Speaking during an industry conference in Los Vegas this past week, an FMCSA official shared the agency’s thinking about what would make a good Hours of Service (HOS) rule. According to this official, “a rule that makes everybody a little unhappy is probably the best.”
The HOS reform rule is still far from the finish line. Despite promising a speedy rulemaking timeline, HOS reform seems to have been taken off of the fast track. Its momentum seems to have stalled even further with the surprise resignation of FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez.
With Martinez gone, it fell to FMCSA acting associate administrator Joe DeLorenzo to speak to the administration’s “top priorities” at the Omnitracs Outlook user conference this past week. He declined to offer any timeline as to when next steps on the rule would be taken, but did say that the FMCSA is still busy working through the public comments it received on its proposed rule which was published back in August of 2019.
“The way the rulemaking process works at this point, we plow through the comments and then make a determination of what changes there will be,” DeLorenzo explained according to Heavy Duty Trucking. “The goal with this rule is to provide some flexibility. I think we are well on the way to doing that.”
DeLorenzo said that while the task of designing an HOS rule that achieves that level of flexibility will be tough, he thinks “a rule that makes everybody a little unhappy is probably the best.”
Going off the over 8,000 comments that were submitted last year, it seems the FMCSA will have to fix quite a bit to get the needle back to just ‘a little unhappy.’
Source: truckinginfo, fleetowner, truckersreport
Who is “everybody”?
Who else besides truck drivers does Hours of Service rulemaking significantly affect? Is there someone else with real reason to be unhappy about it?
Exactly Sir! Its nobody elses business to get involved in, unless they drive a Semi-Truck. The ELD was made to push out small companies, now this.
The eld was meant to keep the roads safer. And that it has done.
With fatality truck crashes at the highest levels since the 80’s……Yep more safe. NOT
It made them unsafe cause now everybody’s rushing look at the stats
Your Crazy…..check the crash reports since eld has been put in affect…
Truck accidents up….large trucks and buses were involved in crashes, 9% more than 2016
8% more fatal crashes than 2016
4,761 fatalities in large truck crushes, up from 4,369 in 2016…2018 was up another 7%….yep the eld is working.
No it hasn’t. Accidents are up. Because of the rules, I am forced to drive tired and drive faster because I am fighting the clock. And all the drivers I know have to do the same thing. ELD is fine but there needs to be some kind of flexibility with it.
Seriously you think eld makes it safer…..everyone who drives a slow castrated truck drives incredibly dangerous. Just to beat a clock. Accident numbers have increased since eld. What is wrong with someone cheating a extra hour or so and not having to drive like the devil is in your mirror…..
What do call more accidents sinse eld were put into law. Truckstops full at 3pm.Steering wheel holders speeding thru construction zones and every small town on 2 lane roads.
What about the increase in accidents? Which now makes 50% of us instead of 25% having to take random drug tests? I’ve never had a positive test and now I get tested even more. No box can ever know better than I if I’m tired.
How do you figure it has made the roads safer when since they went into effect trucks accidents have tripled because they force you to drive because the clock does not stop. Worst thing to ever happen to trucking just like DEF systems. But what do you expect people that have never had anything to do with a truck telling others how to drive
I agree with you 1000%
🤜 IT WAS ALWAYS ABOUT THE BIG 3 CAMOFLAGED AS AN SAFTEY ISSUE.
The ELD came about because of so much fraud. And abuse by companies and drivers.
Yes me. It’s due to shoppers an receivers that screw us up due to unreasonable delivery times plus the loads half the time are not ready
Brokers, distributors, small business to name a few
Piltos, Rail Road Crew, all follow HOS.
Yes. It affects shippers, stores, gas stations basically everyone. If it takes longer to move freight from one point to another like from ports to warehouse to stores or supermarkets because of new rules yes it has some affect on everyone. Including mail, Fed Ex ,UPS, Amazon. If new rules cause it to take longer to move products by truck or will take more drivers to move products I same amount of time. But there is a shortage of qualified drivers nationwide.
Trucking companies, Businesses, and every one who needs to buy, well ANYTHING. HOS rules directly effect the final price of all products. If a company has to use two drivers to get a time sensitive load (produce, for example) they have to pay for two drivers. That raises costs and cuts profitability
FYI: HOS affect drivers, families, forklift drivers at shippers / receivers, brokers, truck companies big & small, tow trucks/repair shops, commuter traffic, and the economy. Indirectly, along with other consequences are the politicians, judges AND the winners are: LAWYERS who begat all of the problems above.
[ liability, corporate, defense, prosecutor, judges, politicians, and special interest group lawyers].
Did I leave some people out?
Total B.S.
Not at all. Forklift drivers, shippers, receivers are not directly affected by the HOS. Stop trying to make it look like they are. Trucks are late all the time, regardless of whether the HOS are changed or even in effect anymore, or not. Not forklift has to stop what hes doing and sleep where he is, if something slows him down or a shipper or reciever holds him for hours on end. In fact,its exactly the other way around. If you want to say that shippers, receivers and others connected with the trucking industry affect the trucker’s ability to comply with the HOS, and still make money, and loss of home time is more accurate .
Perfectly said.
You are so right!
You NAILED IT!
Yes, ship captain, ship workers, dock workers, homeowners. Sure there’s more
We can tell that your not a driver of a small carrier or a owner operator….
Your the STEERING wheel holder an not a driver. The type of driver that leaves home for 600$ a week an think your making money.. also take to the truckstop at 3:30-4:30 with company played RESURVED parking an cant backup..
Or…. by saying “everybody” he simply meant “every driver” since he referenced driver feedback in the same breath.
Load planners, dispatchers, trucking company owners all have to know and deal with it, too.
Yes motorcoach operators wish we had 34 hrs restart
What he is say he is about to scree truck drivers to bad we cant get everyone together and strike
It does not make things safer, it makes things less safe. For example, planning trips to satisfy a ticking time bomb to discover rest areas closed, full parking lots and the neverending “you are out of time” drivers racing to beat the clock placing others and themselves in danger because we need to stop and log off before we go into violation. Its complete prison, it is very sad instrument, since we are forced to ball and chain omnitracs could at least consider looking at DJ equipment for user friendly ideas, consider easy to use rubber push pads, one engaged start trip or end trip, next one paused or brake check, scale, other reason for stopping like a bathroom , next rubber pad push button could be for Pti both ends, then utilize the big klunky junky garbage out of date and out of whack terrible touch screen and spacetaker
I think truckers should band together stop moving anything to have the ball and chain removed, I loose more time trying to work with it than I ever had with paper, and now much more stress is added because of how non-userfriendly it actually is and how it drives me always to an unsafe concern rather than focusing on driving and delivering a great end result, it runs my life and makes me want to leave the industry.
Bus, airplane pilots, train operators, captains of ships
Whatever changes that are made, i have no doubt it will be in favor of the rich and influential. No one really cares about the truck drivers. We are only worker ants at the bottom of the maney making chain.
I have no faith whatsoever that anything will change in favor of the drivers.
I think the HOS rules r to strick.. Need more patking spaces.
The word you’re looking for is “strict”, ok good buddy?
Another pickel park queen flexing his flip flops
Why do you have to be such a pr*ck? So what he misspelled a word. He can fix that but wow we just can’t fix someone like you .
Some people have to put others down just to make themselves feel better.
It’s called a typo, get off his back.
It’s people like you that make bulling a big problem in this society. The r is right next to the t when texting so he accidentally hit it by mistake. No need to be mean about it and call someone names. If you don’t like his comment that’s fine but keep the negativity to yourself.
Maybe he hit the wrong key! Happens when a letter is next to another one!
Someone needs to learn how to spell Las Vegas! Maybe it’s a city in Mexico? The government can’t run the country! But they can run the trucking industry? Wake up America!!!!!!
Haha. They apparently write their report between rounds of Grand Theft Auto and confused Los Santos with Las Vegas.
So true
No I say wake up truck drivers enough is enough when are y’all going to get your bellies full of this garbage it’s time to shut them down quit being snowflakes and scared
I agree 100 percent
For sure. We have been trying to get everyone to shut down the last 24 years. Never happen with all these big companies and there are no other jobs. That’s how good our economy is. Yah right.
Yup like back in 70s stack n pack every lane in Cali and sleep on the fuel islands. But wait they already do one of these, just no balls for the rubber duckie. In cali
I agree the only way to get change is it has to effect people until we shut down for 1week nothing will change and I have to be treated like a kindergartner at nap time.
I agree, I’ve been surviving, and shutting down 1 to 2 weeks at a time for the past 3 months, if i can do it, so can everyone else, just don’t move your truck for less than 2.80 a mile
I agree, but the trucker’s nowadays are too soft they all want time off at home but nobody wants that 2 days or 3 days or a week off for a strike the world would crumble and they’d be begging us if we all just stopped for a week but no people are just too pussy nowadays they might upset somebody oh my goodness
It’s not about being scared its called we don’t have the luxury of being able too take weeks off because we don’t have our mommy’s and daddy’s paying our bills
Hang up your Keys Jeff, there is no place in Trucking for you or anyone that thinks anarchy would accomplish anything. Educate yourself on how the world really works. Turn off the am radio talk shows, Fox News and all this other “flip the tables over” crap that has destroyed this country.
Correct, very correct
Agree
It’s a scary situation
What they gonna do is have u drive less parked more pretty soon no trucks are left them they will wonder why
The government is good at only taking our money & freedoms
Agree
As long as drivers continue to let government officials control how you make our money, it’ll only get worse. We need to take our profession back from these greedy bureaucratic officials.
Hey egg heads in FMCSA! Here is my proposal: Scratch all current HOS rules. Make these new rules: You can work up to 16 hrs in a 24 hour period. You don’t have to and no one can force you, but you can if you feel like it. You can use those 16 hours any way you want. All hours that you work have to be paid – no exceptions. As an aside I’d like to point out to the FMCSA that no amount of HOS rules will enhance safety on the roads when there is no adequate, safe parking available. Your rules plus ELogs make the parking situasion that much more stressful for drivers. There are now, as we speak fights and shootings over parking space. Tired drivers used to find spaces on off ramps and in Walmart lots, but these days they are being chased away from those by local authorities.
That is the smartest a deal I have heard in years if you work manufacturing McDonald’s whatever you can work 16 hours and make some good money the same goes for us it’s just another job so we should be allowed to do the same end of discussion oh the 30 minute break needs to go
that’s how it was in the day you had a 15-hour day you could split the long anyway you wanted to and everybody was happy
Min of 2 hrs (2-8 split)
(3-7)
(4-6)
Yea it did ant times make it easier, especially when we sometimes sit at shippers or consignees sure would help
It’s a dumb idea because most truckers overestimate their abilities and rather push themselves beyond what they can handle just for a few bucks…. The hours aren’t the problem, the pay is but you all got so trained by the trucking companies to blame the regulations that you don’t even notice it. Nobody should have to work more than 40hrs to make a decent living. Most drivers work almost twice as much and make the same as a skilled worker who is home every day and only does 40hrs per week and yet instead of protesting for better pay you guys want more hours to work… Guess what is going to happen? Once you get to work more hours the mileage pay will go down and you end up with the same paycheck as before but now work even more….
Your not helping but that was probably because your not a trucker
Amen
Finally I’m reading a person who makes a smart comment,bottom line you just brought up the solution,problem is drivers don’t have the guts needed to demand what’s fair on a over ruled industry,just keep hoping for the best!!
Agree, heck I don’t even want to drive more then 8 hours a day. I believe the 14 hour rule needs to go and give the flexibility to break up your sleeper time. Basically go back to the rules prior to 2003. For me I have a hard time sleeping more then 3-6 hours at a time. So I used to just drive 3-6 hours on, 3-6 hours off. But that’s just how I liked to drive.
I am like you I can’t sleep more then 4 to 6 hours at a time. I should be allowed to drive and sleep when I can. I get up and by the time I can drive about 3 hours of driving I am tired. It’s not a fair law us drivers should be allowed to use our 10 off and 14 on anyway that is suitable for our bodies.
That’s the most intelligent comment I’ve read in this space. I don’t know that I necessarily agree with the 40 hr idea, but reducing available hours to a finite commodity would definitely increase their value.
Unfortunately, your hours are undervalued, because the supply seems infinite.
Union brain wash…learn to think for yourself
This is so true, not many skilled trades out there expect 60hrs a week, every week!!
Agreed
Not in Tennessee. I don’t have 10 years to top out at $11.00 per hour… That’s $300 a week buddy for a 40-hour work week. I make more now as a truck driver! And I don’t work near as hard! Explain that!?!?
PREACH THE TRUTH BROTHER
Finally, someone with some common sense!! I absolutely agree Nick
Spoken like a true union guy
We have a WINNER! Now if only 1 million truck drivers would comprehend this.
40 hrs?? Seriously?? I’m out here to make money, not trash around at the truck stop. I can lay in bed at home. JS….I pull over when I’m tired. I’m a big boy. Don’t need big brother to tuck me in at night….
Why we are so tired…long, hard hours! If we could take the time to get out and exercise without worrying about making a paycheck…it would be better! How many professions pay employees 100% of work they do, yet truck driving doesn’t! Get paid to drive but not fueling, dropping and hooking trailers, 100% time we are on breakdown or sitting in a dock…etc!
I am local now and get paid hourly regardless of whether I am driving or dropping and hooking or on a breakdown.
Could not agree more!!!!
As much as I don’t like to admit. I’ve came to the realization that you are 100%. Right, the problem is pay.
the 30 minute break should only be under the short haul exemption not under anything else
Yes these HOS rules have reduced my income close to 8% the 30 minute break is what is costing me the most problem. It has been the difference between me not making my last delivery of the day forcing me to spend the night waiting for that last company to reopen in the morning. This then continues to cascade into the next day and so on for the whole week.
And no more 34 hours resets
34 hour resets are actually useful,it gives you time to wash all of your clothes, deep clean your truck, go food shopping and venture out a little bit.
I totally agree,hell 11hrs of driving I’m just getting warmed up if you can’t run a 1000 miles a day your not trucking no way!!!
I have never heard of shooting’s over parking but I have witnessed a few blows being thrown but 2 fat guys sreaming and floundering around could hardly be called a fight.. as for off ramps and Walmart lots we as truckers kicked ourselves out by not being able to pickup after ourselves..
Yes parking spaces is scarce, but the REAL KILLER FOR TRUCKERS IS ELDS! Its setup to push out all small businesses
Already has if you kept up with trucking news. It is sad…mainly it is the expense to have it installed and maintained!
This is exactly what I’ve been saying forever!!! This is our business and OUR license not theirs. 16 hours to do whatever you want and 8 hours off/sleeper in a 24 hour period……DONE! It doesn’t get any more simpler than that. Some days we need 16 other days maybe 10 or 12. Get out of our pockets and our lives! I want to see my family more than I can with these current rules or I’m done OTR.
Safety comes from each driver knowing when it’s time to stop and sleep, sometimes you sleep 4hrs, and sometimes you sleep 8, each day is different, and each driver is different, hrs of service, is always been about money for the government, not safety for the public
I like Mark’s idea on the 16 hour and to be able to use as you see fit. Such good thinking.
Brilliant, you propose working MORE!
Another TTR simple minded fool.
I approve this message
So true ,And Drivers speeding on lots to park before there hours run out ,Or speeding to get to their destination ,, before HoS run out ,,It only causes more stress on the driver ,,
Very, very smart. I like it. A driver knows when hes tired. I wish I had the numbers,but I wonder if before the hours of service changed from the 8 off and 10 driving hrs, and elogs came into full effect, what the difference was in accidents, deaths, late freight, loss of home time, vehicle safety, and freight rates between then, back in the early 2000s and today?
Very true, and quite honestly we just need a nation wide park and sleep for a day or 2 and maybe 3 to get our point across to everyone, the general public that cut us off and refuse to let us merge into traffic just don’t understand that what I’m pulling behind me is what they are cutting me off and putting my life and there’s at risk to go buy, it’s scary out here and it’s getting worse because at the end of the day I just want to park, shower and get some sleep but there’s no place to do that on most runs unless I pay a reservation fee or get lucky. Losing faith in humanity 1 person at a time
Excellent thought and proposal , now how to advance it???
The FMCSA is just another agency employing people for the sake of employing people. Where can we waste money and resources? I got it! Let’s discuss the Hours of Service and not actually change anything that matters!
All in favor of getting paid for nothing, say aye!
AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!
Big thumbs up right here! Well said and have a beer!
Reminds me of some rallies I see on TV given by politicians. A lot of gas, little substance and as you so poignantly put it the crowd goes gaga
It’s soooooo reassuring to know the bureaucracy is hard at work to make us all a little unhappy.
How about making the HOS a little more safer than always having to be in such a hurry that everyone is trying to beat the clock! It’s gotten so dangerous now with all the drivers and I do mean 99% of the drivers do nothing but tailgate each other like they are trying to race at Daytona or somewhere that I can’t wait to retire and get away from those drivers. Every single day, some moron comes up behind me at over 70mph because my truck goes 70 and everyone else’s truck is turned up to 75 or 80mph that they feel the need try and draft before passing even though they are going a lot faster than I can drive. Make it safer or haven’t you at FMCSA noticed the increase in truck crashes lately? Pull your head out and check out the statistics!
Sh—- I need to work for the F M S C A!!! A job where you can goof off and do what you want and still get paid!!!
Know who I need to talk to about working for them?
Why the hell change something that ain’t broke? You people at FMCSA need to leave the HOS rules alone & let us drivers do our job. We (drivers) don’t know what’s going on from one day to the next cause you bozos are constantly changing the HOS rules. Just leave them alone. No wonder so many trucking companies are going out of business and all trucking companies are wanting drivers and nobody wants in this business cause you bozos in the FMCSA can’t leave things alone. You (the FMCSA) are hurting the trucking industry with your lame ideas to keep changing the HOS rules. FMCSA buzz off
FMCSA= FU—ING MORONS CANT SIMPLIFY ANYTHING
Delete fmcsa and anyone else involved in making bad laws
we don’t need hos rules driver no when to stop an sleep we don’t need anybody to tell us if we are tired so I have benn driving for 40 years but the rules back like they were 30 years an leave it alone
Stupid people who don’t drive trucks n go home n sleep in there own beds in charge telling drivers what is safe is the only thing wrong in this business.
I say let let me drive 11 hours a day. (In a 24 hour period) then take my 10 hour break before I start my next day. Forget about 15 minutes of pre trip and post trip, 30 minute break and all other things that takes time, just drive 11 hours and then take a10 hour break it’s that easy.
Good! Breaks, inspections, showers and what’s for dinner are all choices for the Driver to make. Big Fed is not our mommy! The scale house will know if your truck is not compliant and so will your wallet! Are we not adults? Or am I investing too much in the character of the American Driver?!
Another good thinker
I agree with you 100%
Keep it up.
What a waste of time on the pre trip, post trip, and the half hour break during your tour
That’s a perfect idea and I love it but it’s so simple they could never fathom it
Pre- and post trips are so you can catch problems before they happen…like no oil and you take off and blow the engine. They are important to do. If drivers would pre-trip and see how bad tires are, there would be less blow outs on the road!
I had to get oil in a truck because a former driver left it low . He never pre-trip so I wonder if I saved his rearend ! Saved the company losing a truck!
I doubt you do a pre trip or post trip now, so what’s the difference. Also nobody ever said it has to be a 30 minute pre trip. I would love to see that regulation. What’s the number?
Spilt drive time , recap, PC for seeking parking and stopping 14 hour clock for traffic-weather-accidents would enhance driving experience and reduce Truckstop shootings. Concern of alcohol and drug use has increased but no one recognizes the truck driver suicide is on the increase.
Rookie comment!
Only 8000 comments seriously? I know I made a comment about it and I said “ leave the hos alone. That it’s none sense to keep changing the rules.
But there’s should of been more than 8 thousand comments there should of been at least 40 thousand.
That 34 hours reset I hate it. And not getting paid for on duty hours is flat out robbery. Like I arrive to a shipper or receiver. I check in, I stage my truck and wait to get a door. Driving refers this wait time a lot of times take hours up to 8 from my experience, from check in to unload or load, and I’m supposed to go off duty while I’m waiting. Once the driving stops the miles stop. The hourly pay should kick in right away. We already live in the truck & are responsible for everything involved with the truck, road laws, inspections, load securement, constant update communication with dispatch, sometimes unloading freight, like cmon. It’s so much that’s comes with this job and is put on the driver. It’s beyond stressful trying to stay on the road for weeks and every week after the first 8 days you start making less money because of government controlled hours(recaps) we should be able to drive at least ten hours everyday period. No recaps. No 34 hour resets. just straight ten everyday and no off duty work. all work must be paid. This why mass truck drivers be stressed, getting fat, losing they hair and getting road rage. Cause we out here getting robbed everyday all day. Do the right thing.
Ps the parking is a big issue. But From a driver to the public the main reasons why we can’t park on ramps and Walmart etc anymore these days is simply because y’all are nasty. Y’all throw trash everywhere and leaving bottles or cups of pee & bags of poop everywhere. I’m pretty sure Walmart employees don’t get paid enough for that. And I’m sure the state is not trying to keep spending resources on litter pickup. Stop being nasty and dispose of your bio waste and trash properly. Plain and simple. As a driver it’s disgusting to see. And smell.
When they have a head of transportation who never sat in the passenger seat of a small pickup and is picked to run transportation should state the obvious this person is clueless. Then get a person to head FMCSA and get a DWI not a good look and replace this person with a temporary fix like buying a used steer tire at this point. HOS was a doomed process from the beginning and drivers just need to know their own limitations. Since bad drivers want to push the limits and make all the rest of good safe drivers suffer is not good. It’s like the damn insurance companies who insure bad drivers we all suffer this nonsense has to stop plain and simple. They push all this great technology to fix everything why can’t they figure out away to have a national data base for CDL drivers and bad drivers get punished and good drivers get leeway to drive with less restrictions. It’s all becoming all a joke.
Bring back split sleeper berth. 5/5 fresh eyes are safe eyes. Screw that stupid 30 min break. It makes us more tired….wake up administrators, maybe you need a 30 minute break!
Mack been out here 43 years I said this 20 years ago let us work 16 hours fueling unloading loading driving whatever we need to do rest of it we have off problem solved but oh no. Bureaucrats,Democrats Republicans senators Congress big trucking companies cops everybody padding each other’s pockets WITH OUR MONEY kissing each other’s butt none of them can scratch their own butts without instructions and all is good for is missing us up I agree with the other drivers we all need to shut down we could own this country we can tell the truck stops when where how we could tell the shippers receivers kiss our butts we can change our shipping rate we can make more money but this new breed new steering wheel holder and this new driver new yuppie new type of human being is one jacking us up
The goverment can take that csa and shove it up there ass all it good for is puttingv driver out of work unless you come from another country then the csa dont mean anything
Do away with the 14 hour clock and mandatory 30 minute break. Those rules are useless and drivers are constantly up against the clock and can’t take a break when actually tired
Why not let a older drivers make a then new HOS, can do a hell of better than the a– holes that work in a office home every night off on weekends and holidays ect. You people have no f— ideal what’s going on out on the road, truck Insurance v can Insurance, people try to get hit buy a truck just because of Insurance. Go a head big wig sitting and trying to find something to other than the right thing, I have seen it before , probably see it again, your not making thing better, well my be for beginners and that all.
“Older” drivers are the ones that got us into the mess we are in. Where were they when all this garbage was first being implemented? Take your time, ill wait.
Blaming the previous generation loses its sparkle once you become the previous generation boy.
Pushing something to its max for the sake of profit is a human reality, not just an “old person” reality.
If you had been working in those days chances are excellent you would have been doing something quite similar.
Ok… I’ll speak as a witness to the fact. Riding (w werner) n a convoy, an older driver over the cb claimed he couldn’t work for werner, he came out to drive, not to sleep. Seriously?!? Those r the drivers n the breakrooms, eyes bloodshot and glossy, drinkin coffee while being loaded, about to get rite bk out there. Pushing past his limitations for that extra dollar. We as seasoned drivers know better, fighting sleep is a losing battle.
Joe. You’re just a special kinda stupid aren’t you.
B.S. stupid new drivers got us here. Under trained over privileged momma’s boys that cry over having to chain, drive in snow, it’s raining too hard. I can’t drive over 500 miles a day. Cry babies. Wyoming never shut the roads down in the old days now first sign of inclement weather they close it till the sun shines again. New drivers have no common sense and your post just proves you’re that new driver Joe. You don’t know your history.
I’m 51. The older driver that you’re vomiting up junk about. We had less accidents, knew when to stop, when to drive, watched out for each other, didnt have to fight over parking spaces because we didnt have to clog one up for 8-10 hours. We did what we had to do and we did it right. There are idiots everywhere, in every decade, in every industry. Stop spouting things that you know nothing about. And appreciate your automatic, air ride,double sleeper, ez pass, pre-pass equipped truck after you’ve driven 400 miles over 2 days.
No it was the company pushing there drivers to break the rules they even had classes on how to get away with running 2 log books… I know I’ve been driving since 1978 and I’ve been fired for not running the way the company wanted. So it is not the truckers fault per say it’s the large trucking fleet
The SAME older drivers tailgating each other like no one else can make a mistake? The older drivers who think they are the ONLY righteous drivers that belong on the road????? The same older drivers that bitch that anyone doing 65 in a 70 is a loser? The same meth heads, caffeine sucking , amphetamine taking drivers that say” I CAN DRIVE 36 HOURS STRAIGHT” and still go…
You mean THOSE older drivers make the rules? Maybe the rules are in place because of them…… I learned allot from older drivers, good AND bad.
We need to get the over reaching government out of our lives. There needs to be some government but not the one we have. It is out of control. Truckers stop moving freight for a week or so and the government will freak out when goods don’t make it to there destinations. I bet they change their ways.
GET rid of RESET time and just let drivers drive..Why are you bastards screw up my job…I want to regulate your phukin hours you work. YOU are only allowed to work 2 hours a day and have to take a 30 minute break,,not paid either AND be penalized for every damn minute your time cards your time cards do match…you are nothing but a bunch of phuck heads,
….
These trucking Jobs aren’t even worth it anymore… who do they think we are? This industry hasn’t seen a raise in years. It’s all a facade. When you consider how much you lose out here, away from family, disrespectful people and scam companies. You’re like, Is it worth it? Let’s not talk about maintenance high costs and truck notes. Rules??? There’s bigger problems than rules. These drivers drive crazy because they can’t pay their bills… it’s a vicious cycle and I’m sick of it!!! We need to shut the whole down and make them listen to us… Pay us for our sacrifices, stop treated drivers like slaves. I’m at the top of the game with trucks and they came with debt! It’s always something…they think we’re rich! Most drivers out here living in their trucks! These smart people are stupid!
There are a bunch of dumb butts trying to control a business that have never stepped a foot in a truck.
Truck drivers have all these rules and regulations, what about the four wheelers.
There are drivers that want to drive from Texas to Maine without taking a break, cut in front of big trucks, so they can get one vehicle ahead, and so many more dangerous acts.
Then the truck driver is blamed if anything happens.
It would be wiser to put restrictions on 4 wheelers and leave the trucking industry alone.
How about abolishing the HOS rules completely ? I’ve always operated on the “get it done; then make it legal” work ethic. It’s a win-win for everybody. Think it doesn’t work ? I’ve got a spotless 37 year / 3,000,000 mile record that says otherwise. Meanwhile, safety advocates & FMCSA say I’m the problem. Who’s right; the guy in a cubicle in Washington who’s never driven a truck, or the guy with the proven history ?
If he held these are required for heavy trucks they should also be required for the trucks that are the largest portion of accidents as far as quote commercial vehicles on quote. Vehicles that are 10000 lb or larger that are used in a commercial means should be regulated as well. Personally I equate the Eld to an ankle locator of a criminal although I have not committed a crime / accident still I’m required to use, if that is the case all vehicles that have a driver old enough to buy alcohol should have and intoxication lockout device because that vehicle may be used about someone he took a drink I tried to drive.
HOS is now, obviously, created to destroy small and middle trucking businesses.
Period,end of story!
Over the time truckers realized this.HOS is just another rule, among many others,which were created to hurt small and middle trucking businesses!
One of the winners is Amazon.Just look st this company and the way it’s growing!
Amazon is eating even UPS and big guys.
And that is the goal.
Jeff Bezos has gotten so much money from the Government, no wonder others are dying.
Over 900 hundred trucking companies shot their door in 2019.And the trend continues.
Regulations, insurance,HOS,etc; have killed this business! And the lobbyist knew that.
Of course,law makers no nothing about this business. They do what lobbyists tell them to do!
In my personal experience, the eld has hurt my being safe on the road. I find myself driving tired because I can’t shut off the clock and if I do, it screws me for the next day. On paper logs, I could stop, sleep for a couple hours, get going again (refreshed) and when I got to where I needed to go, I could adjust my log book accordingly! Legal? No! Safer? Yes! And I thought this is supposed to be about safety. No…it’s about money and getting rid of the 0/0….Period!
Thank you Paul
I 100% agree
In the last 40 years I never had to race the clock and I always got safe to my destination. Now I drive tired and I am safety risk on the road thanks to fmcsa
Yes go back to papar logs was fine for years
I was a much more relaxed better rested and far safer driver before the ELD came in. No computer program can capture all of the realities and possibilities of trucking.
I was able to use my time far better and realize a better take-home pay. And now that’s just another stressor edit on top of everything else.
Yes sir,My is having a vote on which is more aggressive,trucks or cars? Some jackass commented on a truck running her off the road from falling asleep,without even knowing all the facts,I auto thought of the ELD telling you what,when,where and why. Been there,bought a pre 2000 with paper and now insurance makes it even harder,impossible to afford unless you run a ELD! Done,feed up and parking the truck and signing up for welfare.
Very well put that’s honest that’s real and that’s how it is I wish they’d see that
Amen
So true. I remember when you could pull off and take a nap and be safe. No you can’t do this with out hurting you time
You can adjust your ELD The same way you did with the log book it gives you your time back
Here is the problem paper logs are just the same as the eld the only thing is is that it’s a computer and it don’t lie paper logs we all lied in them witch caused this bs with the eld
Years ago in Canada, the rules were, you could be on duty for 14 hours. Drive 13 of those hours. Bunk time 8 hours, which could be split , with the minimum of 2 hours . The other 6 had to be taken in that 24 hour period. It worked great. Even when we crossed into the states and had a 10 driving limit, we could still split our bunk time for when WE needed it! No effing political hack who had never been in a truck told us when we had to drive, sleep or take a break! Why don’t these damn busybodies get on with running their respective countries instead of screwing with truckers?
Now there is a pefect solution!!!! I also believe in the current 14 hr rules for LTL companies like ups, fedex, etc, them guys get home every night and the current rules do make things safer. There should be a set of rules for OTR ( Old canada laws), and a separate set of rules for LTL ( current HOS rules)…. Not a once size fit all. Also, some kind of sticker on outside of cab declaring which set of rules truck is running under. No sense in making things too complicated. Also, keep the ELD. Just get rid of 5mph BS.
So true back in the 1970’s and 1980’s and 90’s was good no one got sleepy now half of the drivers out here is sleepy. These Gov poeple needs to stay out of trucking. Go back to the old rules make the company’s stay off there drivers and let us put in a good days work.
Our first issue inn trucking FMCSA must fix before they can fix or enforce any other ruling !!!!
Must be able to speak and read English at a sufficient level (Section 391.11). Provide a DOT medical card, which requires a DOT physical. Some states may require the completion of a CDL training course. Pass all required background chec
As class A driver, I’m really happy with ELD and regulation I made money even with eld. Here is the suggestion For the HOS, regulations for some Eastern European companies in USA. The ELD must be purchased from an American companies period. The ELD is the best honestly I know it squeezes HOS but for safety reason and be prepared to take your rest for 10 or 34hrs.
For OWNER OPERATORS should have some flexibility for the HOS like the 16 hr day make sense instead of 34 should be only 20 hrs for the fresh hours. 30 min Break should stay the same after 7h30m.
After each 16hrs work must be 10 hours no split.
For company driver must stay the same 11hr driver time.
Tell me FMCSA. What would you do if suddenly all truckstop (which are privately owned) decided to put a 4 hour limit on how long you could park your truck there. Especially the ones with 24 hour restaurants in them. Denny’s for example. Go in there at 1am and the place is empty. No place to park. Most of the drivers parked there dont spend a dime there. How can you FMCSA put this huge parking burden on privately owned businesses? And you truckstops. Why are you letting this happen?
Go back to 10 hours of driving and a 8 hour sleeper berth. 10 hours in sleeper berth is to long. I am ready to start driving after 7-8 hours of rest. That would relive parking problems and fighting over parking spaces. Also, making roadways safer. Eld would be fine if they would go back to 10 on 8 off. Just my thought after 50 years in trucking I am closing in a couple years I have 17 drivers and tired of all the political and technology ruining the trucking business.
2 sets of rules : 5 years experience or more gets an extra 2 hours per day driving, for a total of 13. No 14 hour, crack the whip rule : all naps, two hours or longer extend the work day. Once per week, the computer allows for a 15 hour driving day. (It isn’t how MUCH you run, it’s HOW you run.
Driver’s review and approval for ALL dispatch plans, with ELD accountable VETO POWER, BY the driver for ALL dispatches, backed by the power of the STATE.
Carriers Shippers Receivers and all other drivers
DISPATCH, the entire source of most safety outrages is completely unregulated and unaccountable. If there was a safety complaint and accountability system for DISPATCHERS (YOU know…the GUYS with all the freaking POWER), then ELDs for drivers would be virtually unnecessary (as they already are).
Instead, the FMCSA IDIOTS, place control over the ELDs in the very hands of the cat guarding the cream : abusive dispatchers. And you wonder why we don’t respect you ?
I demand an actual safety policy : ALL CMV Inspection facilities must be equipped with an “immunity facility” where Commercial vehicles may be parked by the driver, and ALL KNOWN SAFETY VIOLATIONS DIVULGED with 100% IMMUNITY. The immunity privilege may be invoked once each quarter. The motor carrier would have NO IMMUNITY in these instances, and retaliation should be PUNISHABLE BY LAW.
In 45 years of this business an driving I found that flexibility in the 14 hr rule enough to be able to stop an rest a bit example 5 on 2off or till tested in order to finish your day an let traffic die down in morning an evening this creates a more safe day for me you are not trying to beat the clock
Why can’t we get a couple of ex truckers to run the fmcsa??????
Because there scared to have someone else that actually would know some things in this industry
We had one in Ray Martinez. He retired.
Ive been trucking for 23 years I want out of over the road you can’t make no money for your time away from home its just not worth it. I quit
Seems like we never had an hour’s problem until we got all the schools that aren’t teaching truck drivers how to drive when we get all these whine and cry babies that want to play video games and be at home at certain times truck-driving was never a job of convenience it’s always been a job but moving this country in a way of life but too many times now the new truck driver wants everything their way stop being cry babies and go back to moving America’s freight FMCsA get out of my life ever since you got involved in truck and you’ve killed more truck drivers than you saved there’s more truck wrecks now than I’ve ever seen in my entire career of driving a truck and that spans 30 years this agency should be disband it’s not government’s job to determine how much money anyone can make or how many hours they work you violated the Fourth amendment of the Constitution with the ELD law you’re enforcing a law you never made a law with the CPAP law enough hypocrisy
You guys are idiot’s just make it a 14 hr day period we take enough breaks. Saftey break was the dumbest thing ever. We start at differant times everyday and alot of times wait hours to get loade or unloaded. You have no clue. Good luck with getting new drivers the old ones are fed up with this shit. No one can afford insurance. Come on you know what your doing pushing out the small making everyone work for the mega companies well i say your all stupid.come out and ride in a truck for a week sirs you couldnt handle it.
How about this pay us all for all hours worked. Sick of being in a truck on a time clock that shows I’m not at work but yet I am. OTR drivers don’t just leave home and back at home in 8 to 14 hours a day. And because we don’t leave the truck we should be getting paid for all our time.
All of you who set the rules what time do you clock in and out? Would you give your time away without pay?
Pre trip/ post trip is work done on the job.
Driving is on the job.
Being in the truck 24/7 as a security guard is on the job work.
Examples..if a truck/ trailer was stolen we are the ones who are responsible.
If load gets stolen we are responsible.
If you don’t want to see that we are treated fair why would you get to make rules?
Free labor is that legal?
I think drivers need to Go ON STRIKE!
Why all the regulations on trucks and you leave the people in cars alone that should not be on the road and completely destroy the trucking industry why do you eat and have clothes and lumber to build with but with all the regulations that you are doing to the trucks you are increasing the cost of living to the consumer hope you can sleep at night
I don’t whine about my sleep/driving schedule because I try to do this “work” happily and then stay healthy when off duty. Let’s play in the parking lots guys, it’s 2020
The 14 hour clock is the stupidest most dangerous part of these current rules. I gotta stay propped up at the wheel and keep friggin drivin even if i’m tired or i won’t be able to finish the driving i need to finish to pay my bills before that dumb 14 hr clock sidelines me. Why can’t i stop, take a two hour nap or a nice long lunch without losing 10 to 20 percent of my daily pay. This is absurd.
Because it would make sense what the do
( who would want that)
The fmsca has no clue. They all need to get in a truck an deal with the shit that they made. A little unhappy them an the ACA are the biggest buch of fuck ups I have ever had to deal with in trucking.
$25 an hour for every hour on duty. I’ll be the safest driver on the road. 55 miles an hour every where I go. I’ll sit all day on duty waiting for a dock. LOL!
I see both sides of this coin very easily. Once did otc work now do local. Some drivers can split bunk time and run more. Problem come with the primes & swifts. If this allowed. After hand bombing to load.
And logging bunk time the dick scratcher says you now have new clock. 14 new hours. But you just hand loaded a 52 ft. Trailer. Time to rest. Not run. I suspect the the guys with man buns trying to get more out of their beaten up drivers are the main butchers here
I personally see the 14 hr rule as the biggest threat to driver and public safety. Sometimes we aren’t rested enough to drive our remaining time straight through without a nap. In these instances, taking a 2 hr nap can cause us to run out of driving time (because of the 14 hr clock) and these are the situations that force drivers to push ourselves, not wanting to miss our delivery time which would disappoint our customers, as well as decrease our earning potential. We should be able to pause our 14 hr clock for up to 3 hrs a day, so long as we’re in the sleeper berth. When we get held up at a Shipper (which happens to us all from time to time) we’d have the ability to pause that 14 hr clock, so that we don’t lose drive time, and possibly run out of hrs to drive. Many times, when drivers run out of hrs for this reason, we are actually well rested (because we napped at the shipper) and totally capable of driving safely. Drivers are forced to decide between taking a short nap (which will help to complete our mission safely) or pushing ourselves to drive when we’re tired… all because there is no way to pause the 14 hr clock once we go on duty at the start of our day. A great deal of improvement can be made right here, while also improving the safety and well being of ourselves, and everyone we share the roads with.
I have a rule if unhappiness is your goal:
Limit drivers to one minute of driving a day.
The economy crashes and everyone is unhappy.
The absolute best thing to do is
Get rid of the fmcsa
And the go after the large multi-national
Insurance companies pushing the lobbyists for tighter governmental control of a once free industry.
Just my two cents
👍
Minimum 2 hours on line 2 skewer berth should pause 14 hour clock
Sleeper berth
Since the HOS Rules have not been proven to make the roads any safer we must conclude their main purpose is just to give the FMCSA clowns something to muck about in to justify their gravy train.
Few things are as complex as life on the open road as an OTR trucker; and it takes a special kind of fool to believe that they can master it with a set of rules to achieve the desired control of behavior in people unto a delusion of safety. Some real totalitarianism going on there.
The net effect is an added unnecessary level of stress in an already stressful job.
And when the best laid plans of mice and men go astray because of an untold number of factors and you find yourself in a race against time with the countdown-nanny-on-the-dashboard, the assessing of safety as a primary factor tends to goes out the window.
I’ll say it again. The desired goals of the FFMSA on a stage as broad as the Continent in an industry as burgeoning and variable as trucking are a chimera that not even totalitarian control can achieve.
Jimmy Hoffa knows his fight for truckers rights died when he did. Now truckers can’t even stick together to stop corrupt govt. from ruining our careers. Thanks to all you fellow driver’s for doing nothing.
My Dad ran years ago,old school very professional. Get tied ,take a nap .Be courteous share the road .The old pros and their kids didn’t cause this .The Big mega fleets and steering wheel holder did.Been doing this for 20 + years .It’s really changed and in a bad way
Truckers are so heavily regulated but brokers are not… this is the biggest problem.
The problem is not with the hours.. yes the 30 minute break is stupid, and if you get stuck at a shipper for 5 hours or w/e that shouldn’t affect your drive time.. but brokers are ruining the market by taking half of our money on the rates. Brokers need to be controlled more, not the guys (truck drivers) doing the actual work..
Government and Big Corporations control and greed!
This logbook bs and eld is all bs and makes it more dangerous for truckers. These pencil suckers need to drive a truck for a year and see how it is and they will change the rules real quickly. Situations change, everything doesnt always go as planned in this industry. The less stress on driver the safer he or she will be. Log books must makes drivers feel like prisoners. If you could just drive, rest, drive, rest when your body says there would be less accidents. Yeah with paper logs you could edit it and sneak in a nap but have to change it and waste time then get caught because its illegal and then the pigs ready to fine you because you actually tried to be safe. And even paper logs stresses driver the driver should be worried free from these pigs and logs and eld it’s a tough job, barley any parking, rest rooms, showers it’s a miserable life. Been there done it but done with it.
Fmcsa doesn’t care there always dragging their feet thay don’t have a clue what truck driver needs because none of them have ever drove a truck but they keep telling us on to do our job
I work in the oil and gas industry, transporting crude oil. It’s too bad you guys making the rules don’t have a clue what’s going on how can you make these rules to apply to everybody when you don’t know anything about what we’re doing for the last year I’ve been on a pretty short haul about 15 miles 20 miles from my house getting four loads a day log about two and a half to three hours drive time is six and a half hours on duty loading unloading then have to take a half hour break before I drive the 15 minutes home take another 15 minutes doing a post trip and start the next morning doing a pre-trip we’re just ridiculous let’s somebody who knows what’s going on makes the rules at least take our advice go back to the old rules or we can spend our day the way we need to not the way you think we should thank you very much. thanks
I made a lot of $$$ running double logs. Now I get a lot of rest!
Just goes to show you that someone who knows NOTHING about trucks and has never driven one thinks that they know best what rules to enforce. Just like the “Government” our “Governing body” is being to invasive and forget who actually pays their salary. So we shouldn’t have to negotiate what rules that are unfair to the majority get implemented regardless of where the majority stand.
Two lines.
On duty
Off duty
Up to 14 hours on. Can pause 14 hour clock with 4 hours off duty.
The way the eld make it hard on drivers ,you can’t start a little early, arrive to your destination an hour early, or on the way you can’t stop some place ,have coffee, or lunch.clock stands right in your way i am an old driver i had chaufer license be fore the cdl came out in 1989
First thing is to protest shut DOWN trucks across country til they scrap the whole ELD issue but you can’t you all don’t want to give up your SO Called good living . So just whine as usual but it’s slowly grinding yo a hault you just don’t c it.
Nobody should be allowed to make trucking laws unless they drove a truck for at least 15 years,
Will this injury be considered an on the job injury and be an OSHA recordable? Will he get workers compensation for it? Sounds like he was still on duty if in the act of parking! Just thoughts about how Carriers is responsible for its employees safety.
Why not go to a 24 hour clock? We could drive 11 hours per day. Every day.Rest. when tired .Everyday clock resets.Drivers would have flexibility we need.
Well I drive local, meaning within 150 air miles, if truck companies ran trucks with in this range, say 300 Mike’s, one could drop and hook then return home almost every night. The day of OTR is fading. UPS and FedEx run routes from NC to Memphis spend the night then return with load go home, 4 on 3 off per week. The pay for cargo is much lower than gas, chemical or liquid transport, however liquid which I do has extreme danger and risk, thus greater pay. The real issue is brokered loads. That takes money from companies and driver’s and these companies usually don’t employ a single driver, just like stock brokerage firms for loads. Be safe all my brothers and sisters of the road.
All the HOS Elog has accomplished is creating clock racers.
When you sit at load or unload site for hours the clock keeps ticking and eating you duty time then drive time even off duty. Sleeping doesn’t due any good you’ll run out of hours stay up 8 0f your 10 hour mandatory break and race the clock for 14 hours because you took the nap when you didn’t need it and can’t sleep when you absolutely need it.
So hears an idea all you bureaucrats including DOT enforcement should be forced to operate under our rule if you take extra breaks during your day stay over on straight time to make up for it and if you run out service hour get a room.your an unsafe hazard to the public.
There’s only one way to fix this everyone take a few days off at the same time. Let them feel the impact. For the company drivers who fear getting fired what are these companies going to do fire their entire fleet. Simple yet best effective remedy.
How about getting some people in the FMCSA who has actually driven a truck for a living, even if it was for a short period. Maybe work for a company now, for a short time, so you know what truckers are dealing with.
Justify your self importance fmcsa and regulate electric bicycles and leave trucking alone since you don’t know anything about it.
I think the government needs to study on their work and leave the trucking to us, you have 4 people down their that’s probably never drove a real truck ( beside a u haul) slept in a big truck or even had anything to do with a truck, so then you people are going to tell a real driver that for years,I mean years driving a truck gone from our family 1 to 2 weeks at a time that you people want to try and put your 2 cent into it I think before you hurt this industry anymore than what it is to just leave the trucking to us and to keep your nose out of our business we never needed the government to help us, by the way your rule let me work 14 hrs a day drive 11 because you say this is for safety reason well maybe you did not know after we put in all them hrs at work we still have to drive home, so it ok with you people get into a smaller vehicle being tired to drive home.
We should have 13 hours of driving with 16 hours on duty Canada have these hours, and be able to stop our clocks for up to 3 hours a day, because the average driver isn’t going to stop when they know if they don’t drop that load the isn’t going to get paid off it that week.
Produce haulers can’t do it legal no more.. shippers and receivers take too long ..
Look before you leap, who did suggest the ELD know nothing about the truck industry so should knew before He/She sayings
What we need is truck drivers making the changes, no one in the fmcsa admin have any CDL experience
Dosent seem to me that we had a parking problem until current HOS were changed to a variation of what we have today
Truckstops were buzzing pretty evenly day and night. Now the parking lot is abandon during the day and all but impossible to find a spot after 500pm.
The reason to change HOS and go electronic was drivers cheating on logs. With the electronic logging. it now becomes near impossible to cheat HOS
Most everyone is screaming for flexibility. Someone please tell me what would be wrong or not liked about going back to old rules where the driver could stop and start the clock when and how he/she saw fit to the way they ran? We have the means to track it electronically now and gives all the flexibility one could want. It would most likley ease the parking problem and spread out truck traffic on the roads.
Fmcsa has screwed the hos up yes and I do understand why and their thinking but there’s no sure fix all for the issue there’s always going to be driver’s out there that will drive beyond their limits and guys that don’t have the gonads to tell their dispatcher they will not go on then they are falling asleep at the wheel but at the same time those same drivers can’t wake up to a canceled load and have a new load that picks up later that day to run that night if you have been asleep all night you ain’t going to sleep that day I think we should just have responsible driver’s and do away with hos totally but none of that will ever happen so we will always be wasting our time talking about what would be a better way just as fmcsa will be wasting their time trying to find a better way there is no good way just give it up truck driving is a dangerous job always has been always will be but someone responsible behind the wheel is the best way if he drives 20 hours or 2 as long as that driver knows when it’s time to shut it down that’s all that matters
1st let’s look at their qualifications. None of the fmcsa has experience in the transportation industry.
2nd the eld isn’t the issue with small companies closing. It is the increase of the insurance. The fines that also comes with the improper use of the ELD. You get a fine for falsified log, tampering with the eld, and shutdown for 10 hours. This is more money the government takes out of our pocket.
3rd states like GA is hiring dot officers by the truck load. We don’t need that many officers looking at trucks. I promise you for every 10 trucks they put out of service I can find 30 cars in worse condition. This is where most of the safety issue starts. The billboards advertising big trucks = big pay day. This needs to stop. Look around when was the last time you seen a cop stuck in a traffic jam with you, then look around and see how many cars cuts you off and slams on brakes. The issue is the presents of law enforcement isn’t where it needs to be.
I know that this ELD has slowed myself and hundreds of other drivers in the company we work for. Construction and waiting for accidents are just two of the minute burners.
Putting us on a timed clock has raised the total driver deaths to a 30 year high.
A little unhappy?? Tell that to the widows and orphans.
One way to make these roads safer is to crackdown on these guys driving around out here in the oilfields of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico with no CDL license and usually no green card. Half of the drivers out here can’t even speak english. Not to mention the condition of the roads themselves.
How about putting class C drivers thru a more extensive test other than how to parallel park their smart car in a 40’ box??? How about doing extensive training for these 4 wheelers to learn much more about driving around commercial vehicles?? Since cops want to throw us all off the on ramps for sleeping, how about they sit in those spots themselves and watch the idiots swerving in and out of trucks and buses and start writing tickets…1 ticket, 2 tickets, 3rd ticket you’re out of a license for 5 years… not points… go by accumulated tickets in a 5 year span…. start really punishing the 4 wheelers as well as working with them to learn more about safety around heavy vehicles. And these dummies pulling 40’ campers behind a half ton pickup… who in their right mind is allowing that to happen??? As for the HOS, I started out under the old rules, and I’ve worked under the new rules too. Neither set are all that great, and both have advantages and disadvantages too. I think the 10 hour break is ridiculous… 8 hours was plenty before. I do think the max driving of 11 hours is good though… maybe increase the total hours per week to 70 and 80 instead of 60 and 70? Yet I do think 48 hours of reset time per week would be better for a drivers home life too. Let’s face the truth, being gone so long at work has destroyed a lot of families and marriages too. Kids need time w both parents. Let’s factor that into the HOS as well. That’s real! And some computer telling you when to stop go sleep eat and that your family is fine at home while you’re shut down for 10 hours 59 miles from your home is insane!!! Wake up drivers!!!
I’ve been driving semi for 30 plus years and the new hours of service is dangerous and the E.L.D.’s are worse! your forced to sleep when not tired, drive when you are tired and race against the stop watch which is the E.L.D. common sense is gone. You can not regulate safety. I was in the military and they do it best, they get the best PERIOD! corporate greed turned a professional job into an entry level job. Beware on the roads cause 80 percent of the CDL drivers out there are anything but professionals. And the blood is on the hands of the politicians of course and greedy corporate America.im making less money then I did 20yrs aho and I’m home less due to regulations. Shame on the industry for ruining the greatest profession.
They have been trying to fix HOS ever since they changed the original rules. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the 10/8/15 rule, with the driver being able to stop the clock with a 2 hr. Sleeper break. Everything went to hell when the DOT began letting ATA lawyers start drafting federal regulations. The entire system is corrupt, and drivers are held hostage to the whims of the mega fleets.
So true….
Something should be done with the shippers and receivers delaying us for hours and hours. Our time should stop when we arrive, or create a department that handles the warehouse companies. We call a number if we are being delayed and this department will handle said warehouse and fine them if it’s taking an unacceptable time to load/unload.
All truck drivers should stop driving for a week. Or instead of the 70 hours in 8 days let them do their 11 hours driving and 3 hours on duty not driving then take 10 hours off to rest and let them do this 7 days a week 365 days a year. No truck driver is in the sleeper for 10 hours. Things will be delivered and less accidents and more happy drivers. That’s why no one wants to become a truck driver because of the DOT regulations. Has anyone working for the state patrol ever driven a semi before. Probably not
As I read these comments I’m reassured we’re doomed. We’ll never have a say in our own destiny simply because we can’t agree on anything. These FMCSA folks. Not a one of them hold a CDL. Not 1. Folks there in Washington are swayed solely by money. So if the lobbyists are on the side of big trucking and big trucking interest groups then they win. Bottom line here is this industry is controlled by people who’ve never been out here. This article says after they “plow” through 8.000 comments they’ll come up with something that pisses everyone off just a little. Now that sounds encouraging. What’s really encouraging is only 8.000 comments. It takes a rocket scientist to access the site to leave comments. There should be 2 million comments. Doesn’t matter really I guess. It gone to hell in a hand basket anyway. God Bless is all. We’re gonna need his help for sure. All y’all be safe. Try being a little kinder out here for a minute. Please.
They aren’t going to give up the control they have over us. The only solution is a nationwide strike
We drivers are dealt pocket aces everyday and we FOLD to the filth companies. WHY we’re not 100% UNIONIZED is beyond all comprehension to me. I assume most of us drivers must enjoy being both paid garbage and treated like yesterday’s garbage because if this were not the case we would have all banded together years ago by bringing North America to it’s knees and every last one of us company drivers would now be UNIONIZED. OTR company drivers are not an overly bright bunch…….to our own demise.
I’m in for that. Let’s all park these truck for 7 days…. And see who blinks
Sure is the only way
Get ride of the automatic transmission and the eld let us truck again. Between the two is what causes all these bad wreck not everyone is a truck driver they think automatic transmission and that everyone can drive WRONG THE ARE STEERING WHEEL HOLDERS
Rules are meant to be broke everyone does it politicians government officials ordinary citizens if u say u don’t brake some rules u are lying if we didn’t have hos I would literally work around the clock sleep a little and bank money like a fool I agree rates are low and need to rise u don’t have to work for mega companies they won’t and can’t survive with out drivers so don’t I don’t care the rule just make it so u can stop the clock and it don’t count against u so my time isn’t wasted waiting on loading and unloading and I will make plenty of money that easy I luv to truck just hate waiting on slow people or companies that are inefficient yeah I don’t use peroids commas or exclamation points cry on snowflakes
Ps strikes are for union snowflakes grow a pair be a man this is a man’s industry
This is what happens when you have bureaucrats who have no experience in trucking making regulations
The government need to destroy these ELD S ….THey need to come drive the truck if h gon tell me how to drive….dont tell me I cant drive and when……they some smart MF S
13.5 hour day,elimination of 30minute break,only 10.50hours driving. Heavy funding for parking zones none can be near druggie zones…most should have an acre or larger where a private business can build a store…must be built every 50 miles.Driver safety and pay practices must be addressed.A new federal law whereby shippers must be charged for every hour over two no less than $60 An hour..and every driver must be given a copy of the bill…and receive no less than $23.50 of each hour billed.Until shippers are required to share responsibility…nothing will change.13.5 hours is long enough for anybody.Period. A study of driver pay,driver safety at parking areas (are drugs and prostitution prevalent at these areas?)..and maybe government forcing companies to pay more by getting labor department to establish a rule that says…all pay must equal no less 14.50$ An hour for all miles and hours or they become subject to the Flsa.Or plainly just put all driver pay under the Flsa. (Like regular jobs….all labor over 40 gets time and a half)Time to call your congressmen and complain about the ATA influencing all trucking rules.Thats the problem.Thats where the driver shortage is.Wanna run people to death and the younger generation isn’t going for it.It will come to pass that finally large carriers will have to build terminals every 200miles where a load can be dropped and another driver picks it up.End of problem.
The only question we need to ask ourselves is if anything the cmcsa has done has had any substantial effect on the safety or well being of the roadways, I say no they haven’t any more regulation is a waste of everyone’s time
Just try and access your company or personal data on the FMCSA system and you will see 2 things. 1- why holding your breath waiting for any HOS changes is futile & 2- why Ray Martinez retired. FUBAR👎
Had to laugh, the report said,,,We plow through these comments! WTF! Said they started in what month of last year and here it is,almost March. They plow through nothing unless its a soon dead budget that effects government paychecks!
My mother always told me if you don’t have nothing nice to say then don’t say nothing at all these people will keep doing what they want because we are so divided
Where is Los Vegas, I’ve never been there! Sounds like a great place.
To all the younger people who commented on this . I have been in the trucking business for 54 years. We shut down in 76 Carter deregulated the freight. ( stopped hot loads $581. fine for hauling dry freight) when we shut down again Ragan started subsidizing large companies ( driving schools) these companies cannot strike. Now with the last change in ELD in gear on drive. ( took me 27 hrs to get a 10.hr break) this rule is designed to put small companies and O/O out of business. Only companies with hundreds of trailer can do drop and hook under this rule. So stop worrying about someone who makes a typo and start trying to find a solution to this problem. We can’t shutdown and complaining about it is not working . In the old days drivers stuck together. Today no one has time for their fellow drivers. Ben Franklin said it all when he said ” if we don’t stick together we will all hang separately “
What needs to happen is every single truck driver in all of north america strike for a week. You want the road safe? Then theres a way to do that. Because it’s only truck driver who make the road unsafe.
Just let us use all the hours of service any way we want either driving or on duty.
If you really want to wake the government and the country up to this mess and get your voices heard just shut the transportation industry down for 1 week I promise the government will listen then
12 Hours Driving and Working and 12 Hours off Duty and Sleeper get to split that time any way you want to plus = 24 Hour day🤓
Hello. So many simpletons to employ- so few goovernment jobs… Breaking the HOS rules into specific categories of freight handling is beyond their pay grade? Fascism is better than majority rule? Everyone needs to use one playbook? What if everyone hurt you just a little?
If you misspell words in your log it’s would be falsifying log 10 hours out of service . Rule for HOS change every 5-7 years and after elog stars nobody work more hours:shops,brokers,dealers shippers or any other except drivers . Thanks
If you think these HOS rules where truly meant for our Driver’s and the public’s safety Raise your hand No this is about money always have been always will be.
The 16 hour is a good choice 11 hours of driving time and 5 hours of on-duty not driving we spend half of the time in shipping and receiving anyways. Oh yeah this people are just in it for the money.
I’ve been doing this for 44 years,, if you really want to make it safer go back to the old rules of logging, then do a better job of training drivers because all they are being taught is how to get a cdl. Next educate the motoring public,,show videos on tv of what happens when a car does stupid things to a 40 ton vehicle. Stop awarding the idiots with million dollar pay offs for stupidity. Even go back to the old weight limit of 73,280. 80k is just to much weight, the highway infrastructure is being destroyed,bad roads cause accidents. The only people that benefit from 80k is shippers and receivers,, its hard to control and avoid accidents when you’re being tossed around on substandard roads. I usually only run 65-67 mph to maintain better control and save the expense of repairs caused by bad roads
OUTLAW cents per mile as a form of driver pay. Government and trucking preach “safety” and it’s all LIES. If safety truly were 1st, then cents per mile would have been outlawed decades ago. HOS rules wouldn’t matter so much to us poor drivers if we WERE PAID PROPERLY. CPM as “payment” for drivers is a crime and it not only makes highways less safe, CPM is also greatly responsible for the “driver shortage”, CPM allows “bottom feeder” companies to flourish on the backs of drivers, CPM reduces drivers to glorified UNPAID volunteers because it legally allows shippers/receivers and trucking companies to STEAL FROM DRIVERS. How about ELIMINATING CENTS PER MILE FIRST!!! The time is long overdue to FORCE ALL COMPANIES to pay a flat daily rate! “Safety First”? Until CPM is eliminated those words are nothing more than the punchline to a joke.
How about this everyone employed by the FMCSA must have held a CDL and driven OTR for 10 years, because only fellow drivers know the difficulties drivers face. Get rid of the 14 hour clock and the 34 hou reset, only we can say when we need to rest not someone who has never driven.
Trucking should be trucking. Every body wants there hands in trucking, government etc just to make there dollar.
Can drive a car coast to coast no rules to follow, rent a uhaul and do same thing.
What is safety honestly? From trucking to all jobs. If things were ment to be safe no one be killed or hurt on the job.
Got have rules etc for stupid people that don’t have common sense. It’s that bad they put instructions on a shampoo bottle and labels do not eat.
People need to use there brains to think Instead of a computer
Some drivers sleep when they are tired, and others at night only, reset,reset, reset to drive 14 hours
down time or sleeping 4,3,8,9,10,11,
hours no matter how long in these categories if a driver gets tried
driving and stoping after any of these hours,gotta have a full reset,some drivers sleep during rush hour traffic and many just need to take a nap, find a safe place to park ,automatically reset to 14 hours of drive time,stop to help someone reset,D.O T,COPS waiting to take a shower, eat,traffic, accidents, shutdown roads,kills time and drivers awake time,go off duty when a driver sees fit to do so,flexibly, flexibly,IS THE KEY,and a automated system to show a driver’s mistakes, alerts on license and allow drivers contracts to live on the truck,A UNION, UNIONIZING TRUCKERS NATIONALLY,to stop companies from nickel and diming driver’s down to less than a minimum wage take home check,truckers are working 24/7 and should be paid 24/7,truckers have no sick days pay or mandatory downtime sitting waiting for shippers,receivers,dispatchers,
and companies who put poor maintained truck on DRIVERS C.S.A
scores, most truck drivers are paid under the minimum wage law after deductions from tickets violations companies safety penalties and just not being a perfect, nonmistakable
in every way ,without jumping from Job to job ,paying unbelievable attorney fees and no chance in HELL
to call a organization WITHOUT charge FOR HELP AND GUIDANCE
LIKE IT OR NOT,UNIFYING ALL TRUCKERS WITH A NATIONAL TRUCKERS UNION is better than one driver who keeps all successful information to themselves, together in strong numbers will guarantee a change for the better for trucker’s NOW,,,,,,,GET IN A UNION OR START A UNION AND UNITE AS ONE NATIONAL UNION DRIVER’S
Maybe the FMCSA should be consulting with Professor Roger Ekirch. University Distinguished Professor of history at Virginia Tech. He may have some rather interesting and helpful information on NATURAL sleep habits pre-industrial age. And who knows it could make numerous truck drivers happy. As well as help solving all the arguing on HOS when all anyone wants is to just work safely. Since all this 6-8 hours of sleep is really just modern sleep habits that have been formed in the last 2 centuries.
So heavily regulated by the government. How about 30 days a year paid vacation, medical, dental, vision and a pension! Or how about some common sense!
They do all this **** because none of them have been in a truck for one week, THEY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TRUCKERS GO THROUGH, GET YOU butt IN A TRUCK FIRST, AND THEN MAKE RULES…
Just go back to the HOS we had in the 90’s. Problems solved.
One thing that no one realizes is that the trucking world is the center of what makes this country function. With out us drivers making things get to where they need to go, how would they get thier, they wouldnt! what needs to happen is a strick with in the trucking world! Demanding higher pay and less goverment busywork that isn’t helping any body… and may I also point out that it’s the drivers that don’t follow the common sence rules that screw it up for everyone else. For instance dont drink and drive, make sure you can pass a drug test, dont text and drive, make sure your not over weight, and actually do your job performing your pretrips to be safe and accidents wont cause repercussions for the goverment to feel like they need to intervene. As far as the parking problem goes there is to many drivers and not enough room for the amount of product that needs to be moved this day and age, that’s not our fault! So if the goverment wants to do something than have them use their funding for more rest stops to supply more truck parking for the center workers of our economy! If anything everyone should stand with each other not against, we are all struggling with the same problems.
I dont find any logick in what you saod …rule that makes everyone little unhappy is best …do you actualy hear ur self ? Realy do you know what you just said ? You said you are hungry but you will not eat and thats probably for the best of you !!!! That ur bill came but you wont pay it even if they kick you on street because it makes you unhappy but its best for you !!!! How stupid is that on a scale fron 1 to 99 ….47262638?
Be careful what you wish for. There is nothing wrong with the current hos . If you have problems, learn to manage your time better. If anything hos is an excellent tool to protect drivers from over zealous employers. Make sure you log all of your on duty time correctly. Dot is watching.
Been driving for 25 years. Just give us back our split break… Let me sleep when I’m tired. Not when ELD says I’m tired. And get rid of the 30min break.
In Alaska you can drive 15 hrs with 4 hrs on duty not driving. What I don’t like is the 10 hr sleeper birth. I can’t sleep 10 hrs only around 6 so WTF here you sit twirling your thumbs. Meanwhile the freight is not getting to its destination. How much more regulations are there gonna be put on our heads. They will just do away the the driver with A I . It’s coming fellas better find another occupation.
Hello , I just want to add to ,this on electronic log books have turn the trucking industry into a huge joke. Safety my foot . Putting a clock that counts backwards in front of a driver makes him go faster and faster. Their is no safety in that . Why don’t we address the real issue, America is great because of every single truck driver out their ,working their butts off to bring it to the dock safely. AND THEN BEING ABLE TO REST. Stop screwing with more rules .Fix the problems at hand .Why don’t you people ask the right person ,the guy whose driving that big truck ,bringing home ,your close ,gas and every thing that runs are country.
How quick can we get off the REAL SUBJECT ? Some of you act like little kids here ….
The problem is the decision makers probably have never been truck drivers just paper pushers. And they don’t really want to listen to the people who do the job. Until they do that it’s going to stay screwed up.
I say regulate the 4 wheelers more. Make them only able to drive 11 hours and work 14. I know lawyers and doctors that work 16 hours and then drive one or two hours home and get about5 to 6 hours of sleep then drive an hour or 2 to get to work then work long hours and repeat. They are very big risk if you ask me. Now let’s talk about the drunk drivers and the break checkers out there. Take away there rights to drive and it will be safer out here on the roads…
Dr’s kill way more people then Truck Drivers, give them HOS rules
Yes, for sure monitor their work hours for real.
What I don’t understand why is it so hard for all of you to follow and comply with the rules. It’s pretty damn simple its called time management and common sense. Don’t take a damn load if you seriously can’t make it. Sleep 8 hours. Don’t try to finagle the logs. I’ve been driving for 7 years now. ELD since and would never go back. Paperlogs are dangerous man. Seriously why would you want to risk yours or other people life’s. You can kill people on fatigue. To be honest if your dispatcher is smart and cares about you to live then he wouldn’t push you. For owner operators such as myself just chill, sleep, and take your time. For everyone sake slow down use common sense. ELD is sooooo easy.
I’m just happy knowing, since you young guys saying we, old drivers, are what caused this situation. It gave SOME of you the chance, choice, to drive with feet propped up, playing in your cellphone, with cruise on, oh and watching movies and running over people in stopped traffic, it is OUR fault? Ever think to use common sense or maybe not be in such a freaking hurry, to pay attention. That goes for every driver, young and old. Turn off the phone, and drive. Everyone is to blame for the crap we are going thru. I see all ages, experienced and inexperienced drivers alike. Who else we going to blame next? Become a professional like you should be. It doesn’t matter what I say, this world has turned into a me first world, that blames everyone but themselves.
I SUPPORT What NICK Said 2/21/20 1:46pm WHO ELSE!
Hi guys ,i don’t know you guys but I know for sure this is my last year driving ,ELD was adopted by big corporations because so many accidents, and they push for small business, why they try eliminate as, zero flexibility brokers take a vantage and killing as to squeeze to maximum ,maybe government start control them ,not as ,so shame we can make money ,we control and support USA with ever things and we can stand up to FCMSCA and brokers only to stop 🛑 this crap 💩 we have to stop rolling for 2-3 days , no respect to our work no respect to as I’m sick and tired work for free
While they’re at it, take away all the bells and whistles that are coming on these new trucks, it’s aggravating ASF to hear the beeping when people are constantly jumping in front of you and it throws off your concentration. Also get rid of that dumbass monitoring on the front bumper, outlaw it if you want to make trucking more safer I don’t find anything safe about a truck that can slam on brakes for no reason for you to be safe at all. And bring back the manual for crying out loud, there’s too many wannabe truckers that think they can actually drive but in reality they can’t because they think it’s an SUV because it’s too easy. Having manuals will keep drivers more in tuned with the truck instead of them paying attention to their phones. Here’s a better alternative to the dangerous drivers out there…
The people that push pencils in an office need to keep there noses it of the trucking industry. The reason the economy fails is because you try to fix something that’s not broken. There reason that it’s broken is because you don’t know what you’re doing! So why do we have to take big hit. You’s guys in the office are the reason for the slumping economy.
Why can’t we just sleep 7 hours ? I will get more tired after I wake up and wait 3 more hours do nothing.
You need to be able to drive below 20 for up to 2 miles . Have you seen how many trucks are creeping below 5 mph
? They hold every body up.
The biggest problem with those who make the rules concerning truck drivers and our hours of service is, not one damn one of them have ever driven or owned a truck. They have absolutely no idea whatsoever how their ignorance is affecting the trucking industry. They have been given way to much power over an industry they don’t understand. Worst thing ever implemented has been the 14 hour rule. That is one rule that has completely destroyed the productivity of trucks. Because of the lack of co-operation of shippers and receivers a driver may end up only driving for a couple hours and having the shipper or receiver waste the rest of their 14 hour shift. The 14 hour rule needs to be eliminated.
You guys don’t learn..you prefer slavery to freedom..so that’s the type of funny joke you get on top of all!… as my Portuguese OTR friend told last year after they stop completely, shutted the country down.. -You guy are chickens, have no balls.
I totally agree. It’s a freaking shame!… We could bring the DOT, the insurance companies, the brokers and everybody else related to the truck industry down to their knees till they pay exactly what we want and make the as we tell them to do!
Wake the F up you boloks
My medical card expires in September of this year…I’m done with it at that point.
Lots of rude comments won’t solve any problems. Stick together.
Lets just have one rule 14 hours to do whatever you need to do drive, on duty , take a break . Get it done in that 14 hours .
I really wish that the people who make the rules for drivers had some idea of what we do. The elogs make me drive harder than I’ve ever drove, I don’t like the type of driver they make me, tired, on edge, and watching that damm clock ticking off. I’ve been 32 yrs driving, and I need 3 more. Then piss on the fmcsa.
The meeting just provided an act of lips service, all is still the same, a disaster.
suprised at all the comments didn’t know there were that many drivers left that spoke English
If they are trying g to do his do it equal for everyone the bull haulers still run illegal fly by you from truckstop to truckstop the cmcsa needs to enforce laws on the books on foreign drivers and fix unsafe inspections putting our lives in danger and remember trucks stops so dose this country
As a Security guard at a distribution center. I deal with truckers all the time. Imagine if a load was still happening and the truck turned off automatically. I am stuck trying to reach my supervisor who will likely have to come in and wait for hrs just to let a trucker out 10 hrs later. Almost happened today. Luckily he got out with 3 minutes to spare.