EOBR's All opinions wanted!

I have not had the opportunity to use anything like this. But it might be a good thing. I'm just not in favor of cooking the log to make it "look" like you are driving legal.

I don't see a privacy issue here at all. A privacy issue might occur if someone was monitoring you in the sleeper, your "house" portion of the truck, but not while it is being operated on the highway.

I can only speak for myself. When I was a noob, I did drive exhausted, but only because I had never worked with a trainer and did not know how to "pace" myself and plan my trip. Once I got that figured out, then there was no problem.

No, I am not against the HOS. It makes for a PITA a lot of the time, but it also gives a driver a good tool to keep from being forced to run when you should not, due to exhaustion.

Don't see any reason to put it on local only drivers. But if you are going to mandate it for any OTR/regional/line haul, then mandate it for all of them.

I have no idea.

Well, first off, Diane Feinstein introduced the bill. That in itself, should tell everyone that it is bull hockey. What little I have read about it comes from another trucking site so I won't link to it.

However, if you do a Google search on electronic on-board recorders you can get some information.

Again, I stress, this is a bill introduced by a California Senator who is totally clueless about anything other than furthering her own political career.

 

There are many ways to get around EOBR's. And I have only heard of a few. From magnets to shorting out certain wires. The falsification of logs runs deeper and more frequent in this industry than anyone really wants to admit. There is no perfect solution at this time. EOBR's will make it more difficult to falsify and violate. The company I work for is currently testing some in preparation for the future and looking at it as a enforcement tool with drivers who can't or won't run a paper log that is true and correct. The biggest issue I have is enforcement and the people out there in the scale houses don't do their job. I have seen logs from drivers that DOT has run through inspections that are false upon face value. But they do nothing about it or educate the driver on the rules. I have even seen one where the driver was at 12 1/2 hrs of driving and all they got was an overweight ticket on the tandems and they let the driver go. Roadside enforcement people are the worst enemy a trucking company and its drivers have. Also have had drivers shut down at scale houses and the officer doesn't really understand the rules him/her self (driver was legal and they couldn't see it). EOBR's would eliminate the stupid factor for most because they don't know how to read a log or create a legal one let alone understand the different rules surrounding them. I could go on and on about this subject but this should be enough for now.

 

I have no problem with them. I run legal now and a eobr won't change that. Drivers that cry"privicy" are doing things they shouldn't be doing. Never heard of "trip planning" and wouldn't run legal if you had a gun to their head. Ive heard drivers say"I can't make any money running legal". sounds like your trying to support a lifestyle you can't afford. I run legal , my bills are paid, my clothes a clean and I'm a long ways from being hungry. works for me!!!!!!

 

Yeah - about the time pigs fly. But it's my understanding that fatigue reduction isn't the purpose of the EOBR.

Why should I? Unless it's taking images of me, of course. So long as all it does is record what happens to the TRUCK (and maybe has a panic button for 911), why should I care? It's not like the truck is some super-stealthy black ...um.. helicopter.

the fact that we are paid by the mile. All else is secondary.

Sadly, many people push themselves too far and as a result, mess things up for the rest of us. It's a fact of nature, and it's gonna happen. What I'd LIKE is a logging system more tailored to how tired the driver actually is, rather than some cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all thing. As it stands, this is about as good as I can expect.

Do you think gun safety courses should be mandated for all gun owners, or just certain ones?

If it's properly designed, it will either be impossible to cheat or will be essentially impossible to disguise any tinkering.

 

Lurch it will allso help fight some tickets and maybe win a few lawsuits.Start having a lot of speeding tickets dimissed by the recorded proof.Look who that will help and who it will hurt same with the law suits.

 

Hihghballin' - true. But I figger that's gonna be a wash, cuz it's gonna nail some of the drivers to the wall.

What I'd *like* to see is a standardized 6-camera system tied into it. Constantly record 1 minute of video - then in the event of sudden change in vector (i.e. collision) the most recent 1 minute is "permanently" recorded - that is, saved instead of being flushed. THAT would save a LOT of drivers. Of course, it would burn a lot, too - but in the long run, I think it would make the highways safer.

 

Yes your right on both but it might be for the best.Get some of the steering wheel holders off the road.But at least if you got a ticket and you were inocent maybe instead of paying a lawyer the black box could be the lawyer.Of course you know how some of the kangaroo courts are

 

First, thank you for going to the source and the real "experts." That doesn't happen enuff. I don't know enuff to respond to your quest. - except for driver fatigue/hours of service.

-Hours of service- do to the way things work are unrealistic. They don't function around reality, or any one persons internal clock or physical condition at any moment. But obviously there has to be some type of safety monitoring.

-Main cause of driver fatigue? As previously stated "getting paid by the mile".... that means that shippers/recievers/companies can waste all the time of a driver they want- because they know;
1). they get paid by the hour and go home at quiting time, what do they care?
2). if a driver wants to make any money (which he has left his family to do)....he's gonna have to run the load (paid by the mile)
3). if a driver pushes back every load delivery time- every time he's detained, he's gonna end up hurting himself by a.)making less money
b.)having late deliveries c.)creating bad business by constantly making the reciever (the customer) wait longer for his loads

The entire system that we as drivers function under tends to work for the shipper/reciever, pretty much everyone except the driver and the safety of the motoring public.

You could start a day (hypothetically) spending 3 hours to unload, 3 hours waiting to get dispatched a load from your company, then 2 hours to drive to pick up the new load, then 3 more hours waiting to get the new load/securing/tarping.
Time spent= 11 hours.
Money made for the driver= (if you don't get detention pay untill after 3 hours and make, say, .40 a mile) = $40
Time of day started = 7am.
Time of day your unloaded/reloaded and ready to begin the trip (the longer drive that actually makes you money on the way to deliver your load) = 7pm. And now you have 500 miles to drive = 9.5 hours (give take for fueling/bathroom/food).
---say the load deliveries tomorrow during the day, and you know if you don't kick it off first thing in the morning {(and your company knows-which is just part of life- not being cruel- and on ocasion it does pay to drop later in the day)} you'll most likely spend more time after you unload ..waitning for a new load, which = more time wasted that you could have gotten somewhere and showered/ate/slept. (most companies severly frown on you driving to far while you wait on a load- as they may need you to pickup an appt. load soon, it's a waste of fuel, ect.)

Now this is a negative feedback and it doesn't always work so badly....but it sure does happen often enuff.

If we were paid by the hour, we'd make more then doctors/surgens.
-Greed is another cause for driver fatigue.
-Being an unknowing rookie, trying to take care of a company that gave you a shot, and working for a company that isn't gonna say a word no matter how hard your rookie ### runs (because they get paid when you roll, and you do make your own dicsions)....is another cause.