What the new hours of service really mean.

Another reason why I mentioned that maybe doing things different or with a different carrier in order. I saw all of this coming years ago and long since did away with the weeks on the road game. I go home each week except maybe 2 or 3 times a year when I may decide to take a beneficial run. Maybe this is how more drivers are going to have to negotiate things with their carriers. I get proposals all the time. When they start this 10-14 days out game, I say we have nothing more to discuss. Hasn't hurt me in over 12 years. Just wish I had done this two decades before then.

 

Of course you don't NEED a restart.
But that doesn't change the fact its useful/helpful in some cases. And they are limiting it.

 

well it doesnt affect me like i said on another post i leave on Wednesday home sat am bout 1800 miles.cop asked me other day why i dont do recap i said look i dont run any miles

 

Some carriers are already running this new reg. Prolly not a bad idea to get some practice with it before people start screwing things up when it is actually enforced by DOT. I am still confused about the 1AM to 5AM rule. I run nights only, so this will really mess me up.

 

if you shut down for two nights beginning at 0115, you will not be able to get a 34hr restart

you will have to have shut down at 0045-0100 for two nights straight, then at 1100hrs the second day, you will have a 34

basically, your 34hr restart must have two consecutive nights

 

we are not allowed to let logic enter this discussion

its what the government dictates, and we shut up

 

The only reason they added the 30 minutes is they had to justify their jobs. Every driver stops that much each day and it was an unnecessary rule. Look everyone we improved the rules after doing studies for hours and hours! We are getting closer to that fine line.

In another five years they'll remove the 30 minutes.

Most drivers start a 34 after delivering in the morning and it ends while night dispatch is there so they end up getting more like a 42 hour restart when dayshift comes in and finds you a load. That scenario will happen more than just getting a 34 and rolling again. You just can't win.

 

I will readily concede that the government does a lot of things primarily to pad the case and justify their jobs. But FMCSA made it quite clear that this 30 minute thing came about from all the "listening" sessions held by the FMCSA around the country that they wanted drivers to attend and comment on the HOS. After hearing the comments, they came up with the 30 minute mandatory break. It had nothing to do with the anti trucking groups. Those groups are the primary reason for the 34 hr break change. So blame a bureaucrat all the you want for the 30 min break requirement, but those that used the "listening" session for their personal venting, got what they were screaming for. This new 30 min reg falls squarely on the fault of the drivers

As for dispatch not getting loads lined up to pickup after a reset is complete, then that is the fault of any driver that sticks with a carrier that does that on a normal basis. I have a couple of good "travel agents" that line loads up, several in advance, that know how to work things around a reset or a break. And, of course, the driver also is as much to blame. Communication is a wonderful thing. Even with the new regs, you should know when a reset is complete and can move. Call the folks that line up things, let them know when you can move, and have a load lined up to go after when you get the reset done. Anyone who relies solely on some person in a cubicle back at the carrier to figure everything out is setting themselves up for misery. A driver, whether they are a company driver, leased on has to learn to manage a lot of things themselves. Supposedly they can think, so use the folks in dispatch as simply a resource to getting the loads lined up.

We have been extremely busy lately, so this will make the 3rd weekend at home not being able to pull off a reset even on the rules we have now. No problem. Just plan loads to take advantage of HOS recap and keep on chugging away. Not so bad. Still got by the house a couple of time during the week for 10 hr breaks also. I work with the folks back at the office to line up loads that make doing the recap without a reset simple and effective. I don't leave all the decisions up to someone who has hardly, if ever, been in a truck themselves.

 

if drivers normally take a break in their 11hrs, why did the government have to MANDATE a 30min break?

what if i start, drive 2hrs, nap, and then drive 9hrs straight, why is that now illegal?

again with the "move over laws", they took a general practice and made it a law and now we have people causing more dangerous incidents

everything in life does not have to be a law (mandate)

 

So take the nap one hour later! Wow, is it that difficult to figure out how to make this all work? The new 30 min thing can be taken anytime between the 3rd and 8th hour of driving. So you would have to wait a whole big hour to take another nap. I admit the whole thing makes absolutely no real sense, but it is not the career killer that some seem to imply. It is all real easy to work around if one just puts their brain in gear and think thru it.

It would be a wonderful world if everyone was responsible enough that there was no need for government agencies to step in and mess things up. But the American people, including drivers, wanted it this way. They voted for folks (both political parties) that pushed these government agendas, so there is hardly any room for the citizens to bellyache. Until we can get some better folks in there, we just have to learn to work around whatever idiotic regs they throw out at us.