Here we go again...Another shut down planned.

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My opinion is that this group will do more harm than good. The general population has zero knowledge of ELD’s and hours of service and the parking issues. All they will see is a bunch of drivers being whiny and blocking traffic or whatever they decide to do.

 

I think many of you need to realize this industry through its drivers not only caused ELDs to be created with no flexibility in HOS but also seemed to welcome it.

Just here, on this site in the last week there has been some of the most idiotic questions that can be asked by people holding CDLs, it is like they don't know how to read or that the second that they got their CDL.

Out of all of these protests, I see two very clear things - a lack of actual professionalism for the betterment of all the drivers and a scattered meaningless argument against a bunch of things that are far down on the list of things to complain about.

There has yet to be a fight that actually helps all of us to happen, really there hasn't been on ever in this industry.

The one thing which is most important change is demanding this CDL thing to recognized as a profession, not as a job. This entails moving from a labor commodity to a skilled trade. It is a hard road, it will mean if it gets done, some will not be "drivers" any more. We have these considered skilled trades;

• cake decorators
  
• phlebotomist (I had to train as one and it is too easy)
  
• chefs and head cooks (really anyone can call themselves a chef and most are just cooks)
• hairdressers
• cosmetologists
  
• manicurists
  
• pedicurists
• Commercial Pilots >>> this is our equals in the air.

My god cooks are a skilled trade?

That alone should insult every driver on the road and piss many off who see this as a legit skilled trade.

BUT no outrage for that.

The other thing that is very important to drivers is respect and being treated as a professional but if you want that it means two important things have to happen;

Self-policing, when you see something bad, report it, take the driver to task, don't let it go.
Getting rid of these crap cheap owners by demanding more qualifications to be a driver and to be an owner. TOO many drivers are treated like crap because of the cheap owners and this drags everyone down. The same goes for drivers who have no real knowledge and get behind the wheel to just do a job, this also drags everyone down and is the main reason for the ELD and no HOS changes.

All of these protests, and crying won't get you guys anywhere but to look like a bunch of cry babies to the public, they don't respect anyone in this industry like they do a hairdresser or a cook or a cake decorator.

SO ... Do something about it, make these changes to help everyone and that has to be done politically and by standing firm on one or two issues that are far more important than ELDs.

 

The only thing you have to do.... is not haul cheap freight.

You don’t need to shut down for a day lol.

 

If you want to make a point, pick one city a week and everyone stop adding
DEF until every truck on the local highways is in 5 mph 'limp home' mode...

you don't begin to realize the volume of traffic. I was once given a tour of the NJ Turnpike 'command center' and they showed us the readings from the sensors which update every one to three minutes depending on the volume. At noon on a Wednesday the sensors by Newark airport were reading 1300 - 1400 vehicles and I'm guessing that was a minute's worth...

I've often figured we could reduce the NYC tolls, just make all of long island come to NJ to get groceries...only take a week or two.

 

Blocking roads isn’t going to make a point, it will only anger everyone else. The general public has zero knowledge of things like eld’s and hours of service.

 

if you're going to shutdown, is one day really going to make a difference? i could understand if they did for a month to make a statement....

 

What’s the statement? Other than whining? MAP21 mandates that there be an electronic logging regulation way back in 2012 and when did we see these groups pop up? Around September 2017, just a few months before the mandate. Where were all the outraged people for the five years leading up to the mandate? Why didn’t they participate in the listening sessions? That’s right, OOIDA was going to stop the mandate for them.

Better training standards is something we can all get behind, but as long as the large carriers are allowed to self insure then they will continue churning out new drivers with the training they see fit.

Parking and shippers/receivers are two things the government has no business stepping foot into. It’s not their responsibility to provide parking and it’s not their responsibility to watch what goes on at shippers and receivers. It’s costs a lot of money to have someone go around and clean up after drivers which is why we’re no longer allowed to park at many of the closed scales and rest areas anymore. That state property sits being unused because they grew tired of picking up pee jugs and bags of poop.

Now if this “protest” were merely about HOS reform then I would get behind it. It sounds like we may have revamped split sleeper regs coming down the line and that’s a step in the right direction. But as it sits their list of demands is scattered and unfocused in my opinion.

 

Actually the “Black Smoke” does still exist, some of us like it that way.

 

Strikes don't usually succeed without a union — but a group of 15,000 truckers are hoping to prove the opposite