The ELD Mandate Fight Continues

When I do a split, I don't know if I could ever manage in the sleeper for 8 hours consecutively without leaving it. I never even tried. Even in the middle of a night, I need to get up or sit on a driver seat, drink water and look around, and then go back to bed, which makes me quite a rebel because I don't log it as line 4. If I did, I'd need to take another 8 hour attempt which could fail again, and this way I could never leave there. I'd need to rely on 10 hours off. Still, some time ago there was an idiot cop in WY who told me I was not supposed to be off duty at all, while under load, unless permitted by the carrier. I heard that they changed that, but only heard. The current HOS were designed to be amended by log book falsifications because, if there were some drones or hidden cameras or inserted body chips monitoring every move of a driver's body, I don't think there would be even 0.001% drivers compliant.

 

From July 2012 up until about 2 months before the mandate nobody did a thing, except OOIDA and their “unconstitutional” argument. That’s over 4 years of everyone waiting for someone else to do something about it. We don’t have a singular voice to stand up to the ATA. OOIDA wasted their one good argument when they challenged the original eld mandate that was going to be for only those with poor safety ratings and high instances of hos violations. So when it came around the second time FMCSA had those bases covered. Yes I’m aware it’s not likely that company driver would take the steps to report a company for making them get rolling right when their break is up, but the channels are there to do it.

Personally I got while the getting was good. I took chances and risks when I had my truck and made pretty decent money. When I saw what was coming I made paying off debt a priority. Then when I sold my truck that’s just money in the bank. Now I’m back being a company lacky, but I get paid for my time. I make a dang good living running about 2k a week and I’m home on weekends.

But back to the United voice for a second. Changing the split sleeper rule would help so many people and I believe there were less than 3500 comments on it when the comment period ended. We can’t all sit back and not get involved and then complain when stuff gets thrown on us.

The guy I work for has 16 trucks so this wouldn’t affect me anyways and I only have a little over 3 months of trucking left so I’ll step out and let you guys get back to it now.

 

I’m honestly having a tough time figuring out where you stand on all this. One post you seem like your against ELD’s, and then there’s this post and another like it that you want driver facing cameras.

Complaining about ELD’s is now pointless. It’s here, and it’s what we will continue to have in the future. For company drivers, O/O’s or fleet owners the fight should not be against ELD’s or the HOS.

As drivers, owners, and/or companies we need to start charging for all of our time. We’ve been giving time away since trucks first started roaming the country. We now have the tools in place to make positive change, but everyone wants to change the tools so we can keep giving time away. It makes no sense to me.

 

I see now, you’re one of those that just likes to run their mouth for the sake of it and never really have anything productive to say. And I’m sure that you know what they say about those that make assumptions....

 

Beside being able to cheat what is other benefit of paper log vs ELD?

 

IMHO I don't dis like ELDs... I dislike the current HOS. And I think ELDs can be used as a tool to prove that the current HOS doesn't make drivers safer but actually encourages more to drive to fast for conditions or while fatigued, cause they are racing the clock.

I will not point fingers as it was before my time in trucking, but I would like to know why the fight about HOS wasn't fought (or fought harder?) in the 90s and early 2000s?? When it was still morphing into what we now have.

ELDs are here to stay... So now we need to use what the government has forced us to use, to prove to the government that the HOS are dangerously flawed.

 

Because the majority of truck drivers are a bunch of blowhards that would rather ##### and moan on the internet, truck stops and the cb than actually do something to fight for what they want.