Petition to stop EOBRs

If you think I'm a shill, you couldn't be more wrong. Please show where I have argued FOR EOBR's.

As for the other stuff, I've said what profession I'm currently in several times on this forum. I've also said several times that I don't list that information in my profile because it is counterproductive to discussing topics on this forum.

 

gremlin

if you go around to 1million people and bring the petition, is that one solution you have? well the internet will reach 1million people a lot easier than i can

if you say, call 1million people, have a town hall meeting, a stadium, all accomplishes the same thing

right now, its only in an idea stage, and that internet petition

without COMMUNICATION, nothing happens

the internet is just a form of communication, NOT a jumpstart to WW3

 

I didn't know there were 1 million active members on this forum. I stand corrected. By all means, carry on then.*








Do you smell that? That's sarcasm. Smells fresh too.

 

Funny, I thought if it walked like a duck, quacked like a duck, and looked like a duck....it was freakin' DINNER! Ha ha ha ha!!

 

So you only want to hear from yes men then. Got it. good luck with that.

 

I wouldn't consider myself a "yesman" by any means. I've looked at both side of this issue, from both the driver perspective and the company perspective. I've drawn a few personal conclusions:

1. The best money I've made to date while running legal, or compliant (however you wish to phrase it) was while running on E-logs. That's for me, personally...your results may vary. Certainly your situation will. While I was on E-logs I ran 100% drop and hook freight on a dedicated account. E-logs made it alot easier for dispatch to keep me pre-planned, as my trip planning and consistent running practices made me an extremely reliable driver.

2. E-logs, like the paper logbooks they evolved from, where not originally intended to punish the driver but to protect the driver from unscrupulous company practices. Many of us remember the old days ("driver, you ain't out of hours if there's an empty log book/page on that truck!") and some few of us were happy to see the advent of E-logs in the industry. After all, how did Werner Enterprises replace drivers back before they started training rookies? Or am I the only one who remembers when Werner Enterprises had a waiting list of drivers?

Having said that, I do feel that E-Logs (like many of the new regulations) have been corrupted from their original purpose to become weapons for use by the carrier against the driver, especially the experienced, and therefore more expensive to employ driver. Its easy for us as drivers to forget that many of the regulations were intended to protect us. Not the general motoring public, but we the drivers.

New drivers rarely have any idea what trucking used to be like. Even drivers as experienced as myself and a few others forget what it was like back in the '90s and that wasn't a patch on how bad trucking really was in the 60s and 70s. The legends and stories about 40 hour California turnarounds, the drugs, the staying awake for two or three days at a time? Yeah, all that actually happened. And it wasn't always the driver's choice. Dispatchers (or driver managers/fleet managers/whatever feel good term they use these days) don't "push" anywhere near as hard today as they did back then.

But this isn't for a history lesson on the trucking industry. That has been covered much better by drivers who actually lived it on other threads. This is about the viability of EOBRs being required on all trucks. If EOBRs were being used as originally intended (to protect the driver from unscrupulous company practices) I would fully support them. However, EOBRs are not being used to protect the drivers, they are being used to drive smaller companies and owner/operators either out of business or into mergers with the larger outfits in an attempt to destroy competition. As are many of the other regulations being thrown into the industry.

Therefore, I have decided (freely and of my own will, based upon my own research findings and personal feelings on the subject) that the EOBR rulings should be reversed, and that EOBRs should not be required on all commercial vehicles. The use of EOBRs should be a decision made by the company owner or board, not mandated by the government.

 

Because anytime anyone says anything against them, you tell them how wrong they are and what a waste of time it is to try to stop them.

I'm sorry I don't have to time to follow every post as to what your profession is, but since you seem to hide it, I could care less what you say on here.

 

I do use EOBR's. And when everything works right, they are no problem. But here I sit on Thanksgiving night, in Clear lake, Iowa....about 3 hours from home. And ran out of hours and have been here for 7.5 hrs. Not saying it is right, but in years past, I'd have been home hugging my wife and playing games with the kids by now. And that is something the politicians dont seem to get. Whether EORB or paper log, they are messing with our lives, not just our livelihood. EORB's should NOT be mandated. If a company wants to adopt them, that is their choice. I can choose to work for them or not. But the govt and all these anti trucking groups who claim to be "safety advocacy groups" need to go find real problems to address. Like our nations crushing national debt and trade imbalances.

 

I don't believe I have ever disputed a statement made against EOBR's. The waste of time trying to stop them? Yep. You got me there. Drivers don't have much lobby power. That's a fact. I've never said that drivers couldn't have lobby power, just that we don't currently. If you want to stop EOBR's from becoming mandatory, you need lobby power and lots of it and we currently have almost none. Signing a poorly worded petition is not going to get the job done. If you want to stop them, you're going to need to do better than that. If I'm the enemy for trying to point that out, then I guess I'm the enemy.