Logbooks Should Be Banned

>>>>A logbook can tell a driver when they can drive and when they can't, but, it cannot wake them up or make them go to sleep. And finding a parking place has become a nightmare.

Electronic logs won't solve any of these problems...

 

Unfortunately, too many people do not want to use the HOS rules as a guide, or even common sense.

Do you really think that in the current "paid by the mile" system, if the HOS rules were dropped, that fatigue related accidents and fatalities would not skyrocket?

How do you figure that?

 

infections from papercuts

 

Yeah, pretty silly statement, sounds like my kids when they were 12-13, I wouldn't take them to the mall to hang with their friends all the time, or give them an endless supply of money... that life was "not fair!"... and "when I'm 18, I'm going to do what I want.

If logbooks and/or HOS went away, you'd likely have about 5% of the drivers out there pulling normal shifts... especially our friends from across the pond (both ponds) who try to get past every rule and regulation as it is.

 

I think you're skipping the part where it's the driver's responsibility to GET SOME REST during that 10 hour break so they can be rested and ready for their next run.

Getting some rest doesn't include staying for hours in the casino, throwing coins into the slots, chasing hookers, or sitting at the counter at the truckstop telling a never-ending stream of trucker lies all night.

 

Sounds like your beef is with a carrier, not with log books.

 

I think there is some merit to the idea presented by the OP, but it needs more substance.

I think the single biggest obstacle to his idea is the quality and education/knowledge of drivers and employers in this industry, and I think that the most common compensation model is largely to blame.

No matter the profession you will always have participants that flaunt the rules, be it doctors, lawyers, accountants, law enforcement, etc., or truck drivers, so let us not focus on them. The requirements in order to gain a CDL or an authority are a joke. Seriously. The trade-off for that is the heavy-handed regulation to ensure everyone toes the line. What if, instead of that model, some of the funds being spent on enforcement were re-directed into a more "preventative medicine" approach? What if there was significantly more emphasis placed on creating a "gold standard/red seal/best practises" qualification model that is standardized across the industry? What if the focus of "competition" (revenue) moved from the road (chasing or offering the lowest rate) to getting into this industry? I'm not suggesting that we try to exclude anyone, but that we create a model that raises the standards of all those that want to participate... and makes it more difficult for the marginal ones (or those that have the express intent to operate as "outlaws") to exist.

The sad reality is that it would require turning the industry on its head and all of the current participants, from the truck cab to the scalehouse to the board room to Wall Street to Capitol Hill are so entrenched as to make that virtually impossible. It would require a monumental paradigm shift in the current approach... the U.S. (and Canada) has a "let's have a bit of a free-for-all and we'll clean up the mess after it happens" mentality, rather than an investing in the future approach.

IMHO.

YMMV.