“Drivers know when they’re tired and when they’re not – they’re professionals.” Those words were spoken by Rep Markwayne Mullen last week and were directed at FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro. He followed it up by calling her hypocritical, saying, “Ma’am, no one regulates how many hours you can work.”
Those were only a small sampling of the accusations and criticisms that were hurled in the direction of Administrator Ferro during a hearing on the House’s Transportation Subcommitte on Highways and Transit where Ferro was answering questions about the CSA program and the July 1st HOS restrictions.
The head of the Subcommittee, Rep. Richard Hanna, chastised Ferro for the negative consequences that the HOS rules have had on the industry, and pointed to “erroneous” CSA scores as being a reason for lawsuits and loss of business.
Ferro defended both programs, saying that she is aware of the financial burden that the HOS rules have on the industry, but that the safety and health benefits outweigh the costs.
Hanna made the point that with HOS regulations and a broken CSA system, the FMCSA is “hurting the people you are paid to help.” In response to which, Ferro commented that her job was not to help the industry, but to improve the safety of it.
“That’s what the agency was created to do,” she said. “And as its lead I’m very proud to be a part of that.”
Next Story: Fleets Tout EOBRs As “Game-Changers”
Source: overdrive
I am probably the only driver that is a fan of most of the new ruling. I support the 30 minute breaks. Is it really that unreasonable to require someone to take a 30 minute break in a workday that can last up to 14 hours?
Its not unreasonablle to take a 30 min break. But guess what if you take it early then you have to take two of them. All this rule does is make me work longer for less pay.
Yes
Maybe you’re the lazy driver that likes to take his multiple breaks and needs a law to make a point but a lot of us don’t need a law to burden us. I like taking a 15 minute break after about 9 hours of driving and that’s for eating a sandwich or something. All 30 minutes does to me after 8hours of driving is kill my momentum and makes me feel sleepy. I can’t sleep for 30 minutes and my body knows when it needs a break. So enjoy your lazy enforcement laws because us drivers that joined the industry to actually put in some work aren’t very happy about have a 13.5 hour work day that we won’t get to take advantage of because were limited by a 70 hour clock.
Couldn’t of said it better myself! The break absolutely KILLS me and makes me more tired! Keep truckin, my friend!
Even if I have to, I still am real busy at my thirty minute break. Even if it is finding something decent to eat for lunch.
what tells you that your body is the same as my body and you need rest the same time I need rest??
Yeah it’s unreasonable. If I haven’t taken lunch in 24 years why would I want to start now? Especially forcibly.
What if they told you that you had to stop every hour for a potty break? You okay with that too, you must be one these types of people that needs Leviathan to hold your hand for everything?
What if they told you to stick with the matter being discussed? Focus, man!
I believe he was directly on top of the topic. Prhaps YOU need to focus and learn a little reading comprehension Pedant!
Lmao!
a work day ” can last up to 14 hours?” would have to have 3 hours of non-working/driving time in it! Why is it your focus on a the 1 stupidest “new rule?'” the really ignorant ones are the 2 1-5 am periods for a restart, I’m usually driving during those time so why should I have to have that in my restart, oh thats right to switch my routine around from 2nd shift to 1st and back again, that didn’t work for cops and does noting for safety. the other major “DUMB” rule change would be the 14 hour rule, how does that help a driver “not be fatigued” can’t just stop n get some sleep when ya “REALLY” need it, cause would not be safe? better to force us to just keep going…..n going….n going
Not with reasonable pay its not.
Plus haven’t you heard truck accidents are up, not down. Due to the way they want run us over with unjust laws. That adds up to an epic fail for safety, and a step in the direction of total destruction of our economy.
What is unreasonable is that the HOS rules are a ‘one size fits all’. A long haul OTR driver that consistently drives 11 hours with 10 hour breaks, runs out their 70 every week, and gets 3-4 days of home time each month is going to be affected by the rules differently than a driver such as myself who commutes 20 minutes each way to and from the terminal, works 8-16 hours each day, drives mostly day cab trucks usually 300 but no more than 500 miles per day (interstate commerce and outside the 100 air mile radius), has every weekend off, and is back home to sleep in their own bed for 18 out of 20 work days each month.
Yes it is a problem. Suppose I’m 70 miles from stopping for the day and I’m tired and want to lay down. Now I have to stop 10 to 15 minutes before I get there and sit for 30.minutes. by the time my break is up I could have been parked and asleep. I don’t support any regulation that tells a self employed person how to construct his/her daily schedule. It’s just wrong. They have taken a logbook system originally developed to protect the driver and turned it to control the driver. Let this be a lesson to all Americans who supported obamacare
i think doctors should have to use a log book after all they have someones life under there fingers
That would be terrible. You wouldn’t want to see those poor doctor’s treated like truck drivers would you. (Sarcasm)
I think most drivers do take breaks throughout the day. It is just another thing we don’t need the government telling us when and how it should be done. I don’t need someone telling me when I am tired and how many hours I should sleep. If you are a fan of anything that has to do with the CSA and recent rulings you must be a zombie that needs to be under someone’s control! Enjoy your collar and leash driver.
I agree. They should leave us alone about when and where to take breaks. I don’t want you all to laugh to loud, but taking breaks, 70 hour work weeks and 34 hour re-starts all jive real good when I have to get a load cross country, and me back again for another run. don’t worry, I’m doing it.
Yes it is unreasonable! I know when I need to rest, this half hour crap causes a lot of unnecessary problems. For one thing it shortens your opportunity to make a living from 14 hours to 13.5 per day. Sometimes that half hour really does make a difference. And if you work 14 hours a day as many of us do, and you work for a company that wants you to work EVERY MINUTE possible, where you used to be able to run out your hours in 5 days, they can now make you work into a 6th day as you’ll have 2.5 hours left on your 70 thanks to this STUPID ANTI-DRIVER rule. This rules biggest problem is that now you have drivers trying to find safe, legal parking TWICE a day. So, Mr Fan of the new rules, this means that I may be 5 minutes ahead of you, needing to take my stupid half hour break, and you needing to take your 10 hour break. I pull into the rest area and take the ONLY spot left. You now must continue on to look for another spot. I’ll be gone in 30 minutes but you don’t know that. And the next place you find to park might put you over your legal drive time or 14 hours. Multiply this scenario by the 3 million truck drivers on the road and we have a big problem that the government (and people like you ‘fans’) don’t care about of realize. You still a ‘fan’ of this stupid rule now that it’s been properly explained?
Oh my God…Thank you! You hit the nail right on the head.
I am pretty ok with the 30 minute rule as well. Before, I never stopped and really suffered for it. Now, being forced to stop, I get out and stretch my body, move my joints and then use the bathroom. I feel a whole lot better by doing so.
Folks in the office environment are required to take breaks. Truckers are not getting anything worse in that rule than the rest of the nation!
Seriously?…You needed your government to mandate you stop?… Wow, “I will sit here for 11 hours until my time for this work period expires” (In his best impersonation of “Robot”from “Lost In Spasce”)
No, you don’t need the government t0 tell you when to stop, you need the company you drive for to allow you to stop for a break.
Folks in an office environment are not forced to take breaks. Their employer is forced to offer them breaks, but nowhere does it say they have to take it.
You needed the government to tell you to stop and pee? Seriously?
I don’t have a problem with the rule, if your not at the shipper or a customer jaw-jacking with the cute office worker for 30 mins, you would have 30mins to take a break instead of 1 hr out your day. I would stop use the restroom get me, something to eat, and stretch that takes at least 30 mins right there problem solve. It’s called time management.
The thirty minute break is not such a big deal for those of us who have been taking breaks throughout the day already. The problems I see are the two 1 to 5 am sleep periods that cause more of us to drive daylight hours only, and the 168 hour restriction on resets that does not allow some of us the ability to start fresh when needed.
I don’t get the 168 hour rule, either. In fact, I don’t like it all. Just saying, If I run to, Say Chicago, and have to re-load to get back home to Sacramento, I want to take my 34 right then and there. IT IS STUPID !
After you get a huge fine for not taking a break, (took break 15 minutes late) Please come back and let us know how you feel. We’re not talking about the pros and cons of taking a coffee break, we’re talking about a DOT regulation, backed by real fines and penalty. The option to stop or not should always be up to the person responsible. Ie the driver.
I have forgotten the thirty min break, a couple of times, and got caught by the weigh master. No fine, No ticket, just the worst. It got picked up by my companies insurance policy point regulation thing a ma bobber. ( it’s an INSURNAC COMPANY Point Scale ) So, that info did leak out, somewhere ??!!
Nobody should have to have the government gun put to their head telling them when they should take a break and between which hours said break should be taken. To the driver above you don’t need to have a government mandate to take a break , there is nothing you carry risking others lives as well as your own. All these rules and regulations don’t protect us they hinder us and put more responsibility into our hands. Now if your not tired your forced to stop! It is nonsense , when I’m tired I stop. I don’t want someone to make a mandate that we must adhere to. What’s next ? I can just imagine how deep this can go! That being said be safe drivers!
Roadtoad when you have 14 stops with 500 miles there is no room for breaks. When im hungry or tired i know when i had enough! I have a schedule to keep and that is how I make a living. All these new rules cuts into that. I’ve been
I guess what I wrote didn’t fit into the perspective of this forum, hence it didn’t get posted. It seems your only looking for certain keywords to have posted. In journalism you must have positive and negative wording in some posts. It’s like going to a public forum and the forum already has pre planned questions , they won’t answer yours only theirs. Now who controls who?
This site attracts a lot of drive-by spammers, so our anti-spam software puts a new user’s posts into moderation until it can be approved by a human being.
I am ok with the rule, but sometimes you have to take it when its not the right place to do so and if you end up taking it early you have to do it again to get your hours back so it is a problem and most of us were taking breaks before the rule it is just the goverment getting into our lives more and more not good
I have been driving truck for 21 years. I have hauled cattle, pulled 15 axle tanker sets hauling asphalt, pulled reefers and dry vans, flat beds, and even rgn’s. When I was tired I pulled over and took a break. I have ZERO accidents, some tickets yes and a shiny clean CSA score. I don’tneed someone to tell me when to sleep. In every other industry in America you are not penalized when you work “overtime” or over 70 hours. So the difference is the bleeding heart special interest groups that do not have a true reality check. Anne Ferro took a leap of faith and rode in a truck and had an eye opener after her experience.
I currently run EOBR’s because the company I am leased to takes them. So fat they don’t inhibit my check just my abilities. If you looked at my track record and talked to people I have worked for without EOBR’s or with them you would hear a resounding “he is dependent and when he said he’ll be there he is”. This profession is only as hard as you make it.
anne ferro did an evil Knievel stunt , jumping over the snake river canyon, came up way short.
Notice what she said to Congress..
“Hanna made the point that with HOS regulations and a broken CSA system, the FMCSA is “hurting the people you are paid to help.” In response to which, Ferro commented that her job was not to help the industry, but to improve the safety of it.
“That’s what the agency was created to do,” she said. “And as its lead I’m very proud to be a part of that.”
She is not in power to help the industry….she is a rule maker like an controlling mother….
‘Johnny, don’t climb that rock unless I’m holding your hand and you have on a helmet, knee pads and safety equipment, certified by the government?’
Problem is the rock is 25 feet wide, flat and 6 inches deep and is hundreds of thousands of miles long…..
Also, she is arrogant and will spit in the face of Congress, who by ‘Commerce Clause ” in Constitution, has the power to regulate Commerce and transportation…
The Supreme Court voted against drivers when it allowed DOT to enforce log books, anyone note that you, as a citizen , have the right to remain silent…even if DOT says it can force a company to take away that right and force you to fill out a logbook….. as the company is not a person. ,395.08 and others say you must incriminate your self , even if inadvertently, by filling out a logbook of any kind. The rule doesn’t allow the DOT to force you, as a driver, to directly give up your right to remain silent or not to incriminate your self. So DOT place the
‘company rule’ in the mix, as it is a virtual entity.
This is another and most basic form of harassment.
The driver, when she/he is tired, should have the power to stop and rest, and this should not be determined by a black box, but by the driver, without recrimination by DOT or police.
Anne Ferro and Obummercare are about Control and Supreme Court ruled wrongly(legislating from the bench) about government forcing people into a product, no power was given to Congress or Obama to do that, and no power was given to Congress or it’s agencies to take away your rights, unless under the justice system which puts you in jail for a felony.
the people and drivers in general and whole do not benefit….this is not about benefiting people….
Where is the all controlling ‘Safety Clause’ in the constitution?
dedicating myself for the last 12 years in the trucking industry, don’t tell me it was all for nothing. If we and stripers let the government pushes around now, you’ll see what really happens down the pike.
Yeah, the might make you take a lunch break. I feel *so* oppressed!
No, you are not the only one. I am in favor of it too. If it were not for HOS rules like this, those rat bastards (our employers) would press us to drive far beyond what is reasonably safe. Those that object have some strange compulsion to protect their ” constitutional right” to drive 25 hours a day and plow into school buses full of children. Human beings need rest breaks, period.
Back in the days when it was all on paper, if you worked hard, you couldn’t get enough rest. Nowadays your more of a babysitter, and a free full-time security guard for somone else’s product. Let’s put our country back to work, instead of being force fed a bunch of buearacratic bs.
The 30min break is bs. If they want to treat drivers as hourly employes why then when on duty we don’t get paid. Last I checked wasn’t it ileagal to make someone work for free? You want us to take a 30min break, ok. Now start paying us for fueling, sitting getting unloaded- loaded, washing truck, pre-trip, ect.
Yes… We are on the clock, be it an EOBR or paper…..so FLSA of 1938 was to control overtime
pay…we legally are not payed for our work…..who did that? Congress, when the country was still in a depression which really held till after WW2.
So we work under 76 year old work orders…which makes drivers slaves…
to whose benefit….
Shippers/Receivers/Company dispatch, anyone willing to use the drivers back to make a buck.
What has changed….just the equipment… not the human elements of greed and power.
As and old timer, I prefer to go back to the 8/10 and split sleeper time. Drop the 14 hr rule, but keep the reset as it was before July 1. If she wants to improve safety on the highways, she would have to regulate every 4 wheeler out there. Dash Cams have proven that’s where the problem is. Mandate and regulate driving schools, and require at least 2 years exp for driver-trainers. Too many 4 wheelers learn from family members and pick up their bad habits. Put speed limiters on all 4 wheelers, and see how that flys!
As a younger driver, I couldn’t agree more with what you’re suggesting. There isn’t enough advocacy at the most common (and most commonly dangerous) level of driving.
I agree 100%. There are too many subsidiaries of the D.O.T. There are too many people making these flippant and arbitrary regs that have no idea of how they affect the industry. If Anne Ferro was really concerned about safety she would crack down on the four wheelers. Let’s face it, trucks have always been a cash cow for the government. I believe it’s time for the cow to step in the bucket. Write your representatives and demand speed limiters on cars. Anne Ferro is doing this because she, like Obama, wants to see this country destroyed. If I was married to her I would consider suicide. It’s no wonder there are not enough new drivers.
It sickens me reading some of these comments. We are supposed to be grown men and women yet we allow ourselves to be regulated by a govt agency grossly beyond what is necessary! We all have a job to do in order to make a living and these jobs vary day to day requiring more hours on some days as others as well as having to hustle a little more to get finished. When your tired-rest, when your hungry-eat. It’s called personal responsibility you either have it or you don’t. Those that don’t will eventually pay the price and yes maybe some in the public may be hurt or killed by a drivers irresponsibility. The govt can’t solve this problem. To those that call their employers “ratty bastards”; I’m sure you are taking their checks and cashing them. Quit and open up that job for someone who will appreciate it. To those that use the ridiculous example ” it will save a bus load of kids”, stop listening to phantom 309 it is just a song. We vote idiot politicians in office and they appoint idiots as heads if govt agencies. They will always find something to push in order to justify their job. Nothing at all to do with safety! To those in favor of these proposed rule changes, go ahead and support them but do you think it ends here? No! There will something else they will tighten up on next. Maybe then it will affect you.
Anne Ferro and company think their edict is to improve the safety of the industry, not to help it.
So choke the industry with foolish, impractical rules. She contradicted herself and her cronies..
The Obummer admin put her in power as a political favor, for a favor her and her cronies did to get Obummer elected..
Rumney had one thing right…. he could not appeal to the 47 % on the government dole.
Neither did he try to appeal to the average working man.
I wonder who he would have bootlicked into the DOT and FMCSA.
No one should have to force you to take a break and stretch your joints. That just means your not capable of doing your job without someone holding your hand. The rules are stupid if you need to stop earlier than 3 hours because then you gotta take another damn break. It’s just a way for gov and fmcsa to control what you do. They need to get rid of rules of hos let us just drive till we don’t feel like it. It’s getting worse and worse every year. Especially the 34 he restart can’t do another till 168 hrs later. Like really?!
a class action might prove our right to privacy, including when to pee, take a nap, have control over when we eat, sleep, tell dispatch and the shipper/receiver when we will get there, backed by a legal document called a logbook… even though the logbook forces you to incriminate your self
, is a privacy invasion, and takes away your your right to remain silent.
Still, just PARK IT one day….in place, wherever you are. It will raise eyebrows…if nothing else.
The reason drivers have logs is simple. It’s an easier way to create revenue.
How many other occupations force someone to have a silly log book? It’s all about MONEY.
The 30 minute break isn’t a big deal for me. I normally stop for the bathroom or to shower & eat anyway. Only difference now is, I didn’t always log it before.
I do not support the 30 min break or the new 34hr rule. If you need to take a 30 minute break than do so when you feel the need to do it not when they say, and someone mentioned your day can last up to 14 hr well your not gonna be driving that long so you’ll get your break somewhere in there unless ya do your own loading and unloading or flatbed but. That 30 minute break is a killer sometimes it when your under a hot load and you have to stop and do a 30 minute break it doesn’t help. I like to get in my truck and drive get my day over with as soon as possible I don’t like to stop. I don’t stop other than use the restroom and fuel that’s it. I’ll take my shower at the end of the day when I’m done.
Their making rules to make some interest group
Feel better, Anne ferro don’t know nothing but
To pander to elite groups
I use split sleeper. I take a 2 hr nap, shower , what have u. I also do a 15 log on duty at a customer and 30 min off duty. It is decadent sometimes in my 14 hr day..that i am busting to stay within..
sometimes its nice to sit..30 min..on company dime..and do NOTHING..then again I work otr and local..im not lazy by anymeans. i am actually a driver who sometimes need to be stopped for a break.
Yes the rule sucks when it is attached to an elog. especially when its supposed to be a BREAK..preferably for a meal. which most times we re stuck in a dock or traffic etc. the rule shuld allow a break to be logged with in 2 hr of start of day..like people in factories etc..they clock in at 7am and break at 9. etc.
Perhaps FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro, should spend a month in the jump seat of a OTR truck. Then she will be more able to understand the industry. Of course I would bet that this lady of privilege wouldn’t last more than two days.
The problem with this government is that the people who should be running it, are too busy hauling freight.
Didn’t she ride with a trucker for a couple of days to get a feel for how things work ?
Or was that someone else ?
she didn’t last more than two days.. in an OOIDA stretch 379 Pete with a large car sleeper.
She is just an arrogant 1% per center..
“Hanna made the point that with HOS regulations and a broken CSA system, the FMCSA is “hurting the people you are paid to help.” In response to which, Ferro commented that her job was not to help the industry, but to improve the safety of it.
“That’s what the agency was created to do,” she said. “And as its lead I’m very proud to be a part of that.”
In 20 years I’ve always taken a break when I need it. No accidents. No problems. Now I have 2 violations because of that stupid 30min rule because the computer says I left a minute early. (You have to wait 31 min) by the way you get charged more points against you for violating your break than if you were impaired. WTF?!!
Also 30 minutes can make a difference wheather or not you get through a major city before all the idiots trying to rush home involve you in their bad day. I should be able to make that call. Not some safety “expert” sitting in a office in Washington.
Ther are just too many ways a single set of rules can screw you when the needs of drivers vary so much. Freight haulers have different needs than cattle haulers. Tankers differ from moving companies. If a company or individual show a record of safety then LEAVE THEM ALONE! Use your resources to go after the bad ones and stop treating EVERYONE as if we were criminals.
This is ridiculous! This women who attempts to say she understands the trucking industry spent 2 days on a custom sleeper truck when she first got appointed to fmcsa. Then almost a year after their “studies” were due (but pushed the HOS rules through without them) finally turns them in with only 100 drivers surveyed in their practice run 35 of which were otr. They have since changed the rules for various lines of trucking. outfits pulling munitions don’t have to take the 30 minute break, drivers who fall under local don’t have to take the 30 minute breaks. I’m sorry but when the majority of your “test subjects” were not otr drivers then you make a rule based off that then turn around and make them exempt is bullshit!! I love running state routes all day to then have to find a shoulder to take my 30 minute break on or I am in violation (way to make us safer I have to make the decision to park in an unsafe location or violate my 30 minute rule). When I’m tired I stop and take a nap or stop to walk around if I’m feeling stiff. I have been driving for 8 years now and except for 1 slow maneuver incident I had in my first 30 days have been accident free. So Congress do what’s right call bullshit on fmcsa and roll back the HOS rules to pre 7/1/13.
no…rules say you have to park in a safe location and take the break,
If you don’t think so, just ask an ambulance chasing litigator.
The mandatory break is stupid. Complaining about it is just about as smart as the rule.we all have to have 3 hours offduty somewhere in our day. Do like I do. If I am waiting to load or unload, that is part of my 30 minute break. I don’t use an eobr,YET,but I would assume that time could be loved that way. As for earlier comments about lazy drivers wanting a reason to get out of the truck, go back to your lazy boy chair at home.The government thinks that more rules will create safety. That won’t happen. These schools are pumping out unqualified drivers by the dozens, and those of us that have made a living from trucking for many years are paying for their ignorance
The only thing about the rule that is stupid is that you have to mark it as off duty time and not on duty time. It shouldn’t matter how you mark it on your log, because it is coming out of your 14 hour day. My driver got cited for marking on duty instead of off duty an received points on his record, which is the ignorant part of this rule, as it showed up that he did not take the required break, which he did, it was just marked incorrectly on the log. If they require you to be off duty then it should not be taken out of the 14 hours, they should allow 14 1/2 hours in a day.
I’m glad I’m retired. I used to take a meal break when I was hungry, a nap when I needed it. Ran very close to legal and made a very good living. These new HOS put you in such a straight jacket for less money.
its not just about the 30 min break , its about the rules in general, it s about . the split sleeper, 14 hrs, not being able to sleep when we need it not when we are told were supposed to need it, its about sit in a dock for 5 hrs after driving 4 and having your whole day shot down because you dont have enough time to get the job done, yall talk like a bunch of daycab drivers. who get paid by the hour, if all your worried about is the 30min break you obviously do not know what trucking is, to me this not just a job its a lifestyle and a tradition, but is slowly being chewed up and spit back out by politicians who dont understand this industry or what it takes to actually make decent money while trying to deliver their toilet paper and alcohol and diapers .
try the 8 and two split… 8 parked in the sleeper…two hour consecutive down the road, you know eating and getting a shower…or at the shipper/receiver…remember, the clock starts at the end of your eight, but gives you the 30 minute break within the two hours you are already required to take within your 10 hour period..2 hours consecutive… that seems to be how the rules read and my Drivers Daily Log supports it…straight from my lap top and printer…on board the truck at all times.
Here is the reply that I hope Ms. Ferro gave to Rep Markwayne Mullen after his comment about regulating her hours – Mr. Mullen, if I fall asleep at my desk, no one dies.
YET, how often does she get a ticket, setting at her desk,? sent home for not doing her job?, and not helping the industry!
Hanna made the point that with HOS regulations and a broken CSA system, the FMCSA is “hurting the people you are paid to help.” In response to which, Ferro commented that her job was not to help the industry, but to improve the safety of it.
“That’s what the agency was created to do,” she said. “And as its lead I’m very proud to be a part of that.”
did she park her ass in a safe spot when she fell asleep at her desk?
She and her ilk are not here to help us folks….. these are bureaucrats…
their lot is to lord it over the rest of us, regardless of our Right to privacy, our Right to independence, our right not to be harassed.
To kill privacy, independent thinking , you must do just what is now occurring. This how you maintain control….yet EOBR makers and insurance industry are the benefitters.
NOT DRIVERS.
‘Hanna made the point that with HOS regulations and a broken CSA system, the FMCSA is “hurting the people you are paid to help.” In response to which, Ferro commented that her job was not to help the industry, but to improve the safety of it.
“That’s what the agency was created to do,” she said. “And as its lead I’m very proud to be a part of that.”
‘In response to which, Ferro commented that her job was not to help the industry, but to improve the safety of it.’
Do you get it yet???
she and her cronies contradicted themselves… ‘In response to which, Ferro commented that her job was not to help the industry, but to improve the safety of it.’. The job of improving safety does not help the industry? She doesn’t have the motoring public’s interest at heart. She is incompetent to lead this agency… Maryland Motor Carrier Ascociation 1 per center bumped up the ladder to rise to an embarrassing level of incompetence. Straight from her own mouth.
Anne Ferro, come ride with me for a month… or any competent OTR driver…
You will have to get you CDL learners permit and do the work and the logs like every body else… and you will still not have enough common sense to run the FMCSA or lead in any capacity, because you are a 1 % per center Privileged princess of government.
how does one get to feel proud of stupid is as stupid does?
Simple arrogance and incompetence.
why was she not fired on the spot after that comment?
What is this HOS i keep seein in here?
I would also like to comment on the requirement of two nighttime periods in the 34 hr restart. Frequently, my restart would end between 6-8 pm. My company would then inform be that I would need to drive all night. Around 3 or 4 am I would be stopping at almost every offramp to run around the truck to try to wake up. The rumble strips woke me up several times. I quit that company in order to stay alive.
All I have to say, is what the hell is wrong with you people that are talking about these new hours of service like it’s better than sliced bread. You comment on how it forces you to stop and take a needed break. What’s wrong with you…you have to have someone hold your hand and tell you to stop your truck just to get out and stretch. Do you have to call your mommy or daddy to tell you when it’s time take a piss. Jesus…. are you people ever going to grow up and grow a pair. Under the existing hours of service the trucking industry accident drop significantly from the old 8 and 10 rule. And over all statistics show that the trucking industry has less accidents than cars and light trucks. So why are we always being hounded about safety….because most of you don’t want to stand up for your rights as citizen, to make a decent living. And stop some of the bureaucratic bull shit that government and some of the big corporations are doing right now. So why don’t you stop your cowering and stand together and help take the country back.
Bureaucrats run amok.
I think these rules arise out of a need for tired drivers who don’t always get a lunch break . They run your ass off and when you have an accident because you’re tired they put all the blame on you, the driver . Just because some cowboy drives illegally, they then expect everyone else to. Drivers can be their own worst enemy. This shit was never an issue before deregulation totally ruined what was a great occupation to be in. Not any more 🙁 And that’s sad, because truck drivers are a darn hard working bunch of people .
These 30min mandatory rest breaks; or loss of revenue breaks as I like to call them killed me as a small OO. I had 3 trucks in my little fleet and made the mistake of sitting down and doing the math and came to the realization that I was going to be losing nearly $100,000.oo of revenue in the 2013 alone and more than double that in 2014 and beyond!
Not to mention to new 34 rule that often had myself and my drivers shutting down for nearly 3 full days to complete the break simply because we didn’t get droped until a few minuets after 0100 on the first day.
I had to turn in my trucks; break the leases on them and take a hughe finicial loss and major hit to my credit over this. I personally took home less then $12,000 last year adn owe the IRS 2 and a half times that amount!
All these HOS changes did was put a bumch of small OO’s out of business and its going to start hitting the bigger companies soon once they realize the loss they are getting hit with per truck; I had a conversation with the owner of one major refer hauler about the losses and we sat down and he roughed it out and about had a heart attack.
Over 4700 drivers in his fleet forced to take a 30 break each day will cost him in the 5 to 6 digits this year alone in lost miles!!
The 30 min rule isn’t the huge issue. The new way of handling the 34 hour restart is. Only one a week and you have to do two 1 am to 5 am periods that’s the bs. As for time management if you are at the shipper forever then use that as your 30 min break if it’s after you have already logged more than 3 hours driving and your good.
why is a 30 minute break counted as ‘on duty’?? if one says it’s off duty, then why is it counted against your 14? Either way, it only lengthens your day. It it’s counted on duty…then you are on duty…not resting.
A driver should have complete power to say when he/she is tired, when to take a break…and with EOBRs’ , a company should not have the power to edit a log…the log is in the driver’s pre-view. the company can’t sign it.
1 am to 5 am is nonsense two days in a row. We are not nine to 5-ers. A driver moves the country and knows when to move.
The EOBR will tell a company if they have a poor driver with poor time management, yet will
allow the company to tell you to work when you are tired and vice versa.
We are sent on a Fools Errand ,folks.
May I quote : ” Who is more the Fool, the one that Leads, or the one that Follows?”
Start to pay by the hour, and I won’t complain about being inspected by DOT, pulled over by a trooper, wait to load/unload, or the forced half hour brake. Pay for my time, not the miles, and we will be ok. Till then, no OTR for me.
yes, if we have to work on the time clock, log book or EOBR, then pay is by the hour.
168 hours a week, OTR, as if you are on the road, the responsibility is yours, 24/7, logged off or not… 10.00 for 168 hours a week, minimum wage, by law.
When it comes time to take my 30 min break I park sit in the seat and look at the clock for 30 min. When it’s up I put it in gear and go again. Speed limiters will be the death of us, I’ll be done with trucking if they are mandated
See, then Jeff, if there is no place to park….you Park IN Place. then when cops show up… write you a ticket for doing your job…which is being 100 % safe ( wait.. don’t believe that…then see FMCSA rules and every truckers girlfriend …..) you are not paid for working…your are paid for being safe. So the ticket becomes harassment, as the rules say stop. A computer and a book are more knowledgeable than the wheel turner.
So , for Safety’s Sake..BE SAFE! no accidents/dui’s or speeding tickets for 36 years.
it’s not a break if you are in the driver’s seat. You are working, now not being paid to monitor the count down to disaster.
I only have two problem with new hos rules is 168 hours in between 34 hours break my idea is as long as your are off two consecutive days between 1am and 5am u should get a restart no matter if u worked 1 day or 6 days in between , and the 30 min break should be only one in 11 hours driving and can be taken any time in that 11 hours .. that it . thanks dave
I run local and as I told a superviser years ago, I’d rather get home 30 minutes earlier then sit around killing time which just tires me out. Now I run from quarries to the plants and some days a 30 minute brake is the difference between getting an extra load or not. It makes a difference in the bottom line. Mine and the company I work for.
Her attitude is typical of any of the government agentcies, be it EPA, OSHA, DOT, ect. Regulations above all else no matter what the cost. Well when they have driven everyone out of business they will sit back in their offices and wonder why it happened.
Yes, I’ve seen how “SAFE” she’s made it. Now everyone is in a bigger hurry and driving like 4 wheelers to beat the clock. As with everything the government tries to regulate and administer, the most clueless are at the helm.
These rules bite, after 8 hours I’m not ready to break if I am ready at 6,7 or 9 I know it’s time! We are always getting shafted. I also drive at night and it’s not right my 34 hour restart can take 48+ hours and my co-driver gets off with 34. Why isn’t there any regulations for the father of 4 that’s taking his family across country on vacation and gets behind the wheel and goes 16 hours or more and has no clue how his body is going to react? The federal government needs to quit shoving crap down our throats and calling it safety rules! We are professionals no kindergartners.
The hell with the HOS regulations, I’m sick of working over 40 hours and not getting time/mile and a half. I’m glad they are there, keeps me from being taken advantage of by these sharks, on top of already working for free enough as it is… whether it’s shippers or receivers, the shady impractical miles, getting washouts, sitting at meat patches, etc. Funny how these outfits send these whiny fleet-wide Qualcomm messages about their CSA scores dropping when they expect their drivers to take a little under an hour after every work day to inspect their equipment for free. I hope the HOS regulations get even stupider.
you can bet she probably doesn’t read your comments here!
I think she is like women who fight for position to get it from men, may be she even do not know how to cook an egg, now she runs half of the business laws, because the say “supply and demand” in investment, I do not like her answer what happened to protect and serve. In her word she has too much pride in one side America getting weaker because of people like her, we need some one who understands business side too. Lets Make A Better America Again…
I’m ok with the government trying to make the industry safer but there has to be a limit on the laws or they should be at least reasonable. Mandating a 30hr break or one 34hr reset in a week that must include two periods from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. is ridiculous. It’s like they changed the rules just to say they made a change.
The mandatory thirty minute break is a joke. By the time you park,go into the truck stop to get something,come out and get in your truck. The thirty minutes is up. I hate pulling into a truckstop during the day it wastes too much time. I say let us drive our eleven,but cut the fourteen hour rule back to twelve. Expand the ten hour break to twelve hours. I can get the same miles done in these hours.
I say if anything they could do for us is, get us holiday pay.everyone else gets extra pay to work holidays!
Why are people making decisions about this industry that have never been in the industry!! This is wrong!! Somebody needs to be in office and fighting for us that has actually been in the drivers seat and has been in our shoes, not someone in a suit and tie that has no clue about driving a truck!!
I like the thirty minute break, too. It’s a given thirty minute lunch break for me. I’m ok with the 34 hour restart, too. ” BUT ” , I would like to be able to get back on the road at 1 am, the second day. Say, I got to the truck stop for my restart at 3pm, I would got 24 hours to tomorrow, ( 3pm ), then plus ten hours, right ? That would be 1am. I don’t want to ” HAVE TO ” wait until 5am, when the traffic rush hour picks up and I’m wasting my time in traffic, and an extra 4 hours at the truck stop. besides, most truck drivers slow down in the late afternoon, anyway, and it gets difficult to park later in the day.
What might work here would be having at least a part of two 1am to 5am’s.
All of the stupid rules have already been mentioned, so I won’t regurgitate them again. I often wonder why bureaucrats like Anne Ferro think they and their kind know so much about how we ‘professionals’ are and ought to be doing our jobs? If they truly wanted to make the roads safer, they’d impose some rules on the millions of private vehicle operators that would make it more difficult for them to be on the road in the first place. No CDL or training required for the operators if those massive motor homes. No CDL or training required for the massive 5th wheel rvs being pulled by a converted class 8 tractor. And what really gets me: no training whatsoever in my state (ok) to teach 4 wheeler drivers how to drive around 18 wheelers.
I think if Anne Ferro and her ilk REALLY want to have a warm fuzzy by enacting more rules on us ‘professionals’, then they should mandate the use of a camera system that will record what’s going on all the way around the truck, including inside the cab.
Yup, the new rules make me a safer driver. NOT! I normally drive 55-58, 95% right lane, watch the world go by in the left lane, get 7-8 mpg, thereby not polluting our environment. Today, to beat the clock, I was going top speed along with everybody else, got 5.4 mpg, burning tons of fuel, and got 717 miles inside 10 hrs 59 minutes. It was no fun.
I was not as safe today as I am when I drive my truck my way. I hope Anne Ferro and company wake up to the new reality they have created. Truckers bulling their way down the road at top speed to beat the damned clock.
A multitude of laws breeds contempt for the law.
Being forced to take a 30 min. break is unreasonable. We are grown men and women out here. Sometimes that 30 min. break can be the difference between makung your appointment and not making it. If you are a “fan” of the new law, then you could have always taken it if you wanted to but please, leave the rest of us out of if we choose not too. Patting the FMCSA on the back just strengthens their belief that we need them to hold our hands.
“Drivers know when they’re tired and when they’re not – they’re professionals.”
Sure, the problem never has been with drivers. The problem is with trucking companies and dispatchers, and especially with how drivers are paid. Even as the rules change for drivers, trucking companies still expect things to go on as before. And because we are paid by the mile, (in most cases), the incentive is to fulfill, or even exceed, the expectations of dispatchers. That is, to get the job done quickly as possible, in spite of any HOS rules.
Let me give an example: Before the new rules, I was able to do two of a certain load per day. You could just squeak in under the fourteen-hour wire if you hustled, (and traffic cooperated). But after the new rules, either you followed the rules and saw your pay halved, or you violated. And the pay wasn’t much to begin with.
But the thing is, we shouldn’t have to do two loads, and work fourteen hours, just to make a day’s pay. And that, my friends, is where the problem lies. Pay truck drivers by the hour – just like everybody else – based on a 40 hour week, and watch the violations end.
I used to drive under the old rules of service and stopped parked and took breaks when i needed them and always got my deliveries on time no tickets or accidents. So the breaks are a mood point. They created the problem by changing them in the first place.