HOS and fatigue

Do the D.O.T. regulators in Washington D.C. have any prior truck driving experience at all to be able to come out with all these rules and regulations?

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

The 14 hour timer is crap, the most unsafe thing they have implemented. We used to be able to pull over when tired and then not be penalized for that time off for the work day. Now it's some one size fits all for every situation.

 

For I95runner:

Your name, "I95runner", would it be in reference to Interstate 95, (I-95), which runs north and south from Canada, Maine, all the way down to Florida, along the east coast?

I was born and raised in Hartford Connecticut. I drove on I-95 a time or two. It is one busy stretch of highway, especially up in the northeast.

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

@op Take the following short quiz

Who is the first person to know when I'm tired or even sick and need to rest?
A) Dispatch
B) D.O.T
C) Safety
D) ME
E) Answers A, B, & C
Who should be the first last and only person deciding if your OK to be driving at any specific time of the day?
A) Dispatch
B) D.O.T
C) Safety
D) ME
E) Answers A, B, & C

And finally, In the current transportation environment who actually has the first last and only right to say your ok to drive at any specific time of day?

A) Dispatch
B) D.O.T
C) Safety
D) Answers A, B, & C
E) ME

If you answered D to all of the questions, then you should already have a solid understanding of why so many drivers fudge their logs. It's a safety issue because the current laws take the flexibility to complete our jobs safely when conditions either medical or environmental preclude the ability to do so in a safe and timely manner. How many times have you hit a big city during rush hour and pushed through because your log won't allow you the time to stop and wait until the majority of rush hour has passed? How about a bad headache? One where the mere sound of your engine sounds like one continuous roll of thunder (not talking about you boys with 10 inch straight pipes either lol). Both are very good reasons to shutdown and take a nap and have nothing to do with fatigue but can be a cause of a collision and both along with fatigue can be remedied very easily, but only if drivers have the flexibility to stop when and where they need to.

 

I love those rumble strips on the interstate. Keeps me awake. Have to drive like the politicians want; they have all the answers. You're late for an appointment because the HOS rules dictate another 10 hour break when you're 30 minutes away from the receiver/customer. Now everyone is mad at you, your company, the customer, and you're exhausted because you sat for 10 hours when you were not tired. Now your exhausted but have another 14 hour window to fight, but, the politicians say you're a liar because they know you're fully refreshed, Now in 8 hours you take a forced 30 minute break and just as you doze off, the 30 minutes is over and you hit the highway even more exhausted than before.

 

The 14 hour rule is OK. The biggest problem is the rest of the industry has not adjusted for it.
I'm sick of some ####### at a desk pressuring me to work all night, after I have worked all day, then that ####### goes home for the night.....and if something happens will say 'we tell them to run legally.'

Now we have shippers who will take hours to load you or unload you, use up your hours, then have the nerve to tell you, (or have signs all over the place) YOU MUST LEAVE OUR PROPERTY AS SOON AS WE FINISH DOING WHATEVER WE ARE DOING

Planners, dispatchers, and whatever else you want to call them, who can't count to 14.

A 14 hour day is long enough.

Yes, I do miss being able to take a nap to avoid traffic in a big city.
We're not getting paid enough for what we do, and put up with.

 

What would you replace the 14 hour day with??

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

Why don't the trucking companies themselves fight and lobby for Congress to change some of these laws to best benefit their truck driving employees?

The trucking companies should be GENUINELY and REALLY fighting and lobbying for their truck driving employees.

God bless every American and their families! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

Politicians only give lip service to the trucking companies. They couldn't care less what is best for the trucking companies. Just donate to my re-election campaign and shut up!

 

Didn't I tell you all these out laws would come up with these situations on why they can't do their job. The government doesn't tell you when to start your clock. You should have a pretty good clue if you can make your appointment or not. Before you leave the shipper or receiver. You have an extra 3 or 2.5 hours of do what you want time in the 14 hours. I have taken many breaks in that time.

1. Don't except loads that have super tight dead lines.

2. Know your sleepy time schedule and if you will have to be doing your running in those times, and If you will be able to take a 2 hr or so nap if you can find parking and still make your delivery.

3. If you can't abide by the rules. Get another gig. Mickey D's is hiring.

4. Lots of company's have e logs, and the highways are not full of blood and guts because of the 14 hr rule.

5. The government knows best.