Trucker files request for personal exemption from HOS rules

Exactly.

 

There are 2 purposes for HOS regulations, and enforced by ELD's

1. Is to prevent fatigue
2. Is to prevent carriers from asking, no requiring drivers to drive more than is safe.

Those regulations don't do either perfectly.
Absent any regulation, what do you think your life would be like out here?

Operations: I know you have spent the whole day sitting at Schmuck Logistics waiting to be loaded with Chinese made lawn chairs
I need those lawn chairs 600 miles away by 8 AM Tuesday in Intercourse PA, so you can pick up at 12:00 noon in Lancaster and be in Columbus OH
06:00 Wednesday. That shipper always holds our trucks up. Can't help it.
Driver: When do you expect me to take my 10 off? And I have done 74 hours on duty and driving in the last 4 days.
Operations laughs: What do you mean 10 off? There are no regulations that require you get any time off. Get it done driver or turn in your keys.

When I first started in this industry in 1976, this conversation was commonplace WITH HOS regulations in place but spotty enforcement.

 

To compare driving in Alberta Canada with running Virginia to Maine in the US, or Chicago Metro area, Atlanta Metro, Houston-Dallas etc is not a valid comparison.

 

Yet you can drive local in all of those metro areas and not need a logbook of any sort.

 

I just want to be able to drive while I’m awake and sleep when I’m tired.

I remember being a brand new driver and always being exhausted and having enough caffeine in my system to kill a dozen elephants. Wouldn’t sleep worth a #### on my 10 and was always chasing the clock.

it would have been so much easier on everyone to simply let me pull over and sleep an hour or two and start driving again.

the issue is the #######es that want to drive 20 hours a day till they kill someone or the dirt bag companies that strong arm drivers to drive while tired.

 

No cellphones or GPS you don’t ask, you simply pull over and go to sleep.

 

Only for 12 hours. And you must return to where you started.
And the punch clock records must be maintained at the carrier to support that exemption.

 

That is the crux of the situation. And we all know there are plenty of them out there. Hence the regulations.

 

Got changed to 14 hours a bit ago. When the 30 minute break changed to allow on duty too.

 

You can do exactly that, I do it frequently. Two hours in either Off Duty or Sleeper Berth pauses your clock, and later on when you stop for the night, gives you the option of a partial reset after eight hours, giving you back the driving hours you used before the nap.