What the new hours of service really mean.

Limiting it to once every 168 hours is still better than prior to when restarts were even in existence! For dang near 70 years the only way we got a "restart" was to be off duty for 7 or 8 days.

 

I get the feeling that FMCSA has convoluted this garbage to a point where the only people who can understand the law are the cops who spend 40 hours in a class every 12 months. Sounds like the tax code.

 

I think you assume too much. Most LEO's are more clueless about all of this than a lot of drivers. Some of the LEO's that have been at the game for quite a long time are better at understanding it all, but they don't like this nonsense anymore than we do. It just makes their job more difficult also. That is why it is imperative that a drive understand this nonsense as best they can so that they can explain what they are doing and actually sound like they know it. I have shown LEO's in the past something I was doing that was totally legit. Like driving the truck, unladen, while logging off duty using it for personal conveyance. You would be surprised the number of LEO's that do not have a grasp that you can do that legally. If they can't figure that simple thing out, they have just as much problem when new HOS regs come out as anyone in the trucks. You are totally correct. This goofy stuff is getting much like the tax code. Just remember, that most IRS agents can't figure out the code any better than the average citizen also. My son is an IRS field agent, and he has to go back and look up stuff when I question him about something. He is a smart kid, but that code is so convoluted that he has as much problem as anyone else trying to figure it all out.

 

I didnt mean all LEO's, thats why I said "the cops who spend 40 hours in a class". I think 90% of cops cant even grasp this stuff, only the supercops who have no life or are paid by their department so they can generate more revenue.
You made my point even more poignant, if 90% of cops cant figure this stuff out how does a guy who is forced by this economy to work 70+ hours per week supposed to figure it out?

 

cowpie

its not that this one rule is going to make or break anyone

but its just one more push

and to be honest, sometimes, you may want to stop in effingham before you drive thru missouri, which is at your 2hr stop, so you are saying because of this ridiculous law, you have to drive to the TA in Foristell, which you dont like particularly, its a crowded dump

why? simply because some pencil pusher came up with 8hr as the magic number, just like the 10 hr and the 14hr

all of these should be recommendations, with enforcement if there is a problem, but to make blanket laws like this is really the govt going too far

 

You do not have to drive 8 hours to take the break.

 

you are missing the point

the point is that the government comes up with this lamebrain law, so if i want to drive 9hrs and take a 1hr break, i am illegal

its plain stupid

of if i drive 4hrs and take a 15min break and drive another 4hrs and take a 15min break, i am illegal

just like driving 11.25 hrs or only sleeping 9.75 hrs. making human decisions illegal is the government overstepping its bounds

unlike speed limits, which governs the flow of traffic, my sleep patterns and rest needs are not the same as yours, humans are not robots or machines that need an oil change every 15,000 miles

 

There are times I have driven 11 hours straight with a hot load.

So instead of being the one to worry, stop after an hour or two, take the half hour break then drive to the max.

By the way, I concur with you. My breaks are usually just long enough to run into the rest room.

 

Take a 30 minute break between your 3rd and 8th hour of driving.

At 168 hours of combined on and off duty, take a 34. Logbooks will have to be adjusted along with the QC's for this.

Now, for the one that had me scratching my head....

This

The clock is what is confusing quite a few. lovesthedrive nailed it. The reset has to include the hours of 1am til 5am twice. So, if you start at say Wednesday, 7pm, next morning it's Thursday, 7am.

There's 12 of your reset hours and it included one segment of the 1am to 5am block of time. Come around to the same day, Thursday, now at 7pm again. 24 hrs has elapsed.

Now, we're coming up to midnight, Friday, the next day, for the next 1am - 5am segment. At 5am on Friday, this time, you have successfully completed your 34.

Does this always mean you have to start at 7? No, it just makes it easier to figure out. And in some situations, you will wind up adding more hours in order to successfully complete the new 34 hr reset.


ETA, if I wind up having to team in order to make a living, they will either be an ex lawyer or have a law degree.

 

by us accepting this, we are bending too far

soon, driving 4hrs straight will be considered outlaw

look at how eloggers now blame drivers for driving safely they have been driving for years, every paper logger is an outlaw

the more laws they make, the more of us will become outlaws, by default, but no fault of our own, other than doing what we have been doing for the past few years

something is inherently wrong with that