ELD

You have to love them, sooooo glad my newest truck is a 99, so I don't have to quit trucking. lol

I was just a few miles out of Prudhoe, putting along at 25 or so because of the washboarded road, when I see a friend gaining on me running faster than he normally would under these conditions. I tell him to come on around and I will slow down. We are dropping in the same yard. he had 1 minute 13 seconds left on his clock when he pulled in. lol

Coming in tonight, I come up on him and another truck parked in the road.. He had had an maxi go bad and they had caged it and the one guy helping him wa already pulling out. He told me on the radio that they were good to go, so no need to stop. I wound up in the middle and we ran together the next 150 miles.
We are bsing on the radio and he tells me that when his tires locked up and he stopped to see what was up and work on it, he forgot to set his eld off of driving. and was going to be running extremely close to his 70 before getting to town. so we don't let any grass grow under us on the way in. lol
At 2 mile he has 1 hour and 16 minutes to get to his terminal which is 75 miles away, throughtown when he gets there and one road construction zone complete with pilot car, and a few thousand frost heaves. lol

As soon as we hit the pavement at the bottom of 1 mile he came around and went for it. I caught him waiting on the pilot car, he had cleaned off his lights sitting waiting on the pilot so he wouldn't have to stop. and made it with just a minute or so to spare, to start his 34 off.

Like I said, I am glad my equipment is older and my driving days is on a short leash, I am too old and set in my ways to put up with this nonsense.
I can envision this deal causing some lives over the coming years due to drivers having to run hard to do what they have to do, due to circumstances beyond their control, not to mention, having to drive when they should be getting a cup of coffee or taking a nap.

I also have a feeling that in a couple of years, when everybody has decided this isn't so bad it could be worse, and thinks eld's are normal, they willl start recording our speed and the dot and other law enforcement will be able to check it with the logs and issue tickets for speeding too.

 

The heck of it. The Alaska dot does not inforce it. at least not yet. They just ask you if you are running eld or paper. The companies that oo's are leased to are enforcing it.

 

Do you have an example? What I am glad of is I can drive safe, with out the threat of a fine or losing my job hanging over me, period.
You may think it is normal to be pushed around. but I will just continue on as I always have.

 

What is sad??

 

It isn't a rule change. it is a monitor of the rules down to the second. that will be a problem. I suspect that after a few deaths Alaska will get a exemption. like we have for hours of service.
I can see a problem brewing because of it down south too.
Like I said Alaska law enforcement is not enforcing it, as in no tickets at all for not having it, but guys will try and keep there jobs if it kills them.