HOS what's the point?

Truth be told, EOBR's are coming for L/O's and O/O's as well via insurance companies. They don't wanna EVER pay claims and if a driver is tracked they have evidence that the driver was in compliance.

This IS the real reason for EOBR's, and has nothing to do with actual safety.

Don't you guys find it interesting that major insurance companies have huge stock interests in technology driven companies like Qualcom?

 

I agree. I insurance companies "own" (not physically) most trucking companies. They dictate how they're to be run, not the owner/boss. Just like pharmaceutical companies own the doctors..

 

It has that effect passively, since you can no longer back your logs up you have to chose to deliver on time or being fined for a late delivery. We can track where people take their brakes and when braking down a drivers service failure history we can try to identify the behaviors that lead to failures. So while the eLog cannot stop you from spending your time in a casino, it helps to more easily identify where, when, and for how long drivers are taking breaks. While you cannot prevent all stops it helps to be able to identify wasteful stops.

 

Actually it's STILL the insurance companies... My doctor friend that I originally posted about was talking about this with me as well. Certain medical insurance carriers(HMO/PPO) will ONLY pay for certain drugs for a particular ailment... There may be a better but vastly more expensive alternative, but the doctor is forced to perscribe what the insurance company wants, or they will not pay. According to my Dr. friend, insurance companies also have stock interests in certain pharmaceudical companies as well.... interesting huh?

 

So...A proposal....

Use the "Honor System"?

Can DOT trust ALL drivers to "park it" before they become too tired to drive safe?

 

There was a guy at your company hired at the same time as me. He stood about 7'2" and weighed at least 400lbs. Huge guy! Anyways we stayed in touch and he couldn't stay out of the casino's. He was late almost every load because of his addiction. Needless to say he didn't last a couple months.

Some of your post holds truth as there are a lot of irresponsible drivers. But I can't count the times you were suppose to get your 10hour break at the shipper ready to go. Yet planners/dispatch was always late dispatching drivers on those loads so they could get a 10 hour break in.

Then with the preset appointments and barely enough time to get there, you were coerced into getting the job done or face a $400 fine or the miles start dropping. Play the game and everything was hunky dory. I've had 1000 mile trips with 30 hours to get it done after a 6 hour break. It's doable barely. The 4 drops afterwards weren't. Shippers shouldn't be allowed to make appointments.

I know you are working on it, but that's the way it use to be.

 

In other words, you can baby sit them.

Again, I still don't buy that the drivers are getting more rest. Before the days of e-logs the larger truck stop driver lounge areas used to be totally empty at night. Now, there are 15-20 guys sitting in there whatching TV at 3am... I would guess many of the e-log users.

 

Thing is its not hard to fill out a log correctly.

 

Gasp,

Drivers could use their brain, if too tired to drive safely... freaken pull over and sleep. It's not that hard. Loads certainly could be late for a number of reasons, and being too tired to get one there on time should be valid reason. If drivers abuse this, simple.... get rid of them.

 

Check your info. EOBR law was thrown out of congress due to the EOBR can be used for harrasment of the driver. I know when i was leased on at a major carrier, i was always woke up during my sleep break by my qualcomm. Get more rest now without that stupid thing buzzing like a cattle prod, with dispatch laughing on the other end.

If you want your company watching your every move, thats fine, I like trucking for the freedom. I can get my job done safe without someone watching over me.