Landstar / EOBR

Bingo.

It's not tired drivers that are causing accidents, it's the risk takers, the aggressive drivers, the ones who tailgate, pass when the lane is ending, speed through construction zones, passing where it's tight and dangerous to pass, but hey, reckless is as reckless does.....

Tired drivers are not the problem.

Aggressive risk takers are the problem, and I, for one, would be really curious to see the accident rates as concerning four wheelers.... There are an awful lot of reckless four wheelers out there, what has been going on with them in regards to statistics??

HOS rules are primarily revenue enhancements, watch how the "enforcement" rises in response to new and more confusing regs.

"Oh, that's too bad, you were supposed to have taken a 30 min break in that 8 hour segment right there...I'm going to have to cite you for that"

 

With the 34 hr reset requirement of two periods between 0100 and 0500 why not just issue a 48 hr reset provision, one that could be used as many times within an 8 day period as desired???

Take 48 consecutive hours off, and get a fresh 70, regardless of whatever else you did.... and make the provision unlimited in scope, any 48 hr break allows a fresh 70....

Oh, my bad.... drivers would probably abuse it...lol....

 

we'll all be running on recap for the rest of our lives.

 

Not me , I'm taking 2 days off a week. Sat +Sun then hit it hard early Monday for one 16hour day. Followed by four 13.5 hour days. Or as close as possible.

But I'm home every night........and still on paper.


I'm looking forward to it !


ps I dislike the guberment as much as anyone.

 

"Tired drivers are not the problem.

Aggressive risk takers are the problem, and I, for one, would be really curious to see the accident rates as concerning four wheelers.... There are an awful lot of reckless four wheelers out there, what has been going on with them in regards to statistics??"

I agree, aggressive big rig drivers are a problem. However, the tired drivers are a problem, it's not true that "Tired drivers are not the problem." They are. We are. Some more than others, for sure, but it's quite clear that driving tired increases risk. It's like the .04% rule for CDL drivers vs: .08% level for non-commercial drivers. It really is a factor, some more than others, but no one thinks we need enough government agencies to test every driver on every trip. So it's an average.

Last item, well, next to last; forget comparing the regulations for commercial and non-commercial drivers. I believe Class D licenses should include more training/testing on merging, following, pulling in front too close (and slamming on brakes to exit) and more, but somehow what I believe isn't what's going to happen. Darn it. We're the professionals, we are paid to drive, and it's our responsibility to do it as safely and courteously as we can. We can't leave the responsibility in anyone else's hands.

We will all get used to the changes. We always do. And a lot of us resist change, just because we're not comfortable with the unknown. Do not fear or stress about it. "...The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself." What a great observation, and you know what your choices are. My $.02.

 

Good point, Bill. Who hasn't pushed too hard to make a deliver, or get past the weather, whatever. It's not good thinking to take risks, or increase risk, for almost any reason. Sign in truck stop: "Why rush? They'll still need it when you get there."

 

Yes, aggressive driving is the issue - as I see it. And carriers are doing a better job controlling that.

But stop and put yourself in people that have to justify everything that they want to do. All they have to go on is research and statistics. And the stats show that since they started tightening HOS and CSA they are getting better safety stats. So they look to make improvements based on what they know. And they should look for improvements. Safety is one of the few areas that I feel should be in the hands of the government.

But we as an industry that see what the real issues are have not taken a stand on these. We need to put a line in the sand and say that aggressive driving is unacceptable. And declare a Jihad on speeding, unsafe lane changes, tail gating, etc. If we band together and demand that these behaviors be dealt with on the carrier and enforcement level then we can come back and have a better platform to discuss the HOS changes and work for more flexibility.

 

BBB, I agree with your thought, quite a bit. Your point about the line in the sand is the cutthroat way we're working. Every man for himself, me in the dock before anybody else, get to the gate first, we have no sense of unity. I mean, mostly. The alternatives aren't the good either. Form a Trucking Union? More rules and BS, more expenses for everyone...not going to happen any time soon. And I don't really see any other practical alternatives. More regulations just makes more rules. Oh, BTW, rules are for the bad guys, just like in crime. The drivers who are in compliance with safety and responsibility aren't the problem. The rules are for those who just want to run cowboy.

I was cruising along in I-40 in Iowa, light traffic, and a string of 3 cars approached in the passing lane: clear highway in front, and for miles behind this little group. The semi behind me just couldn't wait for them to clear, and pulled out really, really short between #2 and #3, cutting off #3 who had to slam on their brakes, and about 10' behind #2. Fortunately #3 wasn't texting and #2 didn't let up on the throttle, or something really awful would have happened. And, how many times have we all seen (or some of us have been) a bigrig driver intimidating a car or pickup by following so close the car wasn't visible in front of the semi? I've seen trucks within 5' of a car on a freeway at 70mph. That is just wrong, dangerous, irresponsible, and stupid driving. It makes us all look bad, and gives those who make the rules more ammunition for more rules. Who would want to be in a union or any other organization with drivers who just drive like crazy people? I don't. I hate rules, but I hate aggressive, risky, and inconsiderate drivers too. Maybe an organization would give us a way to deal with cowboy drivers?

BBB, what's your thought on running tired? We all do it, but if we're legal on our log hours it does limit the risk. I think. Thanks for your solid comments.

 

I'm looking forward to it !

I am happy for you, but I'm an OTR driver, one day off for one week out. My hometown doesn't offer a lot of work choices, and I'm glad to be supporting my family, and I'm looking. So far, OTR.

Best.

 

And your point? Isn't that what truckers had to do from the first HOS regulations in 1939 until the reset came into existence in 2003? Well, an awful lot of truckers were running on recap for the rest of their lives back then. Just seems odd.... they could make a living running on a recap, but no one can seem to do it today. How strange. Could it be that those that can't seem to make a recap work got themselves into a situation where they live an die by the reset? Seems that speaks more to them than it does to any HOS change. I can go either way... with or without the reset. But then, I haven't gotten myself pigeon holed into any operational condition. I think a lot of folks need to reevaluate their way of doing things and see if they haven't allowed themselves to be shoved into a situation that is difficult to change. As with any business, flexibilty to change is paramount to survival. Be it government regulated change, or market change.