Working around the ELD mandate

The driver has always had not only the authority but the duty to not drive if the load cannot be done legally, or if they are too tired or sick to be safe. This outlaw, macho truck driver brainwashing that all of us must "Git Er Done" no matter what is so ingrained in both old and new drivers that few have the *alls to stand up and say NO. Drivers have allowed themselves to be taken advantage of for decades, willing to work 20 hour days to maybe make what a normal person makes in 8 hours. And they want even more hours, instead of less hours and more pay. As others have stated we need to be compensated for our waiting time especially as O/O. Forget the two hours free time BS, the hourly pay clock should start when we arrive whether it is FCFS or appointment. The shipper/consignee made the decision to be FCFS or appointment so either way they need to be held accountable for our time.

Delays in some segments are starting to lessen due to the impact of the reality of running legal hours (a.k.a. ELDs). Rates, at least those I deal with, have gone up far more than I expected post-ELD. Drivers have the ball back in their court but are chomping at the bit to give it back and let the shippers, receivers, and dispatchers once again dictate what they do. I have run legal for forty years, if I am delayed I make it clear that those four hours I was held up will push back my delivery time by four hours. I never saw a need for me to have to rush because of someone else's incompetence, no matter what the reason for the delay. But, again, it would not be manly for most to do that, ruining their outlaw image and all that. They think they are heroes by driving 20 hours straight and oh boy look at me I got the load delivered on time. There's no prize for that, other then being expected to do the same thing over and over, and for your fellow drivers to be expected to do it because you did it. I"ll get off my soapbox now ... putting on my Nomex suit ....

 

I disagree with you. These are my roads,.. paid for by my money. My quarterly 2290 tax payments entitles me that right.

If I hurt someone,.. it will not be from fatigue or from an exhausting working environment. That much I can assure you. I'm 50 years old and my record speaks for itself.

Your liberal attitude towards compliance for a system that is broken is what is wrong with this system. I refuse to operate my truck in an unsafe manner. Its too bad that you can not comprehend the reasoning behind what I do.

As the driver and owner of my truck,.. I make the executive decision to drive at my own pace in order to remain as safe as I comfortably can while still being productive. The way the current HOS are written,.. they is no way for me to follow them with out being unsafe. I refuse to blindly allow a set of rules written by someone who has no idea who I am or what I need to tell me how I need to work and rest. I will continue to make the choices I feel work best for me. Not what works best for you.

Hurst

 

YOU may be responsible, even in your lawbreaking. However... The reason the laws exist is because too many who were NOT responsible broke the laws. A dead child has a lot more pull than any truck driver with the public. A disabled mother pulls the heartstrings of legislators considerably more than some fat, smelly, unwashed, dirty old man in shorts and flip flops scratching his balls. If you think it's so #### broken then why complain here? Here, there are hundreds of drivers who drive within the legal limits, every day, without complaint. There are thousands of them on the road.
The people to complain to are the republicans in congress who chose NOT to delay the elog mandate, and those who enacted it. Call them every single time you "lose money" by running legal. Call them every time you have to stay 10 mins from home because you are out of hours. Sue your govt for the money back. Support the organizations that lobby for your cause. Contact those organizations every time the elog/hos mandate affects your bottom line, and tell them what you think is the proper solution. "Freedom" is not an adequate defense. That child has the right to life in the constitution FIRST, long before your right to drive when you have met the current legal definition of "fatigued".
There's not a lot of sympathy for any kind of lawbreakers on this forum, I have noticed, when you are responsible for safely driving 80K+/- lbs of deadly force in motion. You're not driving a 4 wheeler. You are driving a huge mass of killing force. A car doesn't run through 6 cars and still keep moving. Trucks can. I've seen the massive deaths that one truck can cause.
They DID redefine the PC rules, which means that they DO hear you if you make complaints.
It is complete bullpucky for you to say that there is NO way for you to drive safe under the current laws. THOUSANDS of drivers do it every day. If you honestly rest your 10 hours, then a 14 hour day is well within the parameters of human attention spans. If you can't drive within the limits, then it's on YOU. If you can't drive safely under the current laws, then what the hell are you doing behind the wheel???? No one says you can't stop and rest. If you are honestly unsafe, then for all that's good in this world, stop and take a break. Call and let them know your load will be late.
These are MY roads too. I too pay taxes for them, as does that family that gets killed when a driver breaks the rules. There was a video posted just a couple days ago, right here on this forum, of 2 ppl being killed when an inattentive driver plowed right through their car and the car behind them. When you pay for the entire road, alone, and have them pave it for your exclusive use, then it's YOUR road. Otherwise it is a shared resource for the FREE use of all. It is a free country, and you are free to break the laws, but don't whine when you get your consequences for it.
The point is, the OP asked how he could get around the elog mandate. Arguing back and forth about whether or not the rule is "broken" does not answer his question at all.

 

This is a fun thread.
Instead of the same old “I don’t want to run out of hours 10 minutes from home “
We have a total refusal to follow any of the HOS . An absolute I’ll drive any way I want and create a log page that looks legal.

 

Your right it is a fun thread. The thing I find most funny is how some think the ELD is the reason for good pay at present time. Some of us have been doing this long enough to know the ELD has nothing to do with the current going rate.
And I'm from the camp that sold my 2003 KW that I bought brand new thinking it was the last truck I would buy. I bought my Dads 1996 cause he retired.

 

And despite ELDs or I should say "even with ELDs" there are still ways to do that. However, I heard some folks are getting caught. The cops are getting better at this, by simply treating the ELDs as if they were paper logs...for example they call the shippers/receivers/ ports of entries to verify what the grid shows. It is hard or even possible to make it perfectly false any more with all the IR cameras, tollways, smartphones, and greedy Lawyers ready to spend tens of thousands $ for depositions and experts, there is no way to escape discovery of a falsified logbook in case of the worst. It had been like that long before ELDs anyway. It is just a matter of how daring someone is. I don't know if a falsified ELD carries the same weight as falsified paper log, though.

I can agree that the HOS with the latest PC provisions are workable but disagree that they promote safety better than the simple rules prior to 2004 change or what the Canadians have. I would say that drivers without at fault accidents for the last 10 years or 2 million miles should be exempted from any HOS at all, if they so chose. They know when they're fatigued and when they should stop and rest - that's exactly the reason for having HOS - some people can't refuse their employers to push them and they need ELDS and HOS.

 

O must have missed the part where the only requirement for road use was a few pennies a mile.

All the facts that driving is a privilege, using public roads to conduct your business doubly so says they are not your roads exclusively.

But hey why let facts get in the way. Like the fact this is not meant for everybody. If you can not be legally productive maybe it is time to build your own road. In your back yard. You can truck it up however you want.

The fact people flat out refusing to hold shippers receivers to legal loads keeps rates depressed.

The fact you signed an agreement to abide the rules and regulations set for for operation of a commercial motor vehicle on the roads. And then two faced that agreement and said ""No one puts baby in a corner #######".


The fact that it does not matter if you were tired when you hurt someone. If your dirty on HOS you have zero defense. You have no testimony because you will be a proven fraud and habitual liar.


Good luck.

 

And who exactly is going to pay for that data base, investigate drivers annually to see if they have had an accident, and have a mechanism for LEO's to verify a drivers status?

 

Do you just like to hear yourself talk or what?

Punctuation would make that much easier to read.

Much of what you ramble on about was answered in my previous posts. If you took the time to read them, as you expect people to read that crap you just posted, you might find the answers your looking for.

Hurst

 

I'm picturing a beach with a lot of sand. An angry man making fists walking toward the beach.

I think you get the picture.

I'm done. I've said everything I have to say. And to be honest,... I simply don't care enough to be bothered by most opinions and what I consider trivial truck-stop banter.

Hurst