Why CSA 2010 and E-Logs are a good thing.

No, I would prefer a system that has some flexibility in it. Something that allows common sense to come into play. Maybe some sort of graduated system where as drivers get more experience they are allowed some flexibility. I have over a million miles safe driving. I don't need a regulation to tell me when I'm tired. This inflexible 14hr rule does not work well with elogs. Freight doesn't work that way. But flexibility wouldn't be an "end all, be all" solution, there are so many factors in this, and greed or survival will make guys abuse even flexible rules. Things are a mess all the way around for sure there are no easy answers. Elogs are not a solution though unless many other things change also.

 

Yes & No,or I mean IDK what you saying I guess,,,the only thing that ELOGS"compounds" is a driver(no matter how much experiance) being compliant.Your EITHER 100% compliant OR 100% Non-Compliant (NO GREY AREA) ,its not wheather they Look good on a printout,its being compliant

If a driver is 100%compliant with paper,then ELOGS shouldnt or wont be an issue,,CORRECT???

A compliant driver driving tired(or past his HOS) with paper will be overlooked(until something bad happens like you point out in a accident scenario),but a person on ELOGS cant get away with that,trust me if you run over your HOS ,both YOU and the people you drive for are going to know(in our case,Conway btw) once your out of hours and the red light comes on,you will be contacted by Op's most expediant method,the Phone,then Qualcomm.

ELOGS makes you trip plan more thoroughly to make sure you run compliant,you have to take into account the "what-if's" or "what-might-be's happening in your trip

I for one when I get a load assignment plan the entire trip before I p/u,right down to the unload,in the past you had an idea to where you were going to stop,with ELOGS you must have a better "back-up" plan (or 2 LOL)

SIDENOTE: if you go to the FMCSA website and do a search of companies and their respective "violations" you will notice carriers(like mine) that have drivers put OOS due to running OVER their 11-14-70
Why do I bring this up,well 1st as a disclaimer(so Im not labeled a "mouthpiece" for either ELOGS and Or Conway)

Just proves that the "system" works,drivers will and do everyday exceed the rules and IF they are CAUGHT well then they PAY the price

No one out here being FORCED to run illegal(at least where I drive),its a choice all of us have done or do on a daily basis,,,

 

Here, again, we have the argument that inexperienced drivers are the root of the problem. Really??

Here's what I see: As time goes on, each year of experience has fewer and fewer drivers, through attrition. That's pure logic. Those who started the same time you did, 30 years ago, have been whittled away, driver by driver.

30 years ago, training entailed getting your license, whether chuaffer's or CDL, going to a company and being handed a set of keys. The supposition was that if you had the license, you could drive. However, acquiring the license only took a written test, if that. I'm not saying the results are any better now. What I am saying is, 30 years from now, today's noobs will be the experienced drivers with no accidents or incidents. Only their experience will far outweigh yours. Why? Traffic is heavier now and continues to become heavier with every new crop of Driver's Ed graduates.

Stop looking down your nose at every new driver on the road. You were a noob, too. The same percentage of drivers who started with you have been trimmed from the nationwide fleet.

EOBRs? I ran on them. I didn't like the invasion of my privacy. I didn't "deserve" to be on them. In almost five years of driving, I have had a total of four in-house log violations and a single inspection log violation...only because I did not drop my line down to "driving." Then, I found out later, I wasn't required to make a continuous line on the log. Since it was not a money ticket and it only placed a single point on my CSA, I chose to ignore it. However, I was still able to run over 3,500 miles each week.

 

I appreciate where you are coming from, but I'll have to disagree. Newer drivers are often more likely to put themselves in bad situations because they haven't learned from their mistakes yet. I'm not saying that experienced drivers don't make mistakes, but often times there mistakes are due to the fact that they're over-confident in their abilities. People need to adapt, what may work one day will not work the next day. Take it was it comes, plan the best you can, and let the pieces fall where they may.

 

That same learning curve existed thirty years ago, when our (now) veterans started. The people who started with our veterans made the same mistakes today's noobs are making. They fell off the nationwide fleet for the same reasons todays noobs do. That's my point.

I still have a perfect record for accidents. I love what I do. I am likely, twenty years from now, to be sitting where today's veteran drivers are. Take a cross section of 100 people who started at the same time I did. Fully 90 of them are no longer driving today, almost five years later. As time goes on, maybe two of us will make it to 25 years. Now, take a cross section of 100 people who started driving 30 years ago. You will see identical results.

The veterans we are hearing from today are the ones who made it. That does not make their training any better than what we see today. Expecially when comparing actual hard numbers. Despite two to three times more trucks and cars on the road today, there are fewer raw number crashes involving trucks than 30 years ago. If today's practices suck so bad, how do we explain this?

 

Well from what I'm seeing, my former carrier kept shortening the training period. This in return resulted in more accidents. They still meet some sort of standard and are better than others in the industry, but once standards start dropping it's a slippery slope. My current carrier only hires "experienced" drivers, and our orientation keeps getting shorter and shorter. We just throw they to the wolves and most fail. Instead of making training a specific amount for everyone it should be set as an individual goal.

Excuse my ramblings, I'm feverish and I'm not even sure that makes sense.

 

What were "standards" 25 years ago?

Where did today's veterans get their initial experience and where are tomorrow's veterans supposed to get it if the same opportunities are not available?

 

agreed, but things were unsafe then (matter of opinion) so why strive to be back to that standard? Make things more difficult so it's a job you can be proud of again.

 

There are some who think those standards need to be returned to. Just read this thread, or any other where noobs come under attack.

 

agreed, it's easy to blame new drivers, elogs, mega carriers, people that are not here to stand up for themselves.