Working around the ELD mandate

Gotta love the irony of these Elog defenders, I'm sorry, HOS enforcement defenders.

Having that 14hr clock ticking down my neck, often times robbing me of my production time because of a hold up at the dock, or whatever other variables... Doesn't make for a very safe driving experience when I'm trying to rush and not waste any precious minutes because I want to get as many miles as I can done before the time allotted to me runs out.

Ironically enough we get paid on performance but are very limited on how much we can perform...

The forced 30 minutes consecutively brake which does more harm than good.. and steals some more of those 3 hours of leeway you have...

I just love how people are blind to the irony that the HOS as they stand right now force you to drive fatigued, tired and unsafe (while being completely legal). Versus us having the say of how and when we want to work within certain parameters...

I like the Eld as a recording device, less paperwork (we can take the privacy issues if you want, but I'm in favor of 100% compliance if they're willing to dismantle the HOS and give us more leeway).

Some of us like @Hurst want to work safe and as stress free as possible, yet you can't achieve that with the current HOS laws (Eld is not the problem).

 

I only follow HOS, now when I am hooked to ELD, out of fear of getting caught. I got too much to lose at this point of my life in case of of being indicted for involuntary manslaughter. For me spending 10 hours or more at a truck stop, 2-3 hours away from home, is more debilitating and tiresome than driving that extra hours; be it over 11 or 14. Besides, you are talking about a biological clock, meaning you wake up in the morning and go to bed at night. Here you also start the clock at any time at night in which case the 14 hour rule does not help at all. They could make up some counter studies showing, for instance, that a driver with a 14 hour time constraint operates vehicle with a much bigger distress level, which presents no lesser road hazard than the potential fatigue of being up over 14 hours.

 

Just imagine if a doctor who was performing a potentially life-saving surgery on you was racing an hours of service clock. Would you feel more or less confident? In reality, physicians often work long periods of time with no sleep or very little sleep. And many things they do every day have life or death impact potentially. I have several who are friends, and they understand it’s just part of the role. But does that make it ideal? Of course it’s not ideal. And they are sued frequently for mistakes made, regardless of the reason, but at least sometimes you’d think fatigue could play a role. Insurance companies provide them with malpractice insurance, despite the risk.

A friend of mine is a flight nurse on a medical helicopter. She sees people on the worst day of their life, and must make split-second decisions that could determine whether someone lives or dies. She works 24 hour shifts frequently. She has to be ready to fly when the tones sound. She does have the option to declare her self too fatigued to fly, and nothing is said. However, she does not have rigid rules dictating her hours of service.

I’m not advocating more rules for the groups I mentioned. I am just making a comparison of what it would be like if they had a ticking clock. I agree that a ticking clock can lead to less than ideal decisions.

As has been often stated in various threads, the HOS is the real issue. The ELD is not the real problem in my opinion.

 

There same companies that are so worried about safely that they got these stupid laws put in effect are also the same companies that convinced the government to allow them to take a driver that just got through training and make them a trainer. That is more unsafe than anyone running illegal logs. I can run 1000 miles a day (done it many times) a lot safer than these newbies with other newbies can run 500 miles in a day. The lack of good training is the reason for the majority of accidents and claims, not fatigue.

I have no problem with the new style of record keeping. It is much easier than scribbling on paper. I don't like the HOS or done if the regs that came with the ELD mandate.

It is what it is though. I'll keep at it until I'm no longer profitable or they just completely over regulate me out of the business.

 

Maybe instead of complaining about how the rules make it hard to make a living, you don't work for companies that don't respect your time. If you have to sit at docks and are worried about making miles, then there should be detention pay. Maybe we need to think about why we have to work 14 hour days. Blaming safety rules instead of employers is backwards. Those employers know the rules you work under.
They just recently changed rules for medical students for the same reason. Lack of sleep makes you stupid.
And finally... sure you trust your own judgement and yet there are ppl on this forum complaining daily about stupid drivers.... gonna trust their judgement????

 

I don't mean to be mean. Really! Something tells me you are not a truck driver. Are you a child of a DOT officer, or does your uncle work for FMCSA?

 

I'd better walk away from this thread before I punch this Samsung monitor screen.

 

They made the hos rules 80 years ago. They let us run on paper logs. They obviously needed stronger measures... sorry if ppl cant follow rules and more effective measures need to be mandated.

 

There was nothing wrong with the old HOS. The new log rules are based on false info. Fatigued drivers is not the main cause of the roads being unsafe. Letting drivers that are not properly trained drive on their own and even train other drivers is a much bigger issue. I would guess you've only worked for mega carriers and you probably have been driving for less than 5 years.

 

To add to that. The main cause of accidents are by regular class c drivers... Because all you need is a pulse to obtain the lisence and the test doesn't teach anything.

Everyday I come across more people that I can count that wait till they physically touch the right travel lane to begin accelerating to the highway speeds, and I'm crawling by at 65 mind you and these people can't just merge correctly...

Do we need to start putting signs that say. "Get up to speed NOW! Before you get to the highway on the "on ramp"!!!

I have a better theory. Make a "toll" like device that charges you $1-$5 dollars fee if by the time you reach it you're not at at least 65mph. Problem solved.

Yet, us the professionals that live on the road and put down 100k+ miles each year are the bad guys....