying attention from this ….the whole thing needs to be reevalueated by someone who has been in trucking and not some blooming idiots sitting around a table sipping martinis and smoking cigars who has never sat in a truck ..thats part of my opinion about this and i am sure i missed quite a bit i should have put in this post but didnt have time to
if sooo many truckers weren’t pigs and terrible drivers shopping areas probably wouldn’t be an issue. j/s.
I agree. I see new drivers pressed for time because planner doesn’t think giving a driver a few more hours to pu or del. Planners assume you can drive 65 thru construction, small towns, rush hour, school zones. Its completely bizarre what they expect from a driver.
👍👍👍 totally agree with that driver, the camaraderie is gone, we used to be Knights of the highways, but the new steering wheel holders or “professional drivers” run it into the dirt, I’ve been out here a few years, still a little green around the edges, but i see what elds will do and its not good, ELD’S ARE ABOUT MONEY AND CONTROL not safety, my 2 cents, but I’m just a stupid truck driver what do I know
I agree this new wave of truck driver have to be the most misinformed about being a truck driver. I have seen a few of my son’s friends go to driving school and are telling everyone they are going to be a truck driver .They get a job with prime,swift,cr England and most come home within a week because it wasn’t what they thought it would be. Those recruiters feed them so many lies. I have called a couple of these companies just curious. I had to hang up so I wouldn’t laugh in his face.to These truck driving school graduates don’t know any better they get sucked right in. That’s why these big companies have so many drivers that seems to be so stupid but most of them it’s not there fault that they are told so much bull and are rushed into it without a clue what to expect.graduates with a trucking background has a better chance of making it.if they have family that are they have good idea what to expect
Spoken like a true swift driver with two Months of experience
Man they sure have you brain washed.
Most drop and hookers Luv the ELD’s, because they are not Truckers they are Driver’s or more technically, Trailer re locators! You know the type maybe your co isn’t but lets face it not all in fact more than 85%of the Transportation industry, is guided By Profit hungry Mega’s. The ATA has paid well for the opportunity to rule Trucking. So how will they do it to make mo and mo $$$. Hire the new age Kamikaze Fleets! Yep someone called it as it is. Hire these Government Funded Driver’s Train them half assed and turn um loose with a 6 month warrior trainer. Well we go from yard A to Yard B 550 miles.drop trailer go to other side of yard and take our 10 hour break, (You mean go sit out there and wait for another junior Varsity driver, to screw up and get a message that says “We’ll fix the ELD if you go and take this load we will get you home this weekend!!!) So you do it and Bang! Your Safety dept sends you a violation notice and say to agree and write a description and submit a exception note, WELL They told you to do it, Right? WEll now ya did and your getting screwed out of a Safety Bonus, or some other Lie they told you to recruit you! No one in Dispatch or management will back you, hell they won’t even talk to you now! get a phone call from this poor person, I got fired for a HOS violation what can I do to get it off my DAC, or the other new one out there! Woops sorry, your labeled as a non team player, and out of luck as well as work. Yea ELD’s are great if you want them, but it’s a very bad one size fits all! One size fits 15% but 85%, Not so much! Lets STOP deley this get the HOS Straightened out then once all angles and affected parties are represented and give updated accurate information, NOT PATT, CRASH , enforcement, and the ATA ‘s corrupt analysis! We want a deley to act like adults ad save the small Co’s and Owner operator’s. ATA,admitted they were in this for “productivity, not safety” and..”running small companies & Owner Operators out of business to gather a “Higher percentage of Freight”
Well hows that going to work for ya with a yard full of wrecked, and empty trucks. So I respect you like it and it works for you, well your only 1 in 3,000,000 CDL driver’s, pretty selfish i’d say.
It may work real well for certain logistics , like dedicated drop and hook accounts . I’m more interested seeing how ELDs will work during the peak of produce season and livestock hauling. After 27 years in the industry, I have a feeling food prices are going to go through the roof.
Not only that! Imagine you did your 36 hour reset in Laredo and you get dispatched to go to McAllen and once there you wait 5 hours to get loaded- well you just lost another day! They want elog then they gonna have to pay by the hour the driver like a punch card!
Good for u Nick it works for u, do represent the entire trucking industry? Where do u run what do u haul just because it’s fine for u doesn’t make it work for the whole trucking industry
Yeah, level it by bringing everyone else’s standards down to those of the big companies, CRAPPY!
Lol
Slow everyone down to the snailpace of the ata carriers We dont have loaded trailers dropped everywhere
You just hit the nail squarely on the head! It’s the ATA that’s pushing this, as well as the speed limiter.
Why?
Because those of us who drive for small companies, those of us who are O/Os, those of us still running paper logs and 70+ mph trucks, run rings around ATA trucks, and they want us brought down to their level of incompetence.
Yes..they want the little guy to go out of business with elog…All the talk about safety is a smokescreen: the real purpose is to kill off the owner operator and make everyone work for a very big company…It s a power game!
Nick,thats because you were brainwashed from the company you drive for and I’m suspecting you drive for those big carriers,my momma always told me when someone says something stupid just CONSIDER THE SOURCE IT CAME FROM AND LET IT GO BECAUSE THEY’RE TOO STUPID TO KNOW BETTER 🖕
You are wrong I have done both we don’t need ELD does not make you safe it makes you worse makes this whole United States really messed up if you want to make $700 to $1,200 a week maybe 15 hundred you do what you’re doing I like five and six thousand
When did a log book or ELD get common sense or know when I’m tired, sleepy or rested enough. It’s the big corporations that lobbied the government for tracking devices & got them. Now if all drivers will stick together we can make the big corporations eat the ELD’ S by taking longer to fuel, longer 30 minute brake, take 45 minutes for inspections & don’t drive over 10 hrs because it takes an hr to find a parking spot. Just have to take a 10 hr brake only 1 r 2 hrs away. It wouldn’t take 2 months & big corporations will be pulling their hair out begging big brother to get rid of all logs of any kind.
At least one person in government gets it, as usual it’s about the money, not safety, just like everything in trucking the government implements, eld’s don’t save anyone money, time, and the trucks running them are always running as fast as they can thru towns, etc. trying to make up time they lost sitting at shippers and receivers, hey government you want to help us truckers out, pass a good detention pay, oh and also find us parking, and better pay, benifits, etc. Instead of passing laws costing us money
Well said everybody’s going to wait and the chaos is going to be it’s it’s going to be insane E L Ds make you run harder than your supposed to run to try to make up time that is so true everybody goes on ELD just give up it is what it is you want your Dannon Yogurt on the shelves with two days before it expires Keep eld
All Elds do is keep track of work and drive time. They have been used by large companies for around 10 years. Compliant units cost as little as 30 dollars per month. Cut the crap about terrorism. The only terrorist is trucking are the blood suckers that take advantage of drivers.
Only cost about $30 a month more out of YOUR pocket?
Let’s do a little math,
12 x 30 =360,
360 x 20 =7200
The cost for twenty years of driving NOT adjusted for inflation.
This extra price will undoubtedly creep up like cable tv so Mark my words,so total cost will be closer to the FOURTY THOUSAND DOLLAR range,so it will slowly gain cost momentum.
Anything that is forced to buy such as health insurance by our goverment,might be good for the goverment,usually hurts the American people.
Too many of you have laid down like sheep to be eaten by the wolves,when more of you should be more like the sheep dog and protect the herd.
Too many of you have simply been herded up like cattle to be walked to the slaughter house,
only to be castrated long before you ontimely demise .
Paul Revere would be ashamed for your lack of disrespect of freedom,if you wish to be micro managed by some dispatcher long after he has gone home to his family so be it.
In today’s world it wouldn’t be the British are coming ,
but the ELD’s are coming
I myself have been doing this for THIRTY SIX years so I’m about to hang it up driving and spend some time with my grandchilden,
but will still fight for drivers freedoms,oh that’s right the mega carriers have these guys brainwashed that they don’t deserved freedom like any other American.
Yaa body to many people ben brain washed by the big brother GOV. The put cameras every where reason protect you from criminal BS. Are so many crimes unsolved with the most sophisticated cameras never go it done becouse thei dont care about US we are considered as cockroaches fir them thats the reason thei vaccinate out kids and send them at 18 years old in the army to fight 4 their interest not 4 your freedom. But lots of bozos in this coutry thei dont figure out up to now becouse thei got their $0. 99 cents burger and soda time to wake up people the big corporation wants to take completed control ove us. A nothing about safety. If was about safety and care about us thei dont poison our water food medicine. Look in toot paste sodium floride in water sodium floride in vaccine mercury all those thei kill you and dumm you. Like in china floride is illegal in the water suply but here is ok. Next time you go to home depot look 4 rat poison. Firts ingredient is SODIUM FLORIDE. on toot paste. Have the 1800 number from poison control supposed to be safe to put in your mouth….
I always ran a mechanically injected truck for 40 years and 4 million miles. Nothing but more trouble with computer junk, usually $2000 or more per year in maintenance costs. When they took out the split break, it forces tired drivers to drive. I had never had a ticket or a chargeable accident in all that time, and never been shut down at a scale. So screw it, I took early retirement. The mechanically injected Cummins 400 never broke down on me once in all 48 states. With the ELD mandates now one sees wrecks almost every day.
These new drivers if it weren’t for brainwashing only knew the kind of money it’s really out there for them when you tell them and show them so they still don’t believe it but we will definitely have to raise the rates and nobody can afford anything we are going to go into some kind of recession
You will still fight for drivers freedom you said. Did you go to DC and protest? Just sayin.
My problem is even after 33 years, I still love what I do. If I’m at home for more than 4-5 days, I start getting “itchy feet”, and want to go back out. I’ve tried getting off the road twice, first time lasted a month, second time 3 months – and I was climbing the walls!
At my age, I don’t know what else I can do, besides run a forklift. And I don’t like being home every night – I’m MISERABLE.
I am a Truck Driver, not a person who drives a truck – and I am a Flatbedder. I wish I could hang it up, but I just can’t.
Brother I understand where you’re at and you’re not a driver you’re an operator, big difference. I only been in this field 10 yrs, bought my first and only truck after 8 months, have put over a million safe miles on. It’s never left stranded anywhere. I learned from old school safe drivers even though they may have run what’s considered illegal. The best I know is 77 years old with 50 years experience, no accidents, never been in the ditch, still driving. These senior drivers and operators with 20, 30, 40, 50 + years have my admiration and respect. Rather run beside them all day than some of junior rookies for 2 minutes. Peace and blessing to all drivers, especially the elder ones who have parked it or will, you’ve more than earned it!
Facts and figures not allowed. They destroy the desired nareative
30.00 per truck, ? depends on what unit you go with, our fleet of 22 trucks is around 20,000 bucks a year additional coast, were do we make that up ? i can’t cut the fuel cost, i can’t cut tax’s , i cant cut operation cost any more, i can’t get cheaper health care for my drivers,, it just keeps going up , i can increase rates and stand to loose loads to other carriers there for cutting into the company even deeper,, should i cut drivers wages ? No i think not,,, but Robert were do you suggest i get that extra 20,000 a year.. i can tell you only drive, you have no interest in the company and you have never owned a truck.
30 dollars a month is 360 Dollars a year. that may be insignificant to you. but now think of a small company with 10 trucks. now that’s 3600 a year… the company isn’t going to eat that cost they are going to lower driver pay or raise their shipping rates. let’s say they raise their rates so it doesn’t affect their drivers… yep it still does. now that 2.99 gallon of milk cost 5.99 and the drivers are still making the same amount of money. All of you for this ELD, I will just wait to hear from you after it goes into effect and either you get paid less or you can’t afford your groceries at the store…. or both!
That’s not counting the miles you loose having elect logs.i went to work for a company that has e logs Aug 2016.lasted ten month’s went back to a company still on paper hoping somebody with brains will stop this stupidity. On e logs i couldn’t hardly get 2300 to 2500 miles a week. Always something would screw things up.most of my 34 hour resets were in a truck stop somewhere .now I do my resets at home every week end and Getting around 3000 to 3500 miles. No wrecks no tickets my truck governed at 69.but it looks like it’s getting ready to come to a halt. Screw the truck driver.line somebody else’s pockets that is sitting up in some office grinning from ear to ear.
Big companies take advantage of drivers every day, you are so blinded by their propaganda that you can’t see past your own windshield.
Right on!!
The problem is that elds are simply a way to enforce already existing laws. The eld mandate doesn’t change the hours we are allowed, it simply removes a well known, and difficult to catch, way around the regulations. I say this as someone who has used both, and I prefer elds. When I had paper logs, the company discreetly required me to modify them to be legal, even if I ran illegal. With elds, that can’t happen. You simply run legal, and that will weed out the companies forcing or encouraging illegal and unsafe operation by their drivers.
Ha ha ha ha
No, elogs take away our flexibility.
On paper logs, if you knew you could drive that hour over 70 to get past where a bad snowstorm was going to hit, then “borrow” that hour from the next day, would you do it? Or would you stop then get stuck by that storm for 3-4 days? On elogs, you’d be stuck.
On paper logs, you want to go 10-15 minutes over hours to get to that fantastic restaurant and “borrow” from tomorrow, or do you stop at that unsafe rest area or foreign-owned “truck stop” that has poop on the floor, as you would have to with elogs?
Lmao, I’ve run paper and I’ve run elogs. There’s a system out there, well known that you can cheat even on elogs. Here’s another fact, elogs can be corrected by dispatch or by terminal if it’s necessary or benefits them. I’ve made the mistake of forgetting to log off duty or sleeper after post trip at end of day. They’ll do it, or if it ain’t that much they’ll tell you to just wait at times. However, if it might compromise a delivery, bingo done in an instant. Also elog parameters aren’t always fool proof as its designed by humans and monitored by them. Another instance I was flagged on elogs as being over on 11 and 14. Got a nasty gram on the computer next morning chewing my ass. Then comes the letter in the mail. I emailed my terminal manager and said someone better look at the gps coordinates. At the time all this happened I was on private property backing into a parking spot just before my time went 00. Once that happens you can’t drive on public roads but you can damn sure park. You can also stay on duty not driving basically forever. It’s just when you do break it has to be 10 hrs. I asked them to rescind the warning and subsequent violation as I was legal. He had them look and then had elog compliance remove it. Hell of a great guy that looked out for and trusted his drivers till they gave him a reason not to.
Qualcomm is just gonna give him a bunch of money. A letter begging Trump is just gonna make him think you are a loser. Are you going to write another letter in six years asking him to ban driverless trucks? That’s s the real threat to the economy. I’d start looking for another job real quick. The Industrial Age is ending. Prepare for Skynet.
lolz at cyber security
lolz at financial burden
i can see how it will hurt financially, but not from the cost of compliance but the bursting of drivers inflated production bubbles. drivers will no longer be able to shave time and their production will come in line with running legal and logging it like they run it.
Why should a company of 200 trucks give the gov/DOT $72,000 a year of their hard earned money? So that someone else can get their greedy hands on something that doesnt belong to them to begin with?! I’m a company driver. My boss NEVER tries to make me run illegal!! NEVER!!! Pretty soon we wont have any rights at all. We should have a say in this. This is OUR country too!!
The drivers now don’t want to drive at night either and shipper/receivers won’t pay for night workers. So we all wake up & hog the interstates all day long then rush to truckstops for parking. If this isn’t crazy I don’t know what is.
I guarantee it’s going to get worse I hope I can retire in 2 years
I agree about the terrorism bit, all seemed sane until that was mentioned. ELD isn’t designed to drive the damn truck for the driver, or anything else that could even remotely allow it to be used for a terrorist attack. Brian Babin is just throwing spaghetti there and making himself as well as anyone who would even think and ELD is artificial intelligence to take complete control over the truck look rather silly.
The ELD is hooked to the ecm- also it is a tracking device, and i am sure this day and age it could shut your truck down, so they ,( terrorist ) could physically take over the truck , also they could track shipments of Hazmat ext. and how do you know there would not be a device to shut down all the trucks at one time across the country,, would that not be a great terrorist act. I don’t think your taking this serious. it could happen, just like the guy said in the texas church last week, that would never happen in a small town like ours,,, famous last words my friend..
they need to stop the ELD – ASAP…. is not good for the country and will not help anyone to be safer, you will be watching the clock, you will be running against the clock all day, you will be spending allot more time away from home adding even more stress to an already stressful job when it comes to family time.. this sucks, it will be last long, if they enforce this the economy will come to a halt over time, prices will go up for hauling , there for customers (companies ) will pay more to get the good moved, there for they can not hire more people to produce there goods, this price will be past on to the consumer in time, this is a bad bad thing … if it stays, they at least need to do away with the 14 hr rule, redo the hours of service.
My elog is NOT hooked in throughbthe ECM, it’s through a gps device. The gps registers movement and that’s what puts me on driving, not through the ECM.
Here is not about safety is about$$$$$$$$$$$$ dude like a cell phone monthly bill 30$ for the ELD service ok and look mist of the accidents are made by ELS drivers running at 7am in trafic like crazzy with 60mph on cibstruction becouse tume it tic tac tic tac fir them and are payd bt mille .no mile no chek at the end of the wk..
actually, they could hack in, find a hazmat truck and where it’s located to easily hijack it. they could hack in and find out when that driver is not at home so they can go rape his wife… they could hack in to do many of things. you think of the most simple most impossible way of this. if you don’t think someone can hack in and do something. look at the DNC, Equifax, Target, and many others that no one thought they could or would be hacked.
Your premises are so far fetched, they belong in a novel that no one would believe.
If a criminal wants to rape your wife, all they’d need to do is “case” your house for a few days.
Find a hazmat truck? Go to any truck stop, or watch any road. Lots easier.
Sure, they can hack an elog – but it’s all but useless. It’s a lot easier to find out what you want by hacking a company’s computer system than an elog.
Small steps.20 years ago taking a pic on your 0hone was a fantasy.
All Elds do is keep track of work and drive time. is trucking companies are the blood suckers that take advantage of drivers.
I strongly agree.
Its only gonna cost the consumer more for there products the load rates need to go up and ins and fuel tax and permits need to go down we pay taxes on fyel when we pump then again every quarter when we file milage and fuel reports are these politicians that naive to think somebody hasnt allready figured out wsy to twist the eld tracker i mean
They do with edmissions stuff every day come on no sense in it Trump i hadnt voted in years
I did for you so do whats right
True. I’m a ltl refrigerated hauler O/O. The warehouse I run for to keep the revenue for us up because we’ll have to lose some back haul revenue due to elogs. That will also impact customers whose freight we took. The rates will increase 12% in states in our region and 16% in the eastern ones. Tell me there’s no economic impact and we’re just one company seeing the effects.
I’d like to think the terrorist angle was more of a “ bad guys could track the gps of hazmat loads and hijack them” but not all eld are gps units. And most have separate gps away from eld now. Really trying to give the benefit of the doubt
You guys are crazy to ask trump, trump is pro driverless trucks you fools! He can’t wait to put us millions of truck drivers out of work so his rich buddies can get a little richer! If your talking to trump about anything in the trucking industry I would start there!
“Dear Ahole trump, can you please slow down the driverless truck industry so that I can keep paying my bills?
Sincerely,
American truck drivers”
Why do you guys that have”run ELDs “for years” always come back with “it’s just so you can run illegally”? Why can’t it be enough regulation is enough? Why can’t it just be because we’re sick and tired of being told when we can work and when we can’t. I’ve been driving for nearly 30 years, accident free except for once when another truck hit me, and I know when I’m tired and when I’m not. You know damn well if any of the regulations piled on us were put on the general public and their cars there would be a revolution again. Can you imagine Joe public being told he can only drive his car 14 hrs a day? He drives an hour to work in the morning, works a twelve hour shift, then gets stuck in traffic or a flat tire on the way home and doesn’t make it back before his 14 hr click runs out. Guess what Joe? Now you gotta sleep in your car for 10 hrs before you can get home because you’re over hrs. Yeah, I bet that would fly real well. To me ELDs aren’t a matter of running legally or illegally, is just ANOTHER regulation piled on us and the government expecting us to take it. “Hundreds of dollars a year to buy and monitor but they make lots of money so what the hell” When will enough be enough for you and you say no more regulations. I can live with the HOS we have now. I think they’re a pain in the butt but I know some companies make you run every minute you can and something is needed to help some drivers. I don’t have that problem. If I’m sleepy I stop and sleep. It’s that simple. If I worked in a factory and they’d let me I could work 24 hrs straight. Why am I told how many hours I can work? The government throws rule after rule at us and we keep taking it, why? When will enough be enough for you?
James you can spin it all you want. ELD’s are the only thing that are going to make these stubborn drivers still accepting mileage and % pay realize how much they are exploited in this industry. Thirty years out here and getting burned out forced to work overtime because you guys keep the wages at 90’s rates. WAKE UP ALREADY!
Thank you…. because obviously the prior posts are from Company drivers who have all their loads planned for them….. I’ve been driving over twenty years….8 of them as an independent contractor……We run irregular routes, with irregular shippers and receivers…….So before they cram some “you just want to run illegal” crap down our throats……Fix the shippers and receivers…..
I agree, I’m often forced to skip a shower or if I wanted to stop at a nice Diner and have dinner I instead have to go to McDonald’s and get a togo order because if I stopped that would mean I’d finish working later and you lose time you can’t get back. so I keep it moving and then I’m required to take a 10-hour break and then usually I am not able to make it to a truck stop I’ll spend my break on the side of the road because I can’t legally drive 10 more minutes to a truck stop. So now I have a crappy dinner with bad nutrition, I skipped a shower. Then you spend the whole day rushing around. I remember I got fuel the other day. I rushed to pull up like truckers do after they get fuel because parking takes too much time and runs down the clock so I can run in and get some unhealthy lunch. I go to get out of my truck and my truck starts moving I’m in such a rush I forgot to put it in park so I get back in the truck and I figure why is it still moving so I quickly put it in park. These are mistakes that could be deadly with Eld’s and anyone who supports the ELD mandate is misinformed!
What kind of pickup were you driving ???
Agree… Best reply I read yet… Spot on James…
I agree 100 % . I have been driving for OTR for 45 years and have logged over 6 million accident free miles. I was with a company that went with e-logs and was falling to sleep driving. All they do is force you to keep driving when you need a nap and make you shut down when you feel good. Where is that safe ? I stay away from big citys during rush hours and always try to get to the customer late in the evening when there is no traffic. That is much safer than looking for a place and making u turns , etc. in traffic. I can see limiting driving hours, but let the driver decide when he feels good not some computer. We are not machines, so don’t try to make us run like we are. I for one was planning on retiring in 2 years , but if these stupid ELDs stay as they are I will be retiring this December. I will one of many very experienced drivers with great driving records to retire i’m sure. I have noticed in the last few years , that a lot of these guys are flying through parking lots like they are race tracks. I would bet it’s because the e-log clocks are ticking. Another thing I do as an owner – operater is set my cruse control for around 60 miles an hour and keep that left door closed. It saves me a ton of fuel, is safer most of the time and is easier on my equipment. With E-Logs I will have to driver hammer down all the time. Again, where is safe ? I also lost a lot of money and was under a lot more stress when stuck in traffic ( happens every day ) for the 3 months I had to use them. I left that company because of them. They also went out of busseness shortly after I left them.
Spot on, James, very well said.
Well… I understand completely what you are saying…BUT… I’m on paper logs now but in the past I was on elds…at least this will Level the playing field out some Because we have a drivers that run five days straight without stopping and that’s not fair to me I can’t do that… they’re taking
loads away from me that I could be doing so there you go…. plse elds…!!!!!!! I welcome you
Thank you!! Enough is enough!!
How about a surgeon who has to perform on a senator son or daughter really long and complicated surgery. Oops! Sorry my 14 hours are gone, I have to clock out, I will be back in 10 hours to finish the surgery. How that sounds?
Hate to inform you but the very suggestion that you as a truck driver is even in the same hemisphere as far as being equivalent to the training and expertize of a Surgeon, is completely laughable !! REALLY
Lol
The ELD does keep track with driver time and logs daily events. But they also show your exact location. If the company can keep track of where you are going and your location, then so can a terrorist group. If a highly secure computer network can be hacked. So can the ELD. I have a degree in computer science with networking and security. If you think the ELD can not be hack by a terrorist group, then keep on living in fantasy land. Because it can happen
evidently you are new to this topic, First off all you people trying to get this terrorist flag to fly, next time you crawl into your cage and head down the Blvd, try to pay attention to all the trucks you pass or that pass you keep track of all the brackets mounted on the back side ,and near the top of either the Sleeper, or the cab of the truck. Some of these trucks have a white, dome top item mounted on that bracket ! That is a transponder, for those of you who do not know what that is, it is a mini-computer that can receive and transmit information from the on board electronic control computer installed by the factory, can be used as an uplink, and a download in real time. They were mandated by our government in the late 90’s, and were mandated for all commercial vehicles sold in the US by Jan. 2000, they have been tracking and communicating with these trucks and the drivers on those trucks since 1994.
And exactly WHAT are the bad guys gonna glean from an elog that they can’t from just watching a truck stop? They would do better to hack into a company’s computers – LOTS more information there.
Come on! The “terrorist” angle is simply BUNK. And I’m against elogs 100%.
Ok i am for the mandate, but if they decide to get rid of it then they need to add to the regulations that if you are caught running illegal at all you lose your CDL for life period !
Ok, you’re going home. You’re 30 minutes from the house, and you’ve been out a month. Mama has a romantic dinner ready for you, the kids are at Gramma’s house, and you hit the end of your hours. Are you gonna sit there on the side of the road until the next day, or are you gonna go home, running illegally???
Losing the CDL for life for one logbook infraction massive overkill and is just dumb. If that happened, EVERYONE with more than 5 years experience would be out of a job!
Be real you are going to drive to the house, if you really have a reason to feel at jeopardy park the truck close call mama , have her come get you !
Are you really serious? With that mindset, I’m surprised that you’re involved in trucking at all. Just annoying and frustrating to read these pro-eld comments.
Remember that the next time your ELD goes out.
hey Tim i hear mickey dee’s is hiring, you may fit in there better !
“Three Felonies A Day: How The Feds Target The Innocent.”
This book is a great read for those wanting to understand why the regulations are so compicated and hard to follow.
The government has it set up so that everybody is a criminal waiting to be charged.
Yea thats pretty much it. Name any other industry that the government works this hard to criminalize the citizens? Aviation isnt even this bad!
I talked to an airline pilot who started driving not too long ago – he said he was going to go back to flying, because he didn’t have NEAR the regulations as we do!
I can understand – for every airline pilot, there’s probably a thousand truck drivers, and we have to share the road with complete incompetents without any real traffic control. To be a private pilot, you have to do a LOT of training, and if you stray from your flight path (“sky lane”), you get in a LOT of trouble. The airlines share the sky with people who can handle what’s going on – we have share the roads with people who would rather post on Facebook or twitter than pay attention to their driving.
Waiting to be FINED you mean. Everyone wants to stick their hand in the driver’s or companies’ pocket. Endless taxes plus regulations…
A GOOD tire today can cost a person upwards of a $1000.00.
Tell me those trucks (new) are worth more than a house ( $150K+) or that the tire is WORTH $1000.00 unless its some CHINESE or Vietnamese made piece of junk that still costs $400+……
Obviously you do not know any commercial pilots !!
That’s funny two companies on paper let me go because I wouldn’t run over my hours.One tsl told me I cost them money.They put me in a day cab and made me run out of hours.I saw a lot of guys running two books just to make $14 an hour . I’ve been out of the truck for two years now.$14 an hour,I make more than that now and I have no dispatcher with a God complex playing games with my life. Scratch the ELDs punish every dispatcher that puts you or the public at harm.Start there for safety.
Contact the federal DOT and report them. I’ve done this and put 2 companies out of business for just that.
Wow…. Truckers are their own biggest problem……What was” illegal “last week is “legal” this week..if enough Corporate Regime money hits a lobbyists hands…..Can we not see this?…… Every Trucker with his/her own insurance and good driving record should not be subject to any computer anything UNLESS they want it…… What’s really not being said is, the company drivers are hating on owner operators…. We pass you the highway and you think we’re making so much money that you would just love to bring us down….. Remember, Werner had to get ELD’S because of their accident rate,…and now a host of Mega Carriers have them and they are still crashing, even more so now, because the driver is forced to drive through the night by the clock but their body is tired…… I’m Done!!!!
It’s the ATA companies that are pushing this, to bring us down to their level. These include Werner, Schneider, England, Crete, JB Hunt, Swift, and other megas. These are the same companies that are pushing the speed limiter.
These same companies are the ones crying “driver shortage!” when they are creating their own shortages. They buy trucks by the thousand lot, then book freight based on their tractor ownership, and simply cannot find enough drivers to fill those seats and haul those loads. They also book loads knowing they won’t haul them, then broker them out to other, smaller companies, and cut the rate so they can make money – and their drivers sit, while the companies cry that they don’t have enough drivers to haul the freight.
The problem with eld’s.
1..You can’t get fuel because someone is taking break in fuel island.
2. You can’t drive thru parking lot of truck stop because no one can back a truck and they are parked all over the place.
3. Drivers are stuck on on and off ramps or the side of the road because they don’t know how to trip plan.
4. I don’t want anyone tracking me.
5. I don’t want to drive more than 10-11 hours in a 24 hr period but I want to drive them the way I want. I know when I’m tired and need a cat nap. With elogs you can’t stop and take a 1 or 2 hour nap.
6. You think the truck stops are jammed now with steering wheel holders wait till everyone has elogs.
There are many other reasons, but this oversized drivers makes plenty driving 6 to 11 hours a day. We have curfews to deal with, some states you can drive in the night some you can’t. Some states you can’t drive on the weekends. Besides who in the hell can sleep for ten hours straight. But let me say it again I don’t want elds and I do not drive more than 40-60 hours a week.
Were are you from India ? There are no state restrictions on commercial traffic besides Hartford and New York city., those are times twice a day of extreme foot traffic !
You’ve obviously never pulled an oversize load. Ask any driver with a permit load (oversize) about curfews, and you’ll get an earful!
No running between 0600-0900 and 1500-1800, sometimes around lunch (Albuquerque used to have a lunch curfew). Some states you can’t run after noon on Saturday until Monday morning, you can’t run nighttime (most states, except CA, you can run nights if you ask, and Texas is legal up to 10′ wide on the interstate), you MUST run midnight-0400 (Los Angeles, New York City – at least for the loads I’ve hauled)… and on and on and on..
He obviously also couldn’t see because of his blind stupidity. You clearly stated oversize drivers in your first post. He must of figured it was a personal reference 😄
So many steering wheel holders making dumb comments. ELDS are the worst thing that’s about to happen to trucking and has nothing to do with running legal or illegal. Did you know that you can still cheat with ELDS if you want to? Yes it’s as easy as throwing the paper and making a new one. It’s the government regulations that are the problem. Soon 60-65mph governs are coming. If you are independent small trucking company you are in huge disadvantage. Like Many mentioned before not everyone runs drop and hook or same pre-planned routes. Everyone should be against more regulations. Trucking is already regulated up to our arse! Enough is enough!
I’ve been driving now for 47 yrs, man I must be crazy, buts its a living & it keeps my marriage going. I’ve seen a lot of changes out here, some of U old timers like me remember the time card that was in the trucks,actually it ended in the early 71s. Here’s what I see will happen,1st off there is not enough parking for trucks to all be on ELDs, I’m fortunate because the co I work for has 152 terminals thru- out the USA, so usually I haven’t a problem, customers receivers and shippers are going to have to comply to keep us rolling and legal, its going to cost more money for these companies also, the law enforcement is going to be more busy too, looking at the big picture,its going to cause major issues f o r everyone, I use an e-log, its ok but when we make a mistake our safety dept has to fix it, some companies have e-logs that a driver can fix it themselves but only legally.I BELIEVE that this should have been done gradually per company like a lottery, not all at once, and gave them enough time to comply, and if they failed, they went out of business or bought out by another carrier who could comply, that’s just my thoughts about it, be safe drivers and plan your trips earlier, you’ll have to shut down when you see a parking space, more than likely you will be late for del or rec but because you’ll be stuck in traffic or some reason,to many trucks and not enough parking,I don’t see anything good about this at all.
Enough time? They have had 2 years since the law went into effect. They knew it was coming. My company has had E-logs for 5 years. There is no excuses for waiting until the 11th hour. Except that many are still fighting it instead of getting in compliance before it’s mandatory.
The main problem I have run into is the lack of parking when the driver HAS to call it a day. With no flexibility to find a place, many truck stops now look like refugee camps after 10pm.
America is in for a world of hurt with all this ELD crap they’ll be more wrecks when told when to drive when to rest especially when most of these big companies have 80% new drivers fresh out of school with no experience behind the wheel all classroom heroes. So when all the store shelves are empty and everything is running behind because all trucks are filling the truck stops and side’s of the roads because we’re told to stop maybe just maybe the point will start to get across to all the pencil pushers it’s not as good an idea as they thought.
Drive 10 sleep 8,Drive 8 take 30 drive another 3,14 and 10.
Park here, don’t park there.Use this lane, not that lane.Clutch or no clutch?
Regulated sleep, no sleep?
Lose weight, gain weight?
55 or 70 mph? Driverless trucks, Truck driver?
Im sure you get my drift by now. We are nothing but communism in disguise anymore in this country and until we wake up and take a stand nothing is going to change. The impact of Eld’s may be big or may be minor. Either way it’s a disgrace to the very ones who keep America running and are called professionals to be monitored like common criminals. I’m trying to figure out what playing field needs to be leveled. This country was started by hard working people who went out and got it done.
Eat, don’t eat?
Vote, can’t vote
Meds, no meds
Doctor, no doctor
Guns, no guns
Family, no family
Catch my drift?
just more money out of truckers pockets. I think a lot of good safe drivers are going to quit because of this others will go broke. this is where u have a lot of just out of school drivers an a lot of steering wheel holders out there none of which are safe and can drive
The only ones fighting the ELD are the ones that are running illegal. I talked to a driver that used to work where I do. He runs paper logs and told me he is glad he left and can’t remember the last time he took the mandatory 30 minute break. He also told me he drives as long as he wants and sleeps when he needs to.
Get over it all of you running paper logs, this will level the playing field and make everyone in compliance. You can make money on E-LOGS.
Compliance? Sounds like something from a bad nazi movie.
Are you a machine? Ever heard the word flexibility? Being paid hourly is the real fix. That would end a lot of problems with the industry.
For what I do the miles I drive and the hours I work, which aren’t many compared to some. I generate revenue of $129 per hr and my expenses are mainly me, fuel, retirement, maintenance, insurance. In that order truck and trailer paid for. Get me an hourly wage for half that with benefits, and I’ll try it. Otherwise toss the hourly wage argument in the garbage. You guranteed hourly wage earners make what you’re worth, some probably more than you’re worth. Reason being you don’t value yourself any higher and don’t have knowledge, skill, or willingness to run a successfull business.
I have no problem with you running the way you want so why are you pushing you garbage on me? If you can’t think for your self fine. I can.
That’s fine you want to level the playing field I’m all for it. So let’s start with me being a true O/O being able buy tires at the same price that cdl mill you drive for buys tires, then fuel and everything else including trucks- these mega fleets want to level the playing field lets do it! On second thought they can keep their $.50 fruitliners, I rather drive a something that doesn’t look like every other mega fleets with a different color.
Hate to tell you but you just described a perfect Socialist economy !!! They get the prices they get because they but 50 trucks at a time, tires by the hundred, because of their purchase totals, that is DEMOCRACY
All of these regulations are ridiculous. They need to gethe rid of that 14 hour garage and go back to the way it use to be with the 24 hour dilly dally.
I read your comments and a lot of them show that a lot of you have a mentality of the sheep. So you ran with e-logs for 6 years and you find them great. Have you ever ran without them before? I seriously doubt it. I can almost bet good money, that you also have nothing against the driver facing cameras. And any other reg that the DOT throws at you. You see throughout the 21 years I’ve been trucking all across out continent, I have met two types of drivers. One type is the independent minded, smart, challenge loving, creative, brave, hard like a rock with unbreakable nuts, hard working man. And the other is the type, which does not like to make decisions, does not want independence, want the company to hold his hand and support his soft behind, does not have ambition beyond making a few hundred dollars per week, has no creativity, hates challenges, is scared of everything and bows down to authority. Above all he hates the first type, because he knows he can never be like him. I think I pretty much described Alpha male driver and the Beta drivers. Most of the Betas work in the well known big trucking corpos and never leave. They will tie their career with a Schneider, JB or an of the other big boys for life. Too scared to go on their own. Some will lease from said corporations to pretend and lie to themselves that they are independent. Real men run on paper logs and doctor them to their content and it’s not just because they make better money, although that’s a big part of it. It’s because their hard personality does not allow them to take sightseeing trips. They go hard and rest at the end of the run. How does Montreal, Quebec to Santa Barbara, Ca in two and a half days single driver sound to you Beta males? Oh the horror! By being who you are you destroyed this profession. It used to be filled by men. Now it’s mostly boys in men’s skins. I see you every day on the roads and in the truck stops. You surround yourselves with electronic gadgets, your dashboards look like electronic trinket store fronts! GPS, tablets, smartphones, yapping on the phone 24/7, and you still get lost! Still hit low bridges and drive over pedestrian walkways. Can’t read a map if your lives depended on it. Can’t fix anything. Can’t even drive straight, keep in your lane, park properly. You are useless and after they replace all paper logs with e logs most Alpha drivers will slowly leave. Because an alpha driver cannot confine himself within the limits you Beta males are comfortable with. And if you think that eventually your pay will go up when you log in all of your on duty time, think again. The big corporations will just bring over contract drivers from India and Pakistan ( like they are already doing here in Canada) who will be happy to work for the measly scraps we are getting now. There will never be a low supply of drivers for that reason alone. Enjoy your job sheeple.
Awesome post. Bravo!
That’s Great! This was never meant to be a 9 to 5 job.
I think you are a “Legend” in your own mind. There are enough accidents out there right now without someone like you being awake for two days at a time delivering your essential load of tampons at a “death on wheels” 70 mph. A driver recently got sentenced to Life in prison for an accident. Your load of disposable douche isn’t worth it.
I am over 60 y/o and got my first CDL ( then called a chauffers license)
in 1976. I have used both paper and ELogs. Paper offers a LOT of “flexibility” for reefer loads of fresh fruit, and little more.
I actually get to sleep now and enjoy driving more without being threatened by dispatchers and exhausted all the time. The Elog says I’m out of time, the dispatcher can pound sand and little else.
that is exactly the point mack is making. you just reinforced what he is saying!!!!! you let a dispatcher tell you when to sleep ,when to drive,etc. you say now that you have you’re little black box ,the big mean dispatcher can’t tell you what to do anymore, grow a set and be a real trucker.!!! when you’re tired ,sleep when you need a break .take it!! what the hell happened to all the men in this country!!!!!!
DITTO! UNDOUBTEDLY THE BEST POST REGARDING ELD
MANDATE!
Actually, it’s so-called “real men” like you who have destroyed this industry. I’ll be glad to see when people like you are gone because they’ll be forced to run legal. Thank you mr steering wheel holder for making this industry the toilet it is.
Amen from one Alpha Male to another.
And one more thing I would like to add is Self Driving Trucks – Autonomous Vehicles – Driverless Trucks and its the wave of the future and its coming to a mega-carrier near you.
Get use to it kids you just put yourself out of a Job!
Well said! (From a 33-year flatbedder..)
👍
Well said my brother.
I agree the ELD are not put in place to help us but inslave us. If you wish to help fix the problems we have with the shippers, receivers, brokers and the larger companys.
You can tell the drivers that run for large company’s that drop and hook most places they go. E-logs won’t work for the meat haulers and produce haulers. When you have to wait to load 5 to 6 hours and wait to unload the same amount of time on every load it’s a little different than Frieght haulers and these large company’s that have 2 or 3 trailers for every truck. The main sponsor of the bill comes from the district in Tennessee where US Express and Covenant are located. There is more to the legislation than safety most wrecks I have observed involve the large company’s not the owner operators.
Same with us flatbedders – we have 2-4 hours on either end dealing with tarps, straps, chains, etc. I recently delivered some coils of steel to a plant – it took 2 hours to get loaded, tied down, and tarped; heavens, it took 45 minutes just to put the equipment back away when I got unloaded! Chains, binders, tarps, padding, dunnage, coil racks….
I believe the hardest hit will be the fresh fruit and vegetable guys hauling reefers. That stuff HAS to be on time or it will go bad or be refused. Anything that detains the driver who may be close to “out of hours” will adversely effect the load. I believe millions will be lost before the geniuses in D.C. come up with a fix or exemption. Oh well, as usual, it isn’t their money being lost….
I’m an independent contractor I have my own authority. I do power only dedicated for a broker. I pick up in Mcdonough GA I live 15min from Mcdonough GA. I have to pick up a pre-loaded trailer at 3pm. I take it to a drop yard in Alexandria, VA. It has 3 stops around the dc area. I meet a local contractor that delivers the load around Dc he familer with the area. The local contractor then go to Baltimore and pick up my back haul. To go back to the Atlanta area by the time all that happens my ten hour break is almost up. To point out a few things here. After I first pick up my load. I go back home and wait for rush hour traffic to clear. Second it is 675mi to Alexandria VA 10.50 of driving. Now it I had and eld once I start my clock and leave home. Pick my load up and sit in stop and go traffic. I wouldn’t be able to deliver the next day it would be the day after. Things like that is why one size fit all DONT WORK. Small carriers like my self will lose money and spend more time from home.
Seems to me every truck I see flying thru construction zones and thru cities has the ELD sticker on the side of there truck. I seen a trucker get irate at a shipper because they were taking to long. Same thing. ELD sticker on the side of the truck. No parking at truck stops anymore at night unless you want to pay to reserve a spot. You are forced to truck sometimes when your tired or sleep when your awake. Safety? I don’t think so. There’s nothing I can’t do on paper longs that that electronic crap dose. To many of the truck drivers out here follow some of this garbage like sheep. Most companies running them have the worst safety records out here. And all you can say for an argument is you can’t run illegal anymore. Get real.
There is a difference between ILLEGAL and UNSAFE. I have used both Elogs and paper. The Elog (which I happen to like) can say its LEGAL to drive but the driver knows he’s been sitting awake, all day (10 hrs) , and is therefore UNSAFE to drive all night. Time to grow a pair and do the right thing. IF an accident occurs and its serious, the driver will get the anal exam of all time. No one will care who’s really at fault, only that it happened.
How about just pushing back against more regulations in this industry period! Don’t we have enough already? And when will enough be enough? Don’t you play grownups when you get home? Get in a truck and leave and suddenly you become mindless robots willing to do exactly as you’re told like a child. ELDs, cameras etc…..we’re not getting paid more for it. Fight all of it!
This is from a driver who has never and may never use an Elog as I’m currently sitting in a 1999 truck that there’s no reason to change and pushing 70 yrs old. I obviously know how to “maximize” a paper log after 49 yrs at the wheel and unknown total miles, – my mental estimates put it over 5 million. (Someday if I ever have nothing to do I’ll total my logs up – I have a copy of every day since June 1978.)
I do NOT approve of just blatantly ignoring HOS rules but carefully using them to get the job done safely. #1 IS SAFETY!!
I don’t know why everyone fears Elogs. I’m Canadian and under our rules we’re allowed 13 driving hours per shift. My brother with Elogs has put on 765 miles in 13 hrs in conditions seldom seen in US – all 55 mph speed zones, almost no 4 lane road, over some tough terrain (northern Ontario) in a truck governed at 65 mph. I’m jealous. That’s about 59 mph average. There ain’t no way any cop in Canada or US would believe me if I put that in a paper log. They’d tell you no more than 55 and complain at over 50.
So, while I think elogs are just unnecessary and won’t do anything for road safety, I’d try one in a heartbeat!
I stopped driving a few years back and used electronic logs for a little bit.They were a nightmare.Being forced to shut down when you had work to do. Losing hours and trying to make dispatch and log auditors happy was a joke. As long as you are paid by the mile you need to run as much as you can to make your time worth something.The pay rate for drivers is so low that it almost guarantees drivers will want to keep the wheels turning. Otherwise, you are just sitting and not making money.
Drivers here on i-40 I see most trucks stay in the right lane even though there is someone on the shoulder and plenty of time and room to move over. CB radios must not work anymore.I cant get many to respond.I always found it handy to hear about road construction and closures. I guess folks are too busy with their cell phones or something. Remember your not a robot.
This going to happen stop crying and start figuring out how to make it work for you. If you can’t run it by yourself then team it and charge more money. This is not an option Trump will do nothing the feds will only pass more laws and shippers and receivers will not care about any of these proublems. Our only recourse is to charge more money to do the job at hand. And I also started driving in 1972 so I am not a rookie.
Blah Blah Blah!!! Cry about it!!!! There has plenty of time to comply! Too many cry baby truck drivers out there who still want to run illegally. Run 2,3,maybe more log books. Well your days of getting away with it are coming to an end! Suck it buttercups!!!!! With these ELD’s there’s gonna be more jobs. More trucks on the road. So either get with the times or hang it up!
It’s too difficult to run more than one logbook at a time any more, with the electronics in fueling and tolls and chicken houses keeping track. What we are complaining most about is 3 things:
1) loss of flexibility.
2) increased regulations.
3) being FORCED to purchase a product we don’t want. (This was the same argument many of us had with obamacare – being forced to purchase a product whether or not you wanted it.)
There are very few who do try to run more than one book – and they get caught pretty easily. Most of us want the flexibility to go that extra hour to get past the snowstorm, or the 10 minutes to a safe haven, leave a customer to go to a place with services (like RESTROOMS). We don’t want to HAVE to purchase the equipment and pay the monitoring fees that the regulations require. And we are tired of Big Brother forcing more and more regulations on us that are unnecessary and onerous.
I was a fully functional adult human being long before the elog was created. Just because you company drivers need it to feel safe,does not mean I do. I own my truck,and if I dont feel like driving 600 miles in one shot I dont have to. As a matter of fact, I make 3x your wage on less than 2700 miles a week. If I want to stop and hang out every 200 miles I can,because I am not another mans dog. As far as leveling the field, up your game, quit trying to press me down. I earned my place without the ATA, and I have no use for them now.
Right on Rufus!
The govt needs to regulate shippers and receivers and do away with paid parking at truck stops. I actually think this mandate want last for long due to the Billions lost to receivers and shippers and all the trucks parked along the interstate and off ramps. I would be happy to park my truck 12/18/17 in protest of being over regulated
Simple solution in my mind: IN with the ELDs and OUT with the 14 hour rule.
I can see replying to people on this site doesn’t work it’s going to the wrong person. So have a good life out here all You camera and ELD loving sheepsters.
One more thing. You have got to know your own limitations. If you don’t, you have no business being out here. 10-4
You sheep supporting ELD’s and all the rest of these so called “safety” features is one of two things. Either youve never worked where these things was not used or enforced or your just another sheep in the herd that is narrowed minded and believe everything your told. Eld’s is nothing more than another big corporate tool theyre trying to use to force smaller companies out period end of sentence. Corporate companies dont have to worry about loads being stopped and not being on time because if driver has to shut down because of elogs they have 1000’s of trucks on the road to do a load swap and keep it going. Smaller companies or independent drivers dont have that luxory nor do they want it. But the sheep dont see that this just run by more corporate greed. But they use the same old m/o to get it passed the same government go to plan twist it around make it about safety and it will get it passed every time. For the other people for may not be sheep but support it. Either you dont know what its like to work out here in any other situation because you hired in with one of the big corps training program or your content with your 500.00. A week bring home either way thats your decision and your right to do so. But why should the rest of us have to do it your way and be happy with 500.00 bring if we dont want to. That should be our right and not have the government controling us. Ever wonder how much in kick backs the people voting these things in are getting from companies like qual comm and other major eld manufacturers?
The owner operator’s are being foolish with this. I am one, and initially felt the same. But, with some deeper thought, this change is going to force rates up. I am going to see a pay raise after 12/18 because MANY will not be able Fudge the logs. Loads will be under pressure and that pressure translates into higher rates.
Wihich will translate into even money from time lost from sitting around. I’ll do my sitting at home. The only way you could convince me this would work is by everyone getting paid by the hour. Including independent o/op like me. Scraping the mileage pay. Getting paid for everything you do. Otherwise truck drivers are getting shafted. I don’t care what you’re argument is. These ELD are in reality a time clock and I think truckers should start a law suit that every hour it records your out working you should get paid for it. I wonder how the big companies pushing this stuff would like that??? Everyone else on a time clock gets paid we should to if they want this garbage. And those people going along with this stuff, don’t get sucked into believing this is for your benefit it’s not. This is for big companies with lots of trucks and drivers to control them and save money for them not you. Take a 2week vacation if you disagree with this law on December 18th.
Keep dreaming they said the rates would go up when everyone had a CDL- how did that work for ya? The most recent example is these hurricanes hit & all you would see on these sites is the rates will skyrocket & be a huge demand for trucks for years all over the country- keep dreaming all you want about the rates going up when everyone is on them- one of the dumbest arguments I hear about ELD’s.
WOW…I have to admit after reading ALL of the posts and comments on here from “Seasoned Drivers”, How many of them are truly Scared of change. Oh they have made some landish and humorous claims, but when you boil it all down, what they are really saying, is that they have absolutely no concept of trip planning. They would rather lie on paper logs, instead of learning one of the basic fundamentals of safe driving. Is it possible to run safe, legal, and get there on time? ABSOLUTELY! (that is if you planned your trip properly). The biggest complaint is being forced to pull over because you are “out of hours”.(because of POOR, or NO trip planning). I have always used Elogs, and because I take the time to properly trip plan, Not only have I ALWAYS had plenty of parking at truck stops, I also usually arrive at my destination 1 day or more early. The funny part is that anyone can do this, if they chose to use the simple tools that are ALREADY AVAILABLE.
***************DO NOT BELIEVE THE NEGATIVE HYPE**********
Try proper trip planning this. 8 stops over 3 day period. We bake in plenty between the ones we know may be slow and little where it comes off quick, one to three pallets and maybe broke down. I do it to save time, lumper fees, get exercise and pay. However you get to that one receiver 1/2 to 45 mins early 0600 appt. Need to check in, get a door assigned, back in, take paperwork, get okay as driver unload. But in the process being assigned a door took 3 hrs past your appt for 2 pallets. You also had a 0900 and an 1100. So all of brainiac geniuses trip plan that, let me know how you do, lmfao!
Eld is not a good idea for small trucking company.if does owner operated is going to out of business. God bless America.
Trump isn’t going to help anything! One of the first things he did when he became president is talk about driverless trucks. Him and his rich buddies can’t wait to put all of us “overpaid” truck drivers out of work so his friends can make a few more bucks!
Whether you run ELD’s or not this subject all boils down to PAY!! Drivers have been getting paid cents per mile for decades!! It’s an OUTMODED system that was developed when there was hardly any traffic on the roads!! It has lead to ALL the maladies that are currently in the transportation system!! Change the system to government mandated minimum hourly pay rate(I.E., $25 per hour) for drivers & charge the shippers/receivers detention after 1hr. & the dissention will go away!! There WON’T be drivers going down the road @80mph passing everything in sight bcuz they’ll be getting the SAME PAY RATE as the driver going down the road @55mph!! When your getting the same minimum pay rate per hour as the next driver your NOT going to be worried about stoppage of productivity due to traffic, weather, mechanical problems, etc.!! It ALL starts by relieving the stranglehold of worthless GOV’T REGULATIONS on the industry!! Thank-You!!💯🇺🇸👍😎
One of the biggest problems in this country is people can’t seem to mind their own business.
If you currently are driving for a company that uses ELDs then honestly you are overstepping your boundaries by weighing in on this issue at all.
If this law is not going to alter how you do your job or make a living…then please stay out of this.. it truly doesn’t concern you!!!
I concur Doctor
THIS ID OUR JOBS! WHY SHOULD WE BE TOLD WHEN TO GO TO BED AND WHEN TO BRUCH OUR TEETH. GOVERNMENT GOT THEIR HAND INTO EVERYTHING, JUST NOT RIGHT. THEY NEED TO BE PUT ON CHAINS THEMSELVES. TELLING A MAN HOW TO PROVIDE FOR HIS FAMILY. THEY WILL ALL SEE WHEN THE 18 COME . ITS GOING TO BE HELL ON THE ROADS.
ELD’S should be by choice NOT by mandate. If the mega carriers want to run them , fine BUT the government shouldn’t be able to force O/O’S to have them ( or cameras, speed limiters or anything else ! )
This country is going to slow way down after Dec 18 late loads reschedule loads maybe we just need to strike against elds and everyone shut down like in the 70′ S or else
Yeah good luck trying to organize that one!
What I don’t understand is… this mandate has been coming for some time now. And it was already delayed to get to this point. So, the issue isn’t cash, it procrastinators. Folks who have to wait until the last second on the ticker to do what they have to. Now, they’re all saying it’s too expensive? It sure is to have your fleet retroactive in like a week!
I’m not a fleet truck I’m a owner operator with my own authority. I would have to put a ELD in my truck and report it to my self. That makes a lot of sense doesn’t it.
The EDL’s are perfect for the modern day Bunk Monkey of Trucking. Gives them plenty of time to be the next Youtube Trucker.. When I read comments like..I had to stop 5 minutes away…Or had to reschedule a delivery or pickup because of because of a hour…I laugh my ass off. Don’t you see it..Don’t you get it. Your only give X amount of hours in your life to be productive. Your now denied your freedom to use them as YOU see fit. Good luck living like that.
I am totally against elds there is already not enough parking for trucks now so what happens when you can not get a place within your hours? I guess like what drivers are doing already parking on side of ramps, on side of the interstates, So when alll trucks are on the e logs and all have to stop at the same time, cause most shippers hours are lets say 8-5 how is that to work! So tell me how safe is that? They need to regulate cars and let them share the cost of the infrastructure. then you got the companies thats on elds already and alot of their drivers drive 35 mph thru a parking lot and just as hard as they can on the roads just to get to their drops with no consideration for anyone else on the road. I think trucks need to shut down one day lets see what changes when people cant get food water and everthing else truckers deliver.
I hear mostly from OTR Drivers on their opinion of running with an ELD.I myself currently running Keep Trucking.I run a dedicated run 612 miles round trip.The 11 hr driving time is no issue but when the Shipper takes 5-6 hrs (when they have proven they could do it in an hour)to unload/reload (no matter the Quanity) i run out of my 14 hr day at the shipper location which doesn’t permit parking on premises.
So what are they going to do when your out of time and can’t move that truck call the law and say it’s OK to drive it .that’s a federal law
I believe President Trump WILL LISTEN!!!
Well you that shut down aren’t truck drivers at all and don’t no what real trucking is all about. You guys run truck stop to truck stop have 6 days to deliver the load and look for a reason to shut down. Make 450.00 a week and think your rich.And if it was about safety the scales would be open 24/7 And roadside inspection like it should be,then no ELD,s would be nessacery. They are good for fleet management for big fleets and are not going to curer fatigue your tired your tired bottom line. Some people need 10 hours sleep some 8 6 and so on not everyone’s the same. So if the DOT would get off there ASS and do there jobs. No ELD,s the taxes we pay the fuel taxes the heavy use taxes we pay, in stead of taking the money for other shit call misusing,now company’s have to pay for what the FMCSA wants physicals. You guys that are for ELD,s don’t have a clue,your paying for this out of your taxes. So be told what to do plus be charged for it make sense think about it.
That’s the problem Doug, They can’t think about it. Those MEGA’S don’t let them think!!
Some drivers have a more regular schedule and can do ok on ELD timing, some of us don’t. Just try fitting a completely random pickup and delivery schedule and completely random delays into a fixed time slot. It won’t work. 30 minutes from home for the weekend and the ELD shuts me down? I’m not going to put up with that. With things as they are even, I was at time forced to run dangerously tired just because I had to get somewhere before my time ran out. If I had liberty to stop for a 2-3 hour rest and then keep going, running after the 14 ran out, I could have been much safer. So the time restriction on one hand helps prevent abuse, on the other hand it causes problems and reduces safety. And then putting it on the kind of fixed restriction that fully electronic timing would do makes it even more difficult, and occasionally completely impractical or impossible. Therefore, while there will be ELD trucks running under our authority, I won’t be driving an ELD equipped rig except rarely to rescue a rig from somewhere, or some temporary thing. We have a ’95 truck on our shop lot I’ll rebuild and drive myself when I want to go out. But for now I’m just fixing the trucks as they come in. I think trucking safety and efficiency could be improved a lot by keeping the 11 hour per day limit but allowing the driver to split that up and get it in anywhere during the 24 hours in 2 or 3 segments. Lets say I drive 6 hours and am approaching a city during rush hour. Stop and sleep 4 hours then get up rested and drive through the city after the rush is over and get in the last 5 of the 11. But that would run over time now.
All these complaints on ELDs and I never saw mention of the most important one….the ELD being a violation of my rights as a citizen….it is no business of anyone’s what route I took and where I stopped, but the ELD will tell on demand exactly that….the ELD is another freedom lost!!
Now see Paul I gotta stop ya there. That’s where you’re wrong. Your not being violated and yes it is another freedom lost which occurred, When you decided to become a CMV CDL holder you gave up your rights as a citizen for what the FMCSA needs to know (what route I took and where I stopped) for the benefit of the Motoring Public. Don’t get me wrong I agree with you in regards to privacy. But we are “Professionals” and we need to be held to a higher standard then the Motoring Public.
Do not force owner operators and small businesses to use ELD!
ELD’s will be disruptive to normal business.
Eliminate the 14 hour rule!
I’m an owner operator and you said it wright but as a driver we all got to put a stop to this
Regardless of what’s going on, please be nice to each other. We are all on the same team.
I’m sorry to to Inform you that the playing field can never really become level until small truckers can realize the same economies of scale that the big companies do, ie: cheaper insurance, the ability to buy fuel futures and leases with guaranteed buy backs. Until then small companies need the ability to work harder. Plus the guys really pushing for these rules the LTLs who command much better rates then FTL companies.
I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but in my 10 year I can count on one hand the number of ‘outlaw” drivers in major accidents while I lost count of eld companies in major accidents my opinion the difference isn’t paper or eld it’s being a professional driver who knows his limit or a driver mill driver with left foot on dash cell phone in hand ear buds in eating a cheeseburger while hurling a 80000 lb missile down the road that doesn’t even know how much they weigh or how to figure it out I’ll pick the professional driver on paper logs any day
A lot of interesting comments.bottom line it should be up to the carrier/o/operator,to decide,if they want an e.l.d.or not.shouldnt be mandated.and it won’t be a level playing field.when is the govt.gonna regulate the shippers,receivers, and brokers.there the biggest reason drivers,go over hours.along with several other reasons.if e.ld.s,are so safe,why does werner,and all the other govt,suck up companies,have the worst safety records.all on e.l.d.s.ive done my 30 plus years out here,and absolutely don’t need,or want a stupid elog.it should be up to me.not the f.mc.s.a.be safe.God bless all.
One thing for sure ELD drivers seen more frustrated, is that not a serious saftey risk?
I have been driving for 13 years. Started with warner, ended OTR driving with owner operator. ive been driving local fuel tanker for the last 4 years. They have ELDs but I am hourly with overtime now so it doesn’t matter anymore to me. OTR Paper logs are much safer for me. There were plenty of times I needed a nap and took it. And still made my money. When I worked for Werner that wasn’t an option. sometimes I felt like a zombie. Day driving then night driving, my body had a hard time adjusting to different sleep schedules. Well it wasn’t an issue on paper. And yes I cheated a log book but oh well. I have a very safe record. I haul fuel now so obviously I have a safe record.
This site is censoring.guess the truth is too much to handle.
I think the saddest part of that letter is the claim that a hack of elogs systems could turn the trucks of America into weapons! Lol
Does he think that they can force the trucks to drive order something?
Maybe it will be by giving the drivers unlimited hours available so they drive until they crash?
That sentence removed any credibility that guy may have had lol
(currently on elogs, and glad to be away from paper after all these years…)
Please explain to me how an ELD will make things any safer for the idiot reading his newspaper while they shave and drink their Starbucks on the way to work at 80mph
A compromise on ELD. If a driver/company has x amount of infractions within x time frame. Make them go ELD. Leave everyone else alone
ELD are 180 out of wack with the founding of our country. It was founded on innocent until proven guilty. An ELD is saying you are guilty and must prove your innocence. Stalin and Mao are so proud of us
Will an ELD help drivers be able to speak read and write English so they know where they are going? And how to get there?
You seem to be stuck in thinking things aren’t changing. Years ago, when truckers smoked coke, took lines of speed and drunk six packs while they drove, they weren’t thinking about us. Now we got to pay for it. It’s safer. I’m still doing 5000 to 7000 in revenue on ELD’s. Don’t chase miles! Oh yeah and their GPS speaks English for them. 🤣
I feel safer now on ELD’s! Running paper for 8 years was stressful and very unhealthy.Being an O/O I agree some money may be lost, but that exrra $500-$1000 isn’t worth putting everyone else in harms way. Oh yeah and the manditory sleep is great.
ELD is going to have a major impact on the economy especially during the holiday season. Jobs that are 750 miles will not be able to be done on time. Drivers are going to be speeding trying to save time. Altercations are going to transpire at fuel pumps because of inconsiderate drivers. Parking in and around the country is already Limited. Owner operators are going to be forced to run the illegal because they won’t be able to survive. Rates are going to need to increase which is going to have a domino effect. Accidents will increase because of inconsiderate drivers riding the left lane. Toll violations are going to occur. Altercations are going to transpire I drop location in summary all major transportation companies are already on ELP and your rate of accidents eyes actually increased because of new drivers. Abolish ELD!!!!!
For the truckers, by a truck
People vote Trump to kill regulations eld we the people not forget his promises if he doesn’t cut eld I swear he don’t kiss second mandate..
It’s sad that truckers have let this go this far but what can I say because there is no real truckers any more .but I have run under ELD and I hate it because I had to drive very tires or real sleepy because you just can’t sleep any time it tell you too .so what are they going to do about that ? And where are all the trucks going to park there is no where to park now .all the book smart people who has came up with this hasn’t even drove or thought about that but it’s all about money and some one is really spending a lot to get this done..
its funny the guys who take their sweet as time to do basic things and then drive like maniacs and go over their hours tend to bitch. I work with many drivers take pride that they are fast at their job (fuel transport) but then they kill an extra 30 mins bsing with everyone they come in contact with . they drive like maniacs eating stale yellows , running in left lane when all they gotta do is cut out the 2 hours worth of chit chat and dragging their feet to get going.
I don’t see the problem, lot of whining over nothing.
Did not even finish the work week,already my pay check is down $200,, this eld , the broker,s stretching out time frames has taken away money out of my weekly earnings
First week with eld already freaking out with this Electronic unit and the glitches that are happening with this made in China device, probably needs to go under the front tire of my rig