What the new hours of service really mean.

good point. your jaded

 

That half hour break can be taken anywhere between the 3rd and 8th hr of driving, to be legit to complete 11 hrs of driving. Not that big of a deal. Time it right and you can use that half hour to, say, transflo the paperwork, go to the can, fill the thermos, get a bite to eat, check the email, update the books on your laptop (for O/O), do a little load planning, or any combination of a hundred different things. Time will tick off pretty quickly. Keep in mind that this all came about because of all the driver whining and complaining at the FMCSA driver hearings that went on around the country before the final rule was developed.

Gonna be some hiccups with the 34 hr reset, but really not that big of a deal either. After all, there was no 34 hr reset from 1939 to 2003 and best I can figure out, drivers did not starve, freight got moved, and the world did not come to an end. If the 34 is not doable, the I will just recap like I did for the 20 years I drove before the 34 hr reset came along. Sure, I like the 34, I use it, but I am not going to wither on the vine if I am able to use it less in the future.

 

I've never bothered with the restart. What's the big deal with it?

 

There's another bonus here for those who need it...... Your new 34 has to cover two periods of 1 am to 5 am.....and you cannot enter any period on duty or it's invalid like going off duty at 01:01 Saturday morning ...that period is no good, you will still need two periods of 1 am to 5 am. So if you log out at 0101 Sat morning then you cant come back until 0501 Monday morning.

In my example you will get 51 hours off, not 34.

Ok before you jump me I know everyone has been trained you need more miles not more money...I gotcha but think about it for a minute, you just might need a lil extra time off once in awhile.....and here it is, the Feds gave it to you.

JMO

 

OMG, let the confusion begin... Seems the Iowa DOT told our safety person that as long as you stop to unload within the 8 hours... your break is covered. I said that didn't sound right... but OK.

Here in lies the problem... different states will do different things. The rules are getting so complex that the enforcers are clueless... Just like the, "How hard is that"? guy that posted earlier...

Splendid... I tell you what... they try do get me on this BS... I'm gonna throw them the keys and offer my arms for handcuffs... Let them deal with the HazMat I haul. F@#% It!

 

I don't see how you're better off splitting. I mean are there really that many people who start driving at say 0700 and plow straight on through to 1800 without stopping? 99% of the time I'm stopping after 4 or 5 hours to use the restroom, eat a sandwich, something.

 

If you are taking that long off to get a reset, why not just recap and go on? Ya' know.... like you did before there ever was a reset? Or was the 24 years experience in your avatar a typo? There is nothing, and never has been, anything mandatory about a 34 hr reset.

 

What's going to hurt us local guys is the 2 consecutive 1-5 am breaks. When we are buzy you work 6 days and burn every minute of your 70 hours. Your week might end on Friday or sat afternoon . With the new rules if you work sat you cant start on Monday till 5am . And we usually have nothing to recap.

It's not a game changer , just another pain in the butt!

 

nothing but carrier policy and yes many do in pvt fleet....and yes it is a typo, it's actually more.

 

not looking forward to the changes. i'm on a dedicated run, hit it hard for 5 days then home for two. it was nice to get that full reset in over 7 days, but sure i'll be able to figure it out. by the end of two weeks though gonna need that reset.