Tracking who uses EOBRs

Does the phrase "like herding cats", mean anything to you?

 

This almost describes the benefits I get from using laptop based logbooks. All the good stuff without the automation and gps tattletale. They get uploaded to a service that performs the audits. The only paper handling is the daily printout in case of inspection and filing six months of them in case of an audit.

Trees raised an excellent point that hardly got noticed. Many, myself included, are more worried about when I can start my next 14 versus when the current one will end. I'm under no less pressure to find parking at a certain time whether it's to end a shift that's timing out or to make room for a full 10 before the last possible time I must move out towards a final destination.

This is the huge fallacy in the sleep cycle/deprivation argument, along with the latest changes to HOS with the mandatory nap after 8 and two overnights to qualify a 34 reset. The false pretense is that all commercial drivers will run on exactly the limits of each timeline. It may be true of some, but certainly not all. That leads to a false conclusion that all drivers will be fully rested having been forced into a 24 hour sleep/work/break and two day weekend cycle. That is, since every part of that conclusion only applied to a small subset of drivers that fit the pretense.

The only issue I have with EOBR is having (another) substantial cost imposed on me in exchange for nearly zero benefit to my business or the safety of the environment I move through. When it becomes mandatory, I will equip and the EOBR will be no more or less difficult to work with that what I'm using now.

Other than that cowpie, you're right on. It's just another timekeeping tool. People who follow the rules will adapt. Those that don't will find ways to make it work and adapt just as well. That second group covering everyone from outlaws running multiple loose leaf logs to run days at a time to normally honest drivers that might need to make 15 or 30 minutes disappear somewhere. It's easy to get on a high horse with this topic, but face it. Everyone will figure it out, regardless of integrity.

That said, I believe that EOBR will make the roads less safe. I think that inspectors will view an EOBR unit as authoritative and faultless, never actually looking beyond the decal on the door for problems during a routine inspection. After all, they already do that with laptop logs. They incorrectly assume since a computer or technology is involved, the driver cannot possibly falsify anything or get out of compliance.

I see the biggest challenge being for drivers that struggle with technology. My own Dad is an example. When it comes to hands on stuff, he's brilliant. Let him work something out on paper, build it with his own hands, and he excels. Put him in front of a keyboard or touch screen and he just locks up and looks stupid. IMO guys like him will be the ones that are impacted the most by automated logging equipment. Of that group, the ones that also serve as the "Safety Manager" and have to perform the office-end functions (one man independent o/o) will struggle with it even more.

 

We just got our monthly list of drivers that had hard braking events and the speed they were going . I made the list . Hard braking at 8.5 mph .
They also let us know what % of the time we idle and use the cruise control .
They said I used the cruise less than some drivers . I said I've been in rain a lot . I don't use the cruise in the rain .

 

Cruise isnt always the most economical way to drive

 

Anyone would have a better chance of herding cats than getting truckers to unite

 

You misunderstood, by the prevailing party being the people I meant the ones directly involved, the truckers and their litigation counsel. For instance OOIDA vs Big Government, with the "people" being those who were being represented by OOIDA....

I should have been more clear, and you're right.... the "people" are also supposed to be represented by their government, so what I said was confusing, my bad.

 

Exactly.

Not only that, but they make the logical fallacy of thinking that the safest drivers are those who've just slept for 8 hours and are just getting up and getting going..... all of the data indicates that this is the most dangerous time to be driving, and that most accidents occur within the first two hours of driving, and not the last two, or the hours driving in between these two periods...

There really were no problems under the old HOS regulations, for if there had been we'd have seen an epidemic of truck driver related crashes due to sleep deprivation problems. What we saw then, and will continue to see, is the occasional mishap due to driver error, the accidents that are weather related, and the odd accident caused by equipment failure. The idea that government can create an absolutely safe environment through the imposition of mandated EOBR's and one size fits all HOS regulations that strip flexibility from the system is completely ridiculous.

Regulations don't make people safer, people make people safer.....

Allow for flexibility and personal judgment among experienced drivers and you will see safer highway conditions.

Mandate EOBR rules and allow mega carriers to dominate and you will see inexperienced drivers under pressure to perform being harassed into dangerous situations....

The first two hours of driving for a rested driver is the most dangerous time period.....

How dangerous are those first couple hours for someone who was awakened by a corporate dispatcher and rushed into driving??

When you take the flexibility out of a system you create undue stress....

How many here have experienced difficulty falling asleep when they knew that they HAD TO get to sleep right now, because I'VE GOT TO get up in exactly x number of hours and get going??

And what happens when the sleep cycle is interrupted by some outside influence??

That driver is now awake at 0230 and trying to relax and get back to sleep, but he's having great difficulty because he KNOWS that he's only got x amount of hours before he NEEDS to get up and get going.....

You can't mandate responsibility.

 

Is it just me, or has anybody else noticed that a lot of states had closed their scales awhile back because of nearly 100% compliance within the industry??

Shippers were shipping legal loads, no one was ever overweight, and the log book regs allowed for you to be up driving if you felt like driving.....

Then, the government instituted new log book regs and suddenly....

Everybody and they're brother was in the scale house studying logs and looking for fines.....

 

Looking for revenue?

Think about this. Going on what you say.

When was the last big CAFE mandate on us car manufacturers? Early 2000?

Suddenly, car fuel economy went up. Now state and federal highway projects are not seeing the funding they need from gas taxes. These don't go into the general funds. They go straight to the DOT. This increased fuel.economy auddenly results in less revenje. Now states are scrambling to figure out HOW to pay for infrastructure.

Step in FMCSA and new HOS regs and a new source of revenue.

Just a hypothosis to check out time lines is all.

 

I think you're on to something.....

It's not about safety.

It is about revenue.