BREAKING NEWS: Proposed HOS rule leaves open for comment 10- or 11-hour driving time,

Again....The "fish" analogy...I blame the entire government.......
People who have never stepped into the cab of a big rig are making rules up as they go along for those of us who drive......
No different than the CARB Nazis in Cali who sit in their comfortable heated/cooled homes pass laws that mandate drivers must sweat or freeze to death because idling is "destroying" the earth.....

 

Had enough yet? Until we fight back, more will come.

 

What it means to me is that I would have to make sure I got home on Friday night, so that the midnight to 6am times would work.

Depending on where the load is going, I will sometimes sleep in the truck in our yard Friday night, so I can grab the load really early on Saturday morning. This still gets me home before my wife wakes up on Saturday and gives me a few more hours sleep on Sunday night. If I wanted a reset, I would no longer be able to do this despite being home and out of the truck for 48 hours. Guess it's better to be tired on Monday, according to the FMCSA?

What I think is really missing from these new rules is flexibility and an understanding that not every trucking job is the same as the next.

 

There was some three million of them. There are no jobs here where I live. You are seeing more and more middle age people working at fast food joints. People in remote counties are having a tough time with plant closures and layoffs. If you live near a populated area, there are jobs. Might not be what one is trained for but they're there. She's 55 and her plant closed. Nobody wants to hire an old person when you compete with younger people for a job. They could of at least waited to after Christmas to cut them off.

 

But yet while we sweat or freeze, as long as our time off meets federal requirements we are "rested" in accordance with the law.

Every year we put people in jail for leaving their pets or kids in sweltering or freezing cars, but we are required by law to "work" in that same environment. These bureaucrats are beyond out of control.
What today's government seems best at is creating regulations without regard to the ability of the affected parties to be able to comply with them. With our economy in shambles I know I speak for many of us that worry how much more our pay will be cut, and for those of us that are O/O's how much more expense we will incur while sitting and waiting for the lines on a piece of paper to line up properly so we are "safe and legal" to drive.

If jobs ever come back in other sectors I can see a mass exodus of experienced drivers from the industry.

 

It is not just the bureaucrats. Look at some of the companies whose trucks do not idle period. The government was not responsible. It was corporate greed toward the "slaves".

 

Stop by Ray Lahoods Facebook page and tell him thanks for more ######## regulations.

 

AS an O/O yourself...Someone who has a keen sense for business and regulations....You should recognize the fact that many companies face stiff penalties and fines for allowing their trucks to idle....So it rarely is punitive for the drivers....

Back in the early 90's my wife worked at corporate for the Disney stores in Glendale, CA.....
Disney was audited by the state of California...The bureaucrats put out an edict that Disney initiate a Van Pool program; encourage the use of the utilizing the bus/rail system and; encourage employees to relocate closer to corporate headquarters....

WDI had to surrender information to the state the addresses of every employee for accountability purposes.....
My wife's commute from the IE to Glendale was about hour and half in the morning and two hours in the evening back home.....But she could leave earlier or later depending what was happening in a given day at work...
When she and the other WDI employees had to use the van pool...she had to get up at the same time I did at the time... 4 am to get to work by 8 am......We would both get home around 7 pm.......She also was "held captive" for the time for leaving work......Many times she missed the Van Pool and had to take the bus to the train station...then ride out to San Bernadino and then catch a bus back home....So say leaving a 6 pm....She wouldn't get back home until 10 pm....Since as we Californians know....Government transportation is so "efficient" and "always" runs on time...

Whenever you get government involved..it does not benefit the employer, nor the employee......

WDI had to pay for the costs of the van pools and the only thing it gave WDI was they were among the first of California's major employers to "Go Green"......

 

Maybe in your neck of the woods.

I had a friend who worked at a company and the truck would not idle unless it was over 78 and under 32.

This was nothing more than greed.

 

can someone say idiots? they were suppose to come out w/ the hos ruling earlier this month, now they want to listen sessions again. Granted I am happy that the restart will stay in place but the 13 hr junk is not necessary.
Guess we'll have to wait till then and then get on them for screwing us over again like normal.