What is something that can make it easier?

Or at least block the phone calls and texting abilities of anyone 1 mile ahead of you.

"Oh! We need more apps to make our job easier! Our industry is so stressful!"

Someone else is attempting to stupid-proof trucking again. Werner is the company it is today because they were one of he first companies that tried to stupid-proof their driver. What are the results of stupid-proofing?
1. You take out the necessity for brains, and hire the brainless.
2. Pay goes down. All of a sudden, brains have to compete with brainless.
3. Mega traffic jams. Brainless goes driving down the road at 57 mph, comes into a 55 mph construction zone, and drops his speed to 25 mph, then plays the same card that the guvment does when it creates jobs for the brainless, Safety. "At least I am being safe at 25 mph!" Are brainless safe at 25 mph? Ever got your hood knocked off by another truck?

You guys are your own worst enemy. If the guvment was really interested in public safety, they would give you a road test in the dark, heavy rain, must maintain the minimum speed for 5 hours, then stress test them. If your nerves are fried, revoke your CDL. If you get stressed out from driving, you should not be driving. But we all know that's not going to happen.

What would happen? An app is created that takes out all the remaining brain. Everyone gets this app and the brainless rejoice.then the guvment passes a law that no phones or tablets work over walking speed in commercial vehicles. The few remaining brains will continue, while the brainless majority will stop at every road sign so their app can decifer the true meaning of the road sign for them. Wow...what would be the starting pay for a brainless that couldn't drive and read road signs? $.10cpm? Then California would require trucks to put the big directional arrows on the back for when the driver has to stop and read the next sign. You guys would run less miles, make less money, sit and hog groceries more, get fatter, bathe less, become even more depressed, eat mor, get fatter, need an even bigger sleeper, bathe less...

...wait...

....isn't that what's happening now?

You know it's funny how 30 years ago, quite a few trucks didn't have AC. the trucks were much harder to drive and would really put a beating on the organs. Yet truckers didn't go around as a whole smelling sour. NOW, they are. If you go to eat in a restaurant and don't stink, they never guess you're a driver.

 

It's not a matter of remembering when to take the break but a precise scientific method to take the guess work out of how many miles in regard to time allotment is left. If the correct parameters were programmed and taken into consideration it would take all of the guess work out of it. No more HOS violations for taking it down to the wire or crawling at a snail's pace so the Qualcom doesn't activate because of unforeseen traffic or an accident blocking the road UNLESS it occurred directly in front of your field of vision.

I agree with you in regard to the CB. I always have it on.

 

There is a device for that. It's called a cell phone jammer. Some movie theaters have them mounted on their walls. These devices are technically illegal in the U.S. so I won't provide further comment on their function and abilities other than to say it's wonderful gadget. Google it. You can buy them.

 

I would like an app that all my buddies can tie into that will let us know if our current trip will have us crossing paths. It'd help morale on the road if you could more often have coffee or eat chow with guys and gals you know.

 

Storm chasers use similar tactics to display their position updated every 5 minutes and provided through a universally accepted Wx software overlay. But it requires the users to upload their position (and using their data allotment) every few minutes. It could be done maybe even leveraging facebook resources.

 

There is something that will work for that. It's called Life360. Works pretty good, like a GPS.
http://www.life360.com/

 

Amen! Too many people want technology to do their thinking for them, and the next thing you know, more accidents happen! Trucks and cars that actually decide you are too close to something and apply the brakes and can even override the driver's decisions???? I don't think so. I think we need to remove the warning labels from things, take away the gadgets, and let people learn how to take care of themselves again.

 

Look at your log book when you started driving, pick a time and place when you need/want to take your break, and plan it so that you don't go over your 8 hours, and you're good. Not that hard, since I figured out how to manage it, and I've only been back in the seat for two weeks, and am still learning the new logging rules, since I have been out of the seat for 13 years.

 

Now that's an app I could actually hang with!

 

Me too. Excellent idea! 21st century powwow.