HOS what's the point?

I know what happened in congress and OOIDA's stance on it as well. I agree with you... I like freedom in trucking too, and I too also don't need a baby sitter watching over me to safely do my job.

What I'm saying is the insurance companies are gonna push EOBR's... some are even starting now. It will be a blackmail type situation, either you as an O/O get an EOBR system, or your rates will increase substantially, or the insurance carrier will drop the O/O's coverage altogether.

Do I like this? Certainly not... Is it fair? Heck no! Is this coming in the future? I would bet on it.

 

If you follow the money with these EOBR's you will find out who is behind them. There are literally billions of dollars at stake in selling these to everyone who owns a truck, not to mention the monthly fees. It has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with revenue generation, making money and controlling your competition.

I would be willing to wager that there would be little or no difference in safety if we eliminated the hos completely. There have always been those who violate the hos rules. Having an EOBR in the truck won't eliminate them from going over their hours, but will make it easier to catch. It is only a matter of time until someone will find a way to get around their computer. Carriers can already change the electronic logs in their trucks. With the current hos drivers will push themselves to run due to the way the hos work, regardless of whether the drivers are tired or not.

You can make all the rules you want, but you can't control a drivers body clock. If a driver is tired, he should be able to pull over and rest. The hos has a way of preventing drivers from always getting the rest they need due to having to push so that they can earn a decent living. With or without the hos there will always be those who push the envelope.

 

Yeah, then follow the money in the stock of the providers and one will quickly see that insurance companies are connected to them as well.

Connect the dots anyone?

 

In the beginning so you were not exploited and overworked, you know how bad it would look on CNN if you rear ended a school bus and the cops find out you just drove from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles in a day and a half with the help of your powdery friends.

This would be fine if there were limits on the amount of hours you could drive in a 24 hour period and in a 7 day period. That's ok by me, but why the **** is there a 14 hour rule? And the full splits completely gone? Why am I told when to drive and when to sleep? Really, government? You think making me drive 11 hours straight is a good idea? What about when I only got 4 hours of sleep? What about when I've been driving days, then all of the sudden I get a load to pick up at 9 pm? How many times have I driven tired as ****, for the sole reason of this stupid rules? I've been dying to take a nap, get my brain back together and even better waking up to better weather while still make the appointment, but NO, gotta squeeze it all into one shift. Sometimes I call in and say the weather is too bad and push the appointment a little. So I can at least get one of those idiotic 8 and 2 splits, that nobody seems to understand.

In the end E-Logs and HOS and all the other stupid ideas this muppets are going to come up with way after I'm gone from the road are not going to prevent anything, as a matter of fact, they would do more harm than good. Freedom to choose when you shut down and when you drive would definitely work. Only limits on the amount you drive in certain amounts of time would prevent the greedy from overworking, but never telling them when to drive.

I'm sure the rant about the 5 and 5 has been posted a million times, mine is just a little bit more dramatic lol

 

From what i can read, its a fight the people pushing EOBR's can't win. They don't have much to stand on anymore. The groups pushing this will keep pushing, but its a long way from being even close now with it getting thrown out of congress. I think OOIDA is going to keep this out for a long time.

 

The biggest problem with EOBRs, and the biggest reason for the pusback isn't so much the cost as it is simply stating the HOS rules it enforces are garbage. The 14-hour rule has to go. The only rule. At all, that I have trouble on a somewhat regular basis to comply with is the 14 hour.

My argument with EOBRs is the same argument about speed limits:

If there was a device in a car that prevented the driver from exceeding the posted speed limit, the speed limits would be a lot higher.

Same problem with EOBRs. The HOS is set low because the fact drivers can lie. But, now they're introducing a device that keeps the arbitrarily low rates to accommodate shrinkage in place.

 

Yeah, I agree again.

Unfortunately, the insurance companies will bypass it becoming a mandated law. They will just blackmail, O/O's and companies to get them or pay more for rates... Heck, even refuse coverage in the extreme.

Already, there are to few insurance companies to choose from if your a for hire fuel carrier. Really only three to choose from currently... and two of them seem on board with the EOBR's blackmail deal.

 

Nearly every new truck has an EOBR..
They can plug in and tell you exactly what was happening..
How fast, how long, lights on, brakes applied or not..
Not a log but a record of what happened admissible in any courtroom.

 

I am not saying that you can't do it in 14 hours, I am saying it is dangerous to make a person do it inside of 14 hours. I do believe that for some drivers they could still do their 14 hours of work Inside of 24 and it would give them more opportunity to rest when needed, Sometimes I can drive 11 hours straight. other times 5 hours and I am ready for a 4 hours nap. Cant do it under currant law. Well I could but I wouldn't have a job long.

 

I believe roads would be much safer and drivers would be more rested if we did not have the hos and were allowed to drive when rested and rest when tired. Imagine how many bureaucrats who would be out of a job if we got rid of the hos, not to mention all the out of work lawyers. Some of the special interest groups who continue to file lawsuits about changing the hos would have to find another cause. I also think that it would enable drivers to have more job satisfaction and may even aid in driver retention. I am sure that many states, such as California, would not be happy with the drop in revenue. Without the hos rules they would no longer be able to write all those hos and log tickets.