Why 10, why not 5 or 3 hours?

That's funny, because I always look at statistics in the opposite way. I'm making up percentages here because I don't remember them exactly but I was driving through MO I think and they had the board that said how many fatalities on the highway. Say it was 400 at the time. It also said 36% didn't have their seat belts on. So 64% died with their seat belts on? Doesn't that represent it's safer not to wear one? Or the drunk driving statistic. 30% of all accidents are caused by drunk drivers. Then 70% by sober drivers. Statistically it's safer to be drunk?

I'm obviously not condoning or suggesting anyone drive drunk or without your seat belt but statistics can be misrepresented.

 

Maybe it's time for the super truckers to retire and nap all day and let the new generation get their work done in 14 hours and relax for 10 hours .
Truck driving isn't for everyone..

 

Ok, then e-logs are not expected to prevent 99.5% of the fatalities involving large trucks and buses.

 

If the laws were more fair they wouldn't be half bad.

 

It isn't that we can't get the work done in 14, but rather choose to make better use of our 70. Example, you get loaded and are rolling, but see that you'll be hitting Nashville right at the peak of rush hour. So, you either burn through 3 hours sitting in traffic (legally, supposed to be on line 3) because that 14 hour clock is ticking, or stop short of Nashville and catch dinner and maybe shower, then get back underway once traffic eases up, still having just as much time available to you when you pull out of the truck stop as you had when you pulled in.

It's called freedom and being the captain of the ship. You new guys who think the only way to be a "real" trucker is to get behind the wheel and pound out your 11, then stop for 10, and repeat simply don't have a clue. You're what the megas want...don't think for yourself, just do as you're told.

 

Sure, park, eat, nap roll through Nashville after your 14, and backlog it all to look legal
it's now 21:00 and you'll hit Knoxville at morning rush hour, better roll all night and get through there.

we don't want to get stuck behind a steering wheel holder in the Gorge, let's keep rolling.

 

My personal opinion is that the 14 hr clock needs to be able to be stopped and started when someone hits the sleeper.
If wake up and drive for 8hrs of a 10 hr trip and find that I'm sleepy, I should be able to climb in the bunk, get the needed rest, then wake up and complete my trip without worrying that I need to drive sleepy so I can complete the trip within the 14 hr window of time.

Its disgusting to me that the government currently penalizes you for sleeping when your body says it needs to sleep.

For example that 550 mile dedicated runs

Currently under HOS
If I drove for 8 hrs, then got sleepy and slept for 5, I would not be able to deliver the load without taking a 10hr break before I've even driven 450 miles. So either I drive sleepy the last hundred miles ( which is unsafe) I am forced to take a 10hr break after 14 hr clock runs out, possibly not even sleepy then, and then drive the last couple hours to deliver.
Say then by the time I drive in, get unloaded, and have 8hrs left on my 14 hr clock with a 550 mile return trip. So following rules of service, I either drive tired , or I miss at least 1 or 2 days or productivity during a 5 day work week over what I could've done if sleeper time stopped the clock.


Now if I could start and stop the 14 hr clock, I could drive when fresh, sleep when tired and start the next day fresh, load and go another 550 miles.

I'm not asking to drive more than 11 hrs per day, just saying we shouldn't penalize the driver who sleeps when he is tired.

 

I know some of you will say " He should make himself sleep 8-10 hrs, then he wouldn't be sleepy" but that is just not the case. With our weird delivery schedules, shippers/receivers hours etc, you are not always even remotely tired when 14 hr clock ends. ( you may have slept 5 hrs awaiting to be loaded or unloaded or had a lot lizard/ cop/person/ swift truck bang on your door in the middle of your 10hr break)

 

Well, technically, a computer can't prevent an accident. Even the Webster dictionary definition of "accident" defines it in a way that is contradictory to the way we're using it:

Accident: a sudden event (such as a crash) that is not planned or intended and that causes damage or injury.

99.5% of accidents are not planned. Some mentally unstable people plan them. It's an unfortunate event. So, it's plausible to say that nothing would in fact prevent an accident.

Which could really lean towards the Matrix theory of life or the biblical everything happens for a reason. We can all make our own decision on that.

 

First, let's get something straight. None of the rules are for safety.

I can go out and buy a 50,000lb motor home, no CDL, no HOS, no drug test. I could drive the ting for hours on end until I slumped over the wheel from lack of sleep and not a soul would ask to see my log book.

If I'm a farmer, I can haul a 10' wide 80,000 lb load. No CDL, no permits, no HOS, no federal inspection requirements,and I might as well be overloaded because I don't have to stop at scales and nobody is going to stop me for a roadside inspection.

If it were truly about safety, everybody would have to play by the same rules. As it stands there is a protected class of heavy vehicles.