So why does everyone hate the safety director?

Riiiiiiiight, as if the corrupt folks in Washington ever dropped the mandate for us to run a log book we'll just start never getting tired and want to sleep, so Everyone will just drive 1400 miles per day with no moral regard or remorse if we kill someone.

I agree with G/Man. Logs, I don't harm the general public. No logs I still don't. But without logs, I would get 15 minutes more sleep at night by not have to do them at the end of the day.

 

Whatever a truck driver is ALLOWED to do, according to FMCSA rules, companies will REQUIRE them to do it. They will set their delivery appointments based on what a driver is ALLOWED to do.

If there were no log books required, or HOS rules to abide by, they would base their delivery schedules on drive time. Miles divided by 50-60 mph average. A load from Omaha to Philly is 1200 miles. 1200 divided by a 50 mph average is 24 hours. Can you do that? Maybe? Well guess what? When you get there, they've got another load for you that has to be in Sioux Falls, SD and you've got 28 hours to get there. Now what?
Don't think they won't do that if log books and HOS weren't required. Competition among carriers will force them to.

 

It is still up to the driver to decide whether he can safely make a delivery schedule or not. A driver must make it clear to his dispatcher when he feels that he cannot make a certain delivery schedule. There are many other jobs that are considered as dangerous and don't have the limitation on hours that they can work. There are those who work with machinery who are not limited by the number of hours they can work and they don't have the problem of harming or killing themselves or others.

Most of the rules under which we operate came about because of the actions of an individual. Approximately 76% of accidents involving trucks are the fault of a 4 wheeler, yet we are the ones subject to the endless number of rules and laws. It has gotten to the point where this industry is looked upon as a cash cow. States who cannot manage their own budgets tend to target this industry to meet their tax short falls. You can see it in a number of states. When they have these shortages of cash they often speed up inspections and target the trucking industry. We are an easy target. States understand that most will pay the fines and not take the time to fight a ticket. It is easy money for them. Some in this industry do make it easy for them. There are those who do operate marginally, but I think that the majority of owners want to make sure their equipment is in good shape and safe to drive.

If we got rid of the logs, we might initially see a spike in accidents. Then again, we may not. I would probably not change my habit much, if at all. I would much rather be able to drive when I feel like it and rest when I am tired. That is what I do now, but there are days when I may push it a bit just because of the hos. I don't need a 10 hour break. I average about 5-6 hours of sleep per night. When I sleep 8 hours I feel like I have a hangover and am groggy for much of the day. Yet, I have a bureaucrat sitting in Washington who has never sat behind the wheel of a truck telling me that I need 10 hours of sleep in order to be safe. Some need 8 hours of even more to get a decent nights rest. It would be much better if we were all left to run based upon our individual body clock.

Instead of really justifying hos and other rules, they find those who have never sat in a seat and they make rules based upon their own biases. Let them prove their point. If those who make the rules want to prove things will be safer if their new rules are implemented, then they should use a study and have a control group along with their test group. I would like to see a study where we have two groups being tested. One group continues to log under current hos. The other will not have to worry about logs and operate as they want. I would expect there would be little or no difference in the accident rate. It is one thing to use a computer to run analysis. It is another to use live data from those charged with having to deal with the end result. In order to do a fair study you would need to get people from different size carriers. It would also help prevent manipulation by the feds or major carriers if you used a cross section.

I don't think getting rid of the hos or logs would eliminate the safety department at the major carriers, but it would reduce paperwork and compliance costs. Carriers spend billions of dollars in compliance costs every year. Much of those costs involve logs and compliance issues.

 

G/MAN, you said it better than I could. Post of the month right there.

My cliff notes opinion, is that good morals and common sense that were once the norm in this country, have been replaced by corrupt leaders, and a future generation of people who buy into what the corupt government keeps jamming down the throats of the producers.

This thread is a very microcosim of that. Safe non drug using drivers are posting and debating of perceived safety issues that don't prove to make anyone safe, All the while the governments goal is to make suburbanite soccer moms feel like like someone is curbing evil truckers from killing all motorists in their path, and in return, the senator gets re-elected and his pet beaurocracy get more funding, both of which were the only goal.

 

OK, I'm no fan of the HOS rules. But there is something here that I've seen several times, that needs to be brought up.

Time and again, I see people referring to the 10 hour rest break as "sleeping 10 hours." This is NOT what it means, it is NOT what it was intended for. What it WAS intended for, was to give the driver a 10 hour break from driving. Sleep whatever makes you comfortable, then use the remaining time to ENJOY LIFE a bit. Not to mention chores such as laundry, showering, eating etc. Good time to get exercise as well.

Life does not begin and end behind the wheel. OK, OK, perhaps all to often it DOES end behind the wheel, but it should not.

 

You want the government to do more oversight? The government has been doing oversight for decades. They continue to bring in people who have never experienced the road to make rules concerning safety. Personally, I think this country did much better with fewer rules and regulations. There is no evidence that I have seen that demonstrate that we are safer with more rules and regulations than we were before.

 

My point exactly. Currently we're in a recession and there is no longer a driver shortage. The carriers have the advantage and while technically they can't FIRE a guy for refusing to drive 96 hours non-stop, they can make your life miserable and start penalizing you for forgetting to dot your i's and cross your t's.

"Oh, and did you need to be home yesterday for your doctor's appointment? Oh, I'm sorry about that but we didn't have any freight headed that direction"