When we posted about the new restart study that the FMCSA was conducting back in February, we announced that the FMCSA was looking for 250 truckers who would be paid to participate in their program. It’s three months later, and they’re still looking.
Ordered by Congress to conduct a credible study into the effects that their 34-hour restart rule would have on commercial truck drivers, the FMCSA turned to the same institute that conducted their previous lackluster study – a move that earned them the disdain of Representative Richard Hanna who called the decision “surprising and troubling.”
That choice aside however, the FMCSA hopes that the new study will prove what they failed to prove earlier – that their hours of service changes would make truckers and the entire motoring public safer. To do this, they asked for 250 truckers to take part in their study.
Despite the fact that the FMCSA has even offered to pay drivers, they can’t seem to find enough drivers willing to work within the constraints of the FMCSA’s favored hours of service system. If the FMCSA can’t pay even 250 drivers of the millions in the country to temporarily abide by their restart rules, perhaps that should tell them all they need to know.
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Source: overdrive, fleetowner, thetrucker, truckersreport, truckersreport
The way the fmcsa and bill graves are acting their not going to get cooperation from anybody these people have no idea of what their talking about . It’s not about safety it’s about control
Fact of the matter is, my company was gung hoe to participate with several drivers. The contractor doint the installs expected us to go well out of route to have the hardware installed and then it had to be on certain days. It’s a heck of alot cheaper for them to come to our facilities than for us to take several trucks that far out of route. Finally my boss just said to forget it. Everyone does not live or work in Dallas or Kansas City!
Okay, let’s see. You want me to participate in a study that you are trying to use to limit my potential income?
PASS
It’s a skewed and bias research attempt in my opinion. They stated that they are looking for alot of night drivers. Already this says they don’t want people running during the night hours. People are inherently going to get tired whether behind a desk or the wheel at varying times of the day no matter what….it’s what they do to counteract these times that matters.
Driving behind the wheel is a judgement call by the driver, people either feel good, tired, restless, sleepy or sick everyday. Millions of people everyday……
Did fmcsa ever think about what it’s like to have to much rest? Sitting around , laying around in a truck for hours on end doing nothing? I’ve been driving since 1990 with my entire career as a safe driver….this rule they’re trying to impose didn’t make me a better driver or a safer driver! It’s what judgement the driver makes that matters…..
Most drivers I’ve heard from actually get more fatigued by sitting around doing nothing, waiting for that 2 day break to end…….
I’ve had times where I sit over the weekend but was not eligible for the restart only to have to take that restart somewhere in the following week because of the 168 restart rule….it doesn’t make sense.The over regulation of the trucking industry has actually caused things to get worse out here, not better! It’s having the total opposite effect that was intended…..
They’re so stupid and in their own little world they can’t see past their noses to figure out that drivers don’t want this be,but yet every time there’s a big truck wreck that gives them a way to get what they want,drivers need to get their heads out of their ass and wake up and get together and put a stop to this bs.before its to late !
What doesn’t make sense is there are only 168 in one week. If a driver used 70 hours of drive time plus 2 34 hour resets in order to get “more” time that means they would Be working less. If they are abiding By the 11 on 10 off rules. I can’t even make myself dumb enough to understand the logic of this law! Not to mention the truck parking problems we all saw when the law was in place. A tired driver couldn’t even find a parking spot after midnight.
This is all about control and nothing to do with safety. They are trying to limit the income of small trucking companies while rewarding these mega companies. I’m glad they can’t find 250 people for study but even if they do how does that reflect millions of truckers on the road? Limiting us when to drive, sleep, eat and rest can only mean one thing HAZARD on the road. We should be able to know when we are tired hungry or sleepy!
No camera in my sleeper. No amount of money will make me give away my privacy. And who has time to play with phone apps? I have deliveries to make. They regulate us to death and expect us just to knuckle under? Pfft. No thanks. And yes, I am the night driver in our team.
The restart system they imposed on us was a joke and in my opinion made things more unsafe, drivers pushing speeds etc to make the 1am shutdown time for a restart etc. Also only the one restart in a certain period, wouldnt it mean I rested even more if I took 2 restarts in a week instead of pushing all my hours and then taking the 1? They need to get their heads out of their arse and get some common sense. Maybe for the study they should be forced to ride with drivers and see first hand what happens out there.
I will NOT knowingly participate in anything that’ll fuel the Fed. Gov’t’s insatiable thirst for control of the individual.
I can not see why they need a study. A simple question to any trucker will give the necessary information. Which is a 34 restart after 70 is more then enough. We do not need more constraints is not productive for the driver the company or the country. Just ridiculous to go further.
The reason there having trouble getting drivers to do this is because there not playing enough for the hassle to do it and nobody trust them. No matter what the results are there going to make it so the results agree with what they won’t.
So, where do you sign up?