Three more hours added to the fourteen hour duty status

True. A few drivers want to "police themselves". But many others want to be assured they won't be worked like indentured slaves and beyond their physical limits [as they know them that day]. The current HOS imposes enough potential for high-demand expectations from dispatchers. I can't imagine what some would endure if there were zero limits.

 

Do you book your own loads? This one went practically straight into the place where I load and would have left me a few hours in between.

The point I am trying to make is that unlike before ELD’s, the HOS is forcing me to sit in places where I am unable to take care of things like showering or getting groceries.

And before ELD’s, when I noticed the fan shaft bearing rattling like a #####, I would have been sitting in the receiver’s parking lot this morning when they opened up, instead of an on ramp three hours out (sitting wide awake, babysitting a sick reefer). That way I could have got the load off the truck and been at the carrier dealer in time to still pick up my reload today.

 

So a mandatory 70 minute break instead of only 30 minutes would provide the needed time for truckers to shower?
I’ll see what I can do.

 

Interesting math: a day is 24 hours long, 11 off for resting etc. leaves 13. 800 divided by 13 equals 61.5. Not that hard to do.

 

...except it ONLY counted working hours. Your off-duty time did not count against your 15 like it does your 14.

 

I remember the bad old days of paper logs, old HOS, and forced dispatch. I also remember how tired I was as a rookie dealing with all that crap.

I remember leaving my first carrier over exactly those issues (cause driving and working for 36 hours straight is soo good for you!), and the uphill struggle to find another job.

I remember being flat out told by carriers big and small that "adjusting" the logbook was a requirement for employment. Had to save those hours, after all! I remember all the time I worked (and drove!) for free, cause I had to "save those hours!"

And I remember the lousy $600-$800 paychecks that went with. And all the abuse from the company, dispatch, safety, and the customers that went with. I remember the two to three month periods that went by without a single day off.

Y'all want to go back to that? Go ahead. Me, I'll stick with the current set up. I get to sleep regularly, I get to actually SEE the inside of the ###### house I'm paying for, AND I'm making MORE money and working LESS today than I did back then!

I call'em the "Bad Old Days" for a reason.

 

Yes i book my own loads. I've never had a dispatcher, and never will have one.

Do you realize you just flat out said that without elogs you wouldn't run legal? That is WHY we now have elogs.

 

There is no where in 395 that says you must use all 14 hours working. You can stop any time you wish.

 

Two major malfunctions in this part.

A: If you are driving specifically to pick up maintenance items for your business it is on duty. You would be falsifying using half your break to do this.

You can be that efficient with just a smidge of planning.

 

The ORIGINAL rules included both. 12 hours driving within 15 before needing 9 off. The 3 inside the 15 was meant for breaks. A year later it was changed to 11 driving and 8 off. then was changed once more to what we was used to before the big overhaul in.. what was it? 2004?