HOS VS Brains

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by hrdman2luv, Nov 29, 2011.

Do you need the HOS to make you a safe driver?

  1. Yes - I need the government's regulations to tell me when I'm unsafe to drive.

    7.2%
  2. *

    No - I know myself and my body better than the government

    83.1%
  3. *

    Not sure - I've always ran legal and never thought about it

    10.8%
  1. Moosetek13

    Moosetek13 Road Train Member

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    You already stated that you had no sleep during that break, implying it would have been unsafe.

    Remember? It was that post that I first responded to, and that we are talking about now.

    The pay issue is irrelevant. The question is about safety - not lost pay.
    Nor is it about what the company expects you to do.

    It is about our own personal responsibility to operate safely.
     
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  3. Moosetek13

    Moosetek13 Road Train Member

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    And that's all I'm going to say about it.

    See ya.
     
  4. Tazz

    Tazz Road Train Member

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    No you made a conscious decision to operate in that manner. The HOS had absolutely nothing to do with that decision. It was between you and your company.

    Anyone blaming a regulation that specifically prevents you from driving accept under a certain set of conditions forcing you to drive is ignorant.

    Your being job scared might be to blame.
    Your greed might be to blame(probably a major reason for HOS to begin with).
    The company you drove for might be responsible(though you turn the #### key so even that is an illegitimate excuse for your decision).


    The regulations are not, and in fact specifically forbid you from taking the action you claim happened.

    That is fact. All the quaint bs aside.
     
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  5. Roadmedic

    Roadmedic Road Train Member

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    No problem.

    In truth, I sleep less than 5 hours.
    I cannot sleep any after 5 in the morning. I am not usually sleepy until midnight.

    All other break hours are spent on different forums or watching dvds.

    I have went to bed at 3 and pop awake at 5.

    See how this differs from a logbook?

    Been working at 5 am since I was 14.
     
  6. RickG

    RickG Road Train Member

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    The hours of service also state a driver must not operate if ill or fatigued . Available hours are irrelevant .
     
  7. Roadmedic

    Roadmedic Road Train Member

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    Like I have stated, fatigue is an opinion.
     
  8. mickeyrat

    mickeyrat Road Train Member

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    on my 30 min break
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    Isnt there an element of trust involved that the driver is going to be honest about this? I understand its prob naive of me to ask that.
     
  9. ironpony

    ironpony Road Train Member

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    Its not that you or I or Tazz are the problem. The problem is the idiot who drives well past the point where s/he is dropping off the planet in little micro-sleep periods... followed by emergency services lifting his/her tractor off of the remains of another vehicle. That is why we have HOS regulations - no matter how onorous or ineffective they may be - and why the government continually seeks to tighten them up.

    http://www.koamtv.com/story/10602650/i-44-pileup

    Self-regulation would be fine if EVERYONE knew and respected their personal limits. Unfortunately enough don't or won't respect those limits that it gets us into this sort of regulation mess.
     
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  10. king Q

    king Q Road Train Member

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    Jul 26, 2010
    Johannesburg sa
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    In a country where there are no enforced logs like where I'm from ill tell you what happens.Although we are not allowed to drive more then 14 hours per 24hour period , there might as well be no law at all.
    Many drivers spend 100 plus hours a week with the wheels turning.
    This excludes loading , fueling or off loading hours.
    In my company I let the drivers decide for them self's.
    I however instruct them to stop if I think they are pushing the envelope.
    I have had to tell two drivers wives that their husbands were dead, I never want to do it again.
    Had the one been properly rested he may have seen the truck stopped with out lights in front of him , I will never know.
    The other was hit head on by a driver that fell asleep and in the middle of the day and drifted over in to on coming traffic.
    I have fired drivers for not stopping to rest.
    This is after they had been driving for more than 24h and I had instructed them to stop and rest.

    It is also not only drivers that don't know their limits.
    If there were no regulations you would get dispatchers and controllers pushing drivers like they do here.
    Unfortunately when people are given a choice you end up with people making decisions that are insane.
    Now if the only ones who were effected were them self's then so be it, but some decisions are just as destructive to people who have nothing to do with the decisions.
    Just look at the leaders that are chosen to lead if you don't believe me.
     
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  11. ac120

    ac120 Road Train Member

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    +1

    Thank you. In the U.S., federal HOS rules for commercial drivers hit the road in 1939 (after four years of public hearings and a lot of back-room dealing), rules that were, BTW, vigorously opposed by the ATA. A few states had HOS rules as far back as the mid-1920s.

    Here is a quote from the July 12, 1937 issue of Life Magazine: "... fatigue is the truck driver's biggest enemy. He must sometimes spend 72 hours at the wheel without prolonged rest ... if he trucks between San Antonio and El Paso he may drive the 1,100-mile trip practically without stop."

    This is from the Federal Register (where proposed rules and regulations are first made public in the U.S.), July 8, 1936: "The ultimate objective of the safety regulations ... is to decrease accidents, save human lives, and reduce property losses by the following means: every driver mentally and physically qualified to drive safely; possessed of a driver's license; subject to rules and regulations relating to qualifications of drivers and safety of operations; and protected from hazardous fatigue by limitations in hours of service."
     
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