ELD rule drops this month, ATA exec says

AMEN!

 

Well, just a little flaw to your comment. My average hauls are 500 mile or less. And it does work ok for me as I stated. Sure, it will not work for all situations, AS THEY ARE DONE NOW, but that means folks will need to learn how to plan things to make what they are doing fit within any limitations. I had to modify a lot of how loads get planned and booked. Never said going to an e-log was a smooth transition. It does require effort to make it all work. It is either that or get out of the way and let someone else get it done. I don't like all of this either, but one can choose to stand by themselves cursing the darkness, or light a candle and move forward. And that is all I ever hear... cursing about what is coming and hardly a peep about the best ways to adjust to make it all work. Those that have the foresight to gradually adjust while there is still time to do so will be in a much better position when any mandate comes along. Pitching a fit and waiting till the last minute and then be forced to run around scrambling like a chicken with it's head cut off is not a solid business decision. But I guess I am more fortunate than most. I don't need to drive 130 mile round trips to get something I need from a store even though I live rural.

 

you still need a pre trip and time card.

 

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Agreed rookie drivers crash more often. Doesn't help that they allow themselves the extra pressure to get their stuff done while that box is ticking ticking down all day. They'll race through the truckstop, race through the work zone to save precious minutes.

Was on Qualcomm Elog for 2.5 years. Did OK with it with a few problems along the way like not enough time for a full ten before next load if I started the clock up to move 7 miles to a truckstop from the dirt/gravel portopottie equipped lot so basically stuck there for 17 hours once. Or how bout getting off the interstate to get fuel at the J, cross back over the overpass for breakie at the TA and cross back over to the J because the restrooms are more private, all while trying to log that 2 hour split break.

 

No, you don't!

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/part/395?guidance

 

So you can pull up 6 months of accurate and true time sheets in 2 days?

The motor carrier that employs the driver maintains and retains for a period of 6 months accurate and true time records showing:

(A) The time the driver reports for duty each day;

(B) The total number of hours the driver is on duty each day;

(C) The time the driver is released from duty each day; and

(D) The total time for the preceding 7 days in accordance with § 395.8(j)(2) for drivers used for the first time or intermittently.

 

Not much can change about how I run, other than staying out overnight. I already run a short (<50 mile) day followed by a long (450-500 mile) day before another short (<50 mile) day. The reason? The ####ing 14 hour rule. Under the old 15 hour rule, I could've done a full turn every day...but due to the time it takes to drop & hook on the one end (fixing the straps & tarps so the load is secure going down the road) on the one end, and then untarping before dropping & hooking onto an empty and then making my way over to load a backhaul before heading back...probably spend 10 hours driving round trip, but 5 hours messing around with making sure the load is road-worthy. The reason I run it like I do is because I'm <25 miles from the load origination for my haul...I go get it and bring it home. Then I run up, deliver, and go back home. Then I go deliver the backhaul (usually raw materials going into where I haul out of) and grab my next load out and go home. I make 3 trips one week, 2 the next because of that ####ing 14 hour rule, where with the 15 hour rule I could do 5 per week even with only 10 hours to drive. So I'm ALREADY yielding potential earnings...not going to give up any more without a fight. Why should I have to waste 3 hours of my time during my break driving back to a store I just drove past on my way home because some bureaucrat 2000 miles away who's never seen the inside of a truck thinks it would be unsafe for me to drive 20 minutes past the 14th hour if I were to stop on my way? Instead, I have to go home, get in the pickup, and drive through the 17th hour, meaning my 10 hour break is actually only 7 hours because of that trip back to the store that I should have been able to stop at when I was driving past it anyway.

#### that, #### the 14 hour rule, and #### elogs. I'm not buying a truck with a sleeper, I'm not paying for a motel an hour from the house, and I'm not going to waste my time and my fuel making a special trip to a store I drive past on my way home anyway if I can simply swing in there and grab what I need when I'm up that way anyway.

The courts threw out the FMCSA's 1st attempt at an elog mandate because the devices could be used to harass drivers. There were other legal arguments against the mandate at the time that the court never even had to consider because that 1 point was sufficient to toss the mandate. That issue still has not been addressed, and neither have the others. Bottom line, any mandate WILL be challenged, and it will likely be tossed out like the last one. If for some reason it isn't, then it'll be time for me to put private 20,000# weighted plates on the truck and use it as a toy hauler to pull the horses around and I'll find something else to do for money...I don't HAVE to drive a truck. I haven't had a truck note in 4 years, so I'm not going to lose anything when I stop driving commercially. Life would be a LOT simpler punching a time clock from 9-5 instead of dealing with a lot of this bull excrement.

The feds want "safe" highways...but this BS is pushing the safe, experienced hands away from the industry while new inexperienced steering wheel holders take their place. There is no training standards, and what little training is offered is usually provided by someone still wet behind the ears...blind leading the blind. Safety hasn't truly been a concern in a LONG time, and as a result, this job isn't as fun as it used to be. Yes, I love the job. I love driving. It is just getting to the point where the bull excrement we have to deal with just isn't worth it.

 

396.11: Driver vehicle inspection report(s).


(a) Equipment provided by motor carrier. (1) Report required. Every motor carrier shall require its drivers to report, and every driver shall prepare a report in writing at the completion of each day's work on each vehicle operated, except for intermodal equipment tendered by an intermodal equipment provider. The report shall cover at least the following parts and accessories:

You still need to fill out a inspection book if you don't use a log and flag PTI.

 

You don't have to keep that crap in the truck with you...it only has to be kept on file at the office. You could write your name, date, start time, end time, and the number of hours worked on a scrap piece of paper and turn it in and it is acceptable as long as the company keeps it on file for the required time...and running local, you don't have to have ANY documents for days you don't work, so if you do just write the information on a scrap piece of paper each day to turn in, the days you don't work, you don't need to write anything down.

 

No, you don't. Feds got rid of that almost a year ago:

https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/newsroom/...7-billion-annual-paperwork-burden-us-trucking

If there are no defects, no DVIR is required.