Over the past several years, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and other agencies worked to implement new hours-of-service regulations and get log books digitized to keep truckers and others on the road safe from an overworked and fatigued driver.
Occasionally, the FMCSA or state officials relax the hours-of-service regulations for emergencies, which is good for independent owner-operators to make more money. However, if those drivers are tired, they could take on more than they can handle, thus increasing the chances of getting into a wreck.
As for drivers who work for a company, the danger is that the company could order a tired driver to deliver a load outside of the driver’s hours or risk losing his or her job. While trucking jobs are plentiful, the benefits for another company might not be as good – and another company could make the same demands on tired truckers.
While regulations are in place to protect truckers and others on the road, they also limit the drivers’ ability to make money – especially those who are owners/operators. In addition to making driving more attractive with better benefits, companies should look at their own driving rules and make sure that their rules, combined with federal and state regulations, are not so overbearing that it makes it difficult for truckers to do their jobs.
Sources: Summary Hours Service Regulations
“We’ll never ask you to drive illegal” is what I was told by the recruiter and he was right because they never asked – THEY DEMANDED IT! However, the argument that drivers might be hesitant to refuse or risk being fired is spurious. It is always the driver’s decision and that’s spelled out in the federal regulations. If the driver informs his dispatcher that he’s unfit to run the prescribed scheduled and is fired for it, the law is on the driver’s side. The problem of course is the hassle and expense of fighting that battle in court but the alternative is ignoring your own health and then not living to fight that battle in the first place. If 2020/21 haw taught us anything its that employees always have the upper hand. If enough drivers leave abusive companies and share their experience so other drivers don’t fall into the same trap then those companies will suffer ultimately from inability to recruit new fatality victims. Thus the roads will be safer and maybe driving will no longer be one of the most hazardous careers. The question drivers have to ask is whether their own life is worth those few extra dollars.
There’s nothing wrong with the hours we have now if any driver complains that’s because that driver’s not working at the right place what the industry needs is not quantity of drivers but quality of drivers today’s driver is a joke but nobody wants to face that fact because they can’t handle the truth I’ve been out here 44 years no I don’t know it all yes I’m one of the best of the best not bragging it’s a fact our law buddies are just looking to add more and more on to the drivers and you Wonder why drivers have fatigue we’re too busy trying to obey new laws. Between physicals doctors and medical staff the state county city laws which are supposed to be like only federal laws and the insurance companies and their rules there’s your problem with the trucking industry, that and brokers taking too big of a percentage but what do I know I’m only a truck driver dumb and stupid.
People don’t crash because they’re tired. They crash because they’re in a damn hurry, racing against their eld clock.
Your exactly right. Everywhere they go gotta drive 85mph. Trying to beat that eld.
#1 The eld was not put into these trucks for safety, it was 100% money.
#2 The hos and 34 hour reset are complete BS.
#3 Work visa drivers that don’t speak English are BS and it’s against federal law.
#4 90% of the foreign drivers and 60% of the American drivers shouldn’t possess a CDL.
#5 Training programs are total BS.
#6 Brokers need to be regulated on what they steal let’s say 5%.
#7 There should be no HHUT, higher tolls, diesel fuel tax, road use taxes or any other discriminating taxes against a vehicle used in commerce.
#8 Any driver with a DUI, including drug use should be banned for life.
#9 The FMCSA and the CVSA are discriminating complete garbage.
#10 ALL INTEREST GROUPS LIKE CRASH, PATT, RSA etc need to be kept out of trucking because their ignorance is killing drivers.
#11 The American Trucking Alliance along with the ATA needs to be disbanded they do nothing for safety. They use their positions to try to control everything in this industry.
#2 The hos and 34 hour reset are complete BS.
as opposed to waiting til you gain hours back on the 8th day under the old system?
The ATA, corporate America, and special interest groups run the trucking industry instead of truckers. That’s your problem. They fight back against every rule that would benefit trucking as a whole, and yet they advocate for safety rules that make trucking a much more dangerous job. And the criminally insane hiring practices and the utter lack of training is going to continue killing innocent people, all the while pushing ignorant mandates such as the worthless ELD’s and now driverless trucks. This industry is done and America has only greedy power hungry corporations, politicians, and government bureaucrats to thank for it.