HOS VS Brains

I decline to say how I log but when I get tired I stop and I sleep til my body says its ready to roll again.

 

Here's a summary of a conversation I had with an officer who was writing me a log book ticket:

Me: When are we going to start seeing DOT officers riding with us?
Officer: What do you mean?
Well, to make sure when we go to our bunks, that we actually sleep? We have to spend at least 8 hours in the bunk, according to the FMCSA regs, that's how much time we need to drive our trucks safely.
We're not going to drive with you in your trucks, ever.
Well, then how are you going to make sure we are getting the rest we need to drive safely.
Well, we just trust that you will actually sleep, when you go into the bunk.
So then this whole log book rule, boils down to trust?
That's right.. We trust that you'll sleep when your supposed to sleep.
Well, if it all boils down to trust, then why don't you trust that we'll pull over and sleep when we need to, instead of forcing only a certain amount of hours to work a day?

BTW, I've never seen the statistics on drivers who actually fell asleep at the wheel, before their legal hours were up for the day... can you tell me where to get that information...

Please sign here, and have a nice day.

 

Something that needs to be noted. Truck drivers won't be able to abolish anything.. It's got to come from the brokers, and the trucking companies.. They have the money, the power and the best reasons.
Considering that the insurance companies dictate enough, there's no reason why the trucking companies, backed by us, can't get something done.
The DOT makes too much money from log book violations to let it go easily. But, that's not to say it can't be done.

 

Very nice job on the thread HM2L. I think the HOS rules is a double edge knife that can protect you or break you, if I have a accident and I cheated on the logs well its a long steep road for me but if all my drops and pickups eat up 4 to 5 hours of my 14 then I'm going to starve. If you run 600 miles a day you are making money but sometimes with dumb B*S that happens I get 360 miles in and the HOS stop me from making my goal even though I slept all day waiting for a load or at the shop or getting unloaded etc. Its always good to unwind after a long day and 10 is plenty of time to do it I think the current regs work fine right now they don't need changing.

 

The point is, you don't need HOS to tell you how long you need to rest.

About protecting you from legal BS after an accident, if there were no HOS, then the facts of the accident would determine fault. Not because your log book was 15 minutes behind or ahead.

If someone runs a red light, you slam into'm, but your log book is 15 minutes off, does that mean you were unsafe to be driving your vehicle? Or that you were in the wrong place at the wrong time?
NEITHER!!. It means that someone ran a red light. And that's all that should matter.

If you like the HOS now, then what would keep you from driving the same way, if there were no HOS regs?

I think too many people are too willing to give up their freedoms and independence.

Don't get me wrong, I know truck drivers, nowadays, can't make a stand. There are just too many that are either complacent with the way things are. Or just can't risk the small/no pay check or even getting fired.

This is why I say the companies and the brokers should take on this task, with the support of the truck drivers.

 

Exactly, and its because of those same idjits as to why the rules and regulations in mostly the HOS end of it keep gettin tougher and tougher, stricter and stricter.

If everyone was honest and sincere as most of these HOS protesters claimed to be, the government and dot would have no reason to interfere.

Why does it seem like all the people that had beeotched and moaned about this in all the other HOS and elog threads have failed to realize that all these "idjits" who get busted day in and day out for lying on their logs are the reason for this?

You wanna be mad at someone, be mad at these people that do more than what they log and don't log what they do.

Gee, when is all this whining gonna stop? Face it people, the government and the dot will get their way eventually and sitting around pissing and moaning like a bunch of schoolgirls ain't gonna change or prevent the inevitable.

 

One more thing.....

Even though I don't condone falsifying logs, if people would just drive within their limits and drive responsibly, there probly wouldn't be an issue. You may be tired as hell but just because you have hours to drive don't mean you should.

 

I'll have to disagree. The rules and regulations continue to get tougher and tougher, because we allow them to. The same as the government gets deeper and deeper in debt. Because we allow them to. Not because there's a need for it.. After all, the amount of fatigue drivers has fallen to an all time low. And yet, the gooberment still thinks we need to work less.

But what happens when we work less? Do we get more rest? I would say NO. When the day is done, we eat, shower, watch TV and sleep. If we had more hours of "off duty time, that would mean either more TV, longer showers, more food... You body can only sleep so long. That's why you wake up.

Because US IDJITS like freedom and liberty. We don't like the government telling us when we are tired and need rest, when we know we don't. We don't like the government regulating how much money we can earn in a week.

There used to be a thing known as the "freedom of the road"... And now, there's no freedom left. When the government tells you when you can work, for how long and where you can go... Then there's no freedom left.

I solute those people for having the backbone enough to stand up and say "America is still free, and I will remain free and I won't allow the government dictate my personal or business life".. I solute those that know their body better than the government. I solute those that won't allow stupid rules and regulations to come between the life they work for."

If the colonist had all done this, we'd be bowing to the king still.

And bowing down to them, aint gonna get us the freedom & liberty to choose the way we want to work and live. Bowing down to them is only going to get us more rules and regulations...

Let me ask you a question, If the government decided to overturn our freedom to bear arms. And were to make it against the law to have a gun... Do you think that no one would ever get shot again? I hope not.

So no matter how many rules and regulations the government creates, someone, somewhere will fall asleep at the wheel. And in the mean time, those of us who don't need the government's hand from "cradle to grave", will continue to lose more freedoms and more liberties..

 

The log being 15 off on paper cant get you in trouble you are talking about HOURS off not 15 minutes ok...If I put an honest 14 hr day Im Tired and going to park it...there is been countless times where I encountered a driver doing 40 to 45 mph on a 60mph I Get on the cb and the response is Im tired been driving too long B*S. Well they should have park it 4 hrs ago but they won't why? because they share your reasoning "go until I'm a hazard to others" sorry but if you let it loose like you want many bad things can happen.

 

Well I have to ask you some questions here then,,In Every HOS format we have never lost the total amount of hours to drive in a week,so whats the problem?,,I mean your bemoaning a DOT officer(supposedly) for citing you on a log book(That you can make ANYTHING up to make it look right and yet you got a citation??? SoNOW its sounds like you want to make this a Civil Liberty Issue(comparison) So Here you go on a rant about OUR FREEDOMS and yet you and other say "YEAH this aint right",,,,Well what is then???

Your full of Rant,empty of answers,,and in the last part of this post you actually contradict yourself when you comment that less drivers are falling asleep behind the wheel its not because they are more aware of what they are doing,its because they now are being rested BECAUSE of the HOS

SO what is your answer to this CRISIS of the HOS,,I mean the way you make it sound its like your going broke on 70 hours a week,and yet you want MORE,,,

Okay for the sake or argument I'll meet you halfway in your "Utopia" of no HOS,You think if there was NO HOS regulations of any kind everydriver out here would have the common sense of pulling over when they are tired???

So when a driver who felt he didnt need to sleep to get that load there overnight and he comes up on an intersection and runs over your family i guess in you eyes you would have to accept it as he was doing exactly what you would be doing

Sorry the truth is we need the HOS as much as you or anyone else that would disagree with me,