BREAKING NEWS: Senators introduce bill to require EOBRs

Well it's a moot point for now, since congress went home. They are not likely to address this after the elections so it will die at the end of this session (Dec 31)
I expect to see it again. Politicians just can't leave well enough alone.

 

They've already announced that it will be reintroduced. It should be a foregone conclusion at this point that EOBRs are going to be required in interstate commerce eventually. Doesn't mean that this has anything to do with safety for the majority of us - it may cut down some on the amount of falsified logs running around out there.

The NTSB has been pushing this idea for sometime now... and since this notion now has champions in the Senate with some large money behind it, that means its got some legs.

 

IP, why are you such a cheerleader for this?

I left Prime, partly because of e-logs...not because I want to run illegal, because I don't. It was because I don't like working with a company that has so little confidence in the drivers who went through its own training program. I did not go through Prime training, but I have seen it...in fact was encouraged to be a trainer. Many times. My beef is I was told I was running a business and within two years had most of the tools I use to maximize my profit taken away from me. I struggled along dragging those bags under my eyes around for the last six months I was there because of those e-logs, but no matter how many miles I put on, loads I hauled and calls I answered, I could not get past $500/wk...working my tail off and being tired all the time.

Legal is not the same as safe.

Someone has said before Prime is not forced dispatch for lease operators. Well, I suppose not, if you don't mind sitting for a while after you've turned down the second 95cpm load (including fuel surcharge) and then getting a dispatch at 0230 for even less that needs to be moved right now and goes to Tampa...and we all know the only thing coming out of Florida is Tropicana at 92cpm including fuel.

EOBR's are not about safety. They are about control and "equality" pure and simple. Equality is not the same as "fair." I don't have time to get into that right now and this isn't the right thread for it anyway.

 

I'm not.

Huh? They actually PREFER to retain drivers coming up through their system... they get trained to drive the loads the way they want them done, and they also claim a superior safety record for those folks too. At least thats what they tell me.

You have to adapt your running style to the elog system. The biggest thing is it forces you to plan your trips much more thoroughly, and to do that before accepting the load. Also, you have to be very cognizant of where you stand viz the 11/14/70 hour clocks, and where you are concerning appointment times. Most folks learned how to work the paper logs a little to make things work out - that's just not doable under elogs. Right now, $1200 net is a pretty meagre settlement for me.

The FMCSRs have some weasel words in there for that too. The parts about driving "fatigued" or "sick" come to mind.

You had a crappy FM, that's for sure. Either the rate going into FL makes it worth it, or there's no point going down there.

I agree completely - although it depends on how your carrier uses that information. It certainly can be used as a tool to control your behavior. My experience has been that an FM does not have the time to micromanage every driver. If you do your job so that your appointments are kept, they leave you alone. If you're a slacker spending all your time in the truckstop, constantly late - then yeah they're going to use that information to "control" you. Go figure.

What I hear the primary reasons for going with elogs were at Prime are eliminating log violations to improve the carriers CSA score, and business efficiency. I didn't contribute to the former (anyone who gets caught with a bad logbook is an idiot, especially with loose-leaf log pages) and I can understand the second. IMO, they're right about business efficiency, since my trips seem to come along a lot faster when the freight is available. I can also understand that doesn't mean jack squat to an O/O who is arranging his own loads.

EOBRs and elogs are typical government overreaction to a serious problem - a problem we cause for ourselves. As commercial drivers we're held to a higher standard than 4-wheelers. When we screw up and squash someone's family, eventually the blame game gets around to demanding something is done about the "awful carnage on the highways." Well here we are. Enough folks get caught with log violations, falsefied logs - and get into accidents - that now the government has concluded that we can't be trusted with a logbook and a pen. Doesn't mean I like it - either the idea that this industry is so corrupt that you can't make a living at it unless you're constantly violating the HOS rules (a first cut at getting us under control.) or the idea that only a computer-nanny, electronic-leash system will keep up from slaughtering the next 4-wheel idiot that does something stupid in front of us that we'll get blamed for. We can fight it as much as we want, but its pretty obvious that this is the future of trucking - either accept it or move on.

 

No... it's a problem the monster carriers invented in order to force the small carriers out of the industry. You are being spoonfed a load of ####... how's it taste?

And that kind of apathetic attitude is exactly why this country is on the fast track to hell. We don't have to accept it. We had better squash this kind of crap now while we still have the power to vote.

 

For me, I used to lease to a company that had a qualcom installed on my truck. After they were bought out by TMC, It made my life hell.

There were always instances like when I was sitting in Iowa, and dispatch calls me and asks me to bounce to Bismarck ND to get a load paying a buck twenty five to auburn washington.

I also used to always be tired because yes they could tell how long my truck had been sitting still, and just as Injun had pointed out earilier they know when you have been sitting for 10 plus hours. And that call will come in, and they will want you to go get a load reguardless of how tired you are.

This is why I prefer to do business with a cell phone. I pick up the phone I call dispatch, I let them know when they an expect me to unload, and when I go to sleep, I can shut the phone off. And I do it happily.

If the plan changes or im going to be late, I make a call and put who needs to know in the know.

EOBR's are going to be a very very bad idea, and for a simple reason. I may wind up pulling up to a big city at 3:15 in the afternoon. Now my options are, drive through said city, try to fight the traffic, the conjestion and a bs, or I can find a parkin spot, take a little nap, wake up 3 hours later and sail on through unimpeded and make good time.

With an EOBR, I cant do that, I have to run the truck if I want to use my hours, which means more trucks in rush hour traffic, and you think traffic is bad now, wait until a driver has to drive and cant stop with out knowing they will lose hours and wind up being late.

All EOBR's will do is take a bad problem and make it worse.

 

You hit the nail on the head there.

Personally I dont think this bill is going anywhere, but we will see.

I think november will really tell the tale. The good news is that right now Washington is a ghost town, and no one is doing much of anything that involves legislating.

 

I believe a little different here.

They have been discussing these things for about 6 years. It has crossed many different administrations and political people in Washington.

I do not see this as just something the current guy is doing and that an election in a month will solve. After all, they do not take office till January.

 

This is true, but I dont think they will be getting much of anything done after november, and what I mean by november is we will see what the next congress is going to look like, who it is going to be made up of, and then we will see who it is we are going to have to deal with.

I am just hoping it will not be people foolish enough to think that EOBR's are a good idea.