Driven Mad: Trucking Industry Collapsing Under Regulation
Meyer also complained about the hours-of-service regulations, noting his truck is his only transportation. He’s based in Salt Lake City, Utah, but he lives in Northern Arizona — a bit over 12 hours away. But according to the regulations, even after he’s dropped his trailer and is heading for home he can’t legally drive all the way home without stopping to rest — something any private citizen in a car can do without question:
I can’t drive down there legally, to go by those rules. You can run out of time on your log book 10 minutes from town, and you’re not legal to drive on home.
In the dispatch, AJC noted something similar:
An unintended consequence of the well-intentioned Hours of Service rule is that drivers actually may be more fatigued on the road during the day.
“With the logging system, you can’t go in in the afternoon and take a nap without it counting against your time,” Grove said. “Before they changed this, you could stop and break your hours up. You could take a nap.”
Part of the change comes from special interest lawsuits, and not from listening to actual truck drivers. For example, as a result of a 2009 Big Labor-backed sue-and-settle agreement, the Obama Department of Transportation may make the Hours of Service rule even less reality-based.
Meanwhile, job creators like Western HiWays hang in the balance. Grove said the problem is that no one in Washington really understands the problems of the industry:
“I think — and it’s not just in trucking, it’s in anything,” said Mr. Grove. “Anybody can read a book. You can go to college and still be an idiot. … [Washington] needs to get out and, and get in the trucks and experience what actually all happens. I don’t think they’ve taken the time to come out here and see what it’s really like,” he added, slowly shaking his head.
Meyer agreed:
If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. We have a better safety record than any public utility and fire departments and police departments. The politicians have never done anything that remotely resembles common sense, they always go off the deep end: “If a little bit of regulation of this is good then a whole lot oughta be better” — but that’s not necessarily so.
AJC noted the Obama administration has 4,225 new federal regulations in the pipeline, 219 of which carry an annual cost of $100 million or more. All of which will fall most heavily on the small businesses least equipped to handle them – and, just as damaging, on consumers. Businesses are forced to pass on compliance costs, and they generally add a small “fudge factor” to make sure they’ve covered all costs.
Which means the 70 percent of goods which travel by truck cost more every time Washington tacks on a regulation.
“No one in Congress has done OTR driving.”
Kristi Noem (R-SD) drives heavy farm equipment. Does that count, now that some States are requiring CDL licenses for it?
Not unless she’s driven interstate, subject to the hours-of-service regs and dependent on miles driven for income. Does she wait for hours to be loaded or unloaded, with no pay for down time while her available productive time wastes away? Can she not stop for meals, coffee, or restroom without being penalized by diminished productive time? Does she spend weeks or months out on the road, away from home? Has she ever tried to find something to do at a truck stop or rest area for a mandatory ten or twenty four hour down time? Has she ever sat hoping her dispatcher could find her next load before her hours clock counted down to zero, ending her day? Has she ever sat in readiness for a full day, waiting, then when after a full day of waiting and now longing for sleep, been told “you have to be ready to drive now, you’ve been off duty all day!”?
Farm work is hard work, no doubt. And the good Senator may be fully qualified to operate a heavy combination vehicle with air brakes, she may even be qualified for tankers, doubles and triples, and hazmat. Maybe she’s even hauled her own product from farm to market. But that is an entirely different job than a OTR long-haul forced-dispatch slip-seat common carrier.
I don’t claim to know what it’s like to plow a field or even drive a school bus. Different jobs. I’m sure the good Senator would agree. As would most farmers. Especially the ones that drive OTR in the off season.
Mark there is no one in congress with enough intellegence to drive a truck,
I have been a CDL holder for 42 years, both interstate and local, construction, logging, agriculture, dry van, flat bed, autos, etc. I say this for this reason: Over regulation is a major problem, and my trucks were parked in 2005. I drive local now in the Pacific Northwest hauling logs, and here over regulation is an advantage for the driver in that if you fill out the logs to reflect legal, that is lie, you can work the hours you need to, and it is the only way you can do it to make a decent living. Washington will never get less regulation, and the more regulation they bring, with the present economic outlook, the enforcement side will collapse, and we’ll be back where we were 40 years ago. One bright aspect of Kristi Noem is that she knows long hours and the practical side of work to bring a little reason to the madness, but one voice is not enough with the mindset of Reid and Pelosi prevailing
What states require a CDL to drive farm equipment?
The Federal DOT was trying to make the farmers carry a CDL, but they fought it and won. Because the farmers use their children to drive the tractors and it would have put them out of business.
@Marc Malone, that is because the average politician doesn’t have use of the part of the brain that allows double-clutching; they only know double-talking.
@Marc, sorry, brain wasn’t even in 1st gear when I addressed my response to you. It should have been addressed to @vagabondv. Mea Culpa.
An American prayer: Lord, please save us from the, mostly, well intentioned liberals trying to save the country from all evil by burying everyone in unending laws and regulations. Convince them that grown-ups exist outside of Washington, D.C., then send them all home and tell the last one out to lock the doors.
Wonderful prayer. Hard part is getting liberals to believe anyone is listening.
I also have a CDL endorsed for triples and tankers and hazmat. What is really not good is most blue collar workers and most union people voted for Obama and most vote Democrate and they preach they are for the working man. They are so brain washed or sheeped they just don’t get it. The Enviromental and Liberals are ruining the middle class and lowering our standards of living by over regulation of everything.
you are so right. I have never been union. but have cdl Farmed for 21 years.Drove over road for 32 years.regulations leave very little left for the owner Operator. I finall had to get rid of my truck. I have Grandsons who are owner operators. they are having a hard time making a living and supporting 5 children. and this president has no Idea what is ivolved with work.As It shows in his work ethics he does not know what it is like to work 20 hour days ot to work two jobs to support his family. It is time to cut back on government control. epa can come onto you land and tell you that your land belongs to them and tell you what you can do with it. or be find lots of money every day if you donot do as they say. May God Bless America again.
The truck drivers of America are far better at doing their jobs, with far less harmful consequences to the rest of us, than Congress.
Interesting insights into this industry and the issues owners and drivers face due to over-regulation. I have a fresh appreciation for OTR.
At one time, truckers were the safest, most courteous drivers on the road. What you’ve shared sheds some light on why that’s no longer true.
I would much rather drive in the middle of a pack of truckers than with a pack of 4 wheelers, and I don’t drive for a living. I think truckers are still a pretty courteous group.
Well is there anyone out there that thinks Obama cares about saftey or the drivers with all these regulations? No, he wants to make commerce very, very expensive. Then only the large trucking firms will be able to compete. And we know that Washington does a very good job of controlling large businesses. Can’t control the small ones, so the alternative is to put them out of business. Its the same with small banks. Dodd Franks will put small banks out of business.
Warren Buffet owns railroads and Obama. If your not paying Obama and the democrats expect the game to get harder.
Imagine if every trucker in the U.S went on strike, which would put the breaks on the economic engine. Just imagine.
A great lesson for libs everywhere.
What do you mean I can’t have the Kobe beef. I want the Kobe beef, sorry miss , we have no beef, we have no chicken actually all we have is water. How would you like your water.
They used to go on strike…a lot in the 70s. Unions were broken and still are being broken by? One guess.
It’s more complicated than not liking liberals and the President.
I’m sure things have become onerous but that stemmed from old pos trucks with over tired and over stimulated truckers creating mass carnage. Try looking for good middle ground…maybe get involved.
3 Days they could change it. Stop driving for 3 days. Most truck drivers have the internet, Facebook, twitter. If they even threaten to stop driving, they could get results. The big but is but they have to do this together. And yes, I have drove a truck back in the 80′s and thought the paperwork was a pain in the ass then.
A lot of the time in service regulations are pushed by the Teamsters Union and other criminal organizations. They benefit teamster drivers who don’t mind being paid well to not drive. The disadvantage owner operators and non union drivers who are paid by the mile.
This is just another Leftist attack on America.
I saw what you did right there. You said, “other criminal organizations”.
Don’t go thinking you slipped that by us.
I HAVEN”T DRIVEN OTR FOR FIFTY YEARS SO I HAVE NO DOG IN THIS FIGHT, BUT IF ANOMYMOUS DOESN”T THINK THERE IS A CRIMINAL ELEMENT IN THE TEAMSTERS HE’S LETTING ” BENNNY ” TAKE OVER! HE SHOULD ASK JIMMY HOFFA SENIOR. JUNIOR IS MIXED IN WITH THE PEOPLE WHO KILLED HIS OLD MAN. HOW’S THAT FOR BEING HONORABLE?
#7 mac
as a driver, i have to tell you this : drivers are to independent minded to go on an effective strike. we, as a group, aren’t a group. that’s what makes organizations like O.O.I.D.A. ineffective when dealing with the bureaucratic mess that is trucking regulations. also, we can’t afford to sit still during any strike as most of us O/O can’t afford the down time of a strike anyway.
a strike would also destroy the economy, since most freight is shipped on a “just in time” schedule. j.i.t. means that companies from albertsons to wal-mart don’t have any extra supplies sitting around waiting to be put on the shelf in case the truck is late. if you need any proof of that just remember how bare the shelves get any time there’s a bad storm coming.
Ever notice the DOT officers not knowing how to enforce the changed regs? With the economy going down the tube, DOT will be cut back, and the big super trucking companies will be the targets of electronic surveilance, and the little guy will be free to work as he wants as his records don’t have to be computerized. Maybe this is dreaming, or is it now starting to happen?
it’s been happening. the company i work for has been phasing in electronic-on-board recorders as they get new trucks. i run as legal as i possibly can and i haven’t had any problems outside of delays at shippers, recievers, fuel stops and traffic back ups. for some reason those things seem to fill up my daily allotment of federally mandated hours of service.
Pick a date, get it spread around, and see what happens. Do not do it between Thanksgiving and Christmas, as you will be seen as the bad guy. After Christmas but before New Year would be a good time because companies need to move stuff to avoid taxes.
Let’s say they strike. If the Owner Operators don’t work they don’t get paid. Every hour that the truck sets still it is loosing money. The truck payments and insurance won’t stop just because the truck is not moving. If a guy with a 9 to 5 job strikes, he stops getting paid. If an O/O strikes he starts loosing money.
BTW I have never understood that a trucker can only work 14hrs a day yet surgeons and doctors quite often work 36 hour shifts with no sleep during residency.
The independent owner/operator isn’t about to go on strike–he has payments to make. I don’t know exactly what a rig costs now, but I recall asking a dealer what a tractor cost, and he told me that they started above $100,000, and by the time you got one on the road, it was more like $125,000. Then if you wanted a nice one, it cost MONEY!
If you can not afford to take off for three days then you might as well quit now because you are working for free. ANY O/O or Co. Driver CAN afford to SHUT DOWN for three days !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Obama has a very easy fix to the lack of truckers issue; let Mexican drivers and their trucks into the US. The regulation issue is bypassed because the Mexicans can’t read English and, those who can, will get waivers. Loads of illegals and drugs can be positioned where they’ll do Obama’s reelection campaign the most good.
Three day strike? Are you kidding me? Just because Obama is incompetent doesn’t mean that he isn’t trying to destroy America. A three day strike could do some major damage to our country.
You won’t have to worry about getting your Kobe beef. Japanese drivers will deliver it to you over the intercontinental bridge that Obama built.
Keep in mind that The One, and his SecTrans, Ray LaHood, are at least as hostile to OTR trucking as they are to private automobiles.
They believe, as an article of faith, that a “hi-lo” mix of high-speed rail and bicycles are the only “transportation” we need. After all, it works so well in China- according to them. Goods (what we are allowed) move by rail; people move (under their own “green” power) by bike. It’s ecologically perfect, and “socially responsible”.
The fact that goods must be moved from the train station to a warehouse, and from there to an end-user, is outside of their worldview. Perhaps they believe we will use human-drawn freight wagons to get the job done. (Musn’t enslave horses or oxen, you know; PETA would hyperventilate, and we can’t have that.)
We are dealing with ideologues with absolutely no grasp of reality. Only a burning hatred of what is. Which they do not understand, and do not want to understand.
Attempting to reason with them is pointless. Come 6 November 2012, simply fire the lot of them.
If they ask why, tell them “A basic inability on your part to understand that 2 plus 2 equals four, that rain is wet, and that mass only moves when you apply kinetic energy to it- mostly with a truck”.
clear ether
eon
I foresee a day coming soon when California diesel restrictions will force trucks and trains to stop at the CA state line and transfer all freight to mule-drawn wagons. Green power!!!
Don’t worry I believe the Mexican trucking companies and drivers are slated for this work. Transferring jobs and wealth to anyone but Americans seems to be the design of the times.
On top of all of this, the new BASICS rating system is totally unreasonable. Before, where only out-of-service violations counted against us, now every single one does, leading to Troopers being more nit-picky. One of our drivers, carrying an over-size load, during a roadside inspection was written up for an unsecured fire extinguisher, because the latch was flipped up (his foot bumped it when he climbed into the cab). It didn’t matter that it was mounted horizontally and the keeper band was still in place. It was also one of three extinguishers on the truck.
Also, of more than 50 roadside inspections, we had only four with cargo securement violations. The old rating was based on a percentage of our violations vs. clean inspections, now we are compared to a peer group. We went from having a Satisfactory rating of 89%, to an alert status of 85% violation, a hole that will take us years to dig out of, especially since they’re targeting us for that now.
The most galling thing is that this is in spite of us being a safe company that spends thousands of dollars each year towards safety compliance.
Sorry for the rant, but I rarely get the opportunity.
For the sake of fairness, something rare in the political arena. This was all in the works as far back in the ’80s, when the CDL was conceived. Just as government healthcare and all the other socialist programs were conceived. Obama is the salesman they needed to push it through. Think George Soros and his cronies like the Clintons.
PJMedia is working with AmericanJobCreators to bring you stories of how over-regulation is destroying jobs nationwide.
Bravo!! I was thinking just the other day that PJM – and every other person and group that is against the re-election of Barack Obama – needs exactly that: a long list of all the new regulations that are killing the economy and hurting employment levels. While the “Big Picture” ideological and psychological stuff is vitally important, I think it is critical that we dig down into the level of details to show specific reasons why Obama’s policies are hurtful, not helpful.
An item like this from a few weeks ago particularly got my attention. The president of a chain of restaurants that had previously intended on expansion, which would inevitably lead to some job creation, had to abandon those plans because new regulations would force him to spend the money budgeted for expansion on regulatory compliance instead. Over a million dollars had to be spent to create new menus in his chain of restaurants, apparently to address some sort of new safety regulation.
This sort of thing needs to be exposed to the light of day so that everyone can see which of these new regulations make sense and which are complete nonsense that simply work to crush businesses without any commensurate good resulting from them. I strongly suspect that viewing a long list of ridiculous new regulations would go a long way to satisfying people that the Obama administration is not acting in their best interests. That should have the desired effect of getting people to vote for someone else.
I believe this has multiple intended effects. First, is that it is aimed at eliminating the independent operator and small companies, making it easier for the federal government to be able to control the industry by concentrating it in the hands of large companies, eliminating competition. The surviving companies become staffed by law school graduates whose main function is keeping the government off their backs. To avoid the pitfalls of the uncertain economy the companies aren’t buying new equipment to prevent being stuck with debt if and when the economy goes into deeper recession. Rising fuel costs are offset by contracted adjustments in the cost per mile to ship freight. The end result is higher shipping costs that means higher cost of necessities, like food, which effects especially the poorest in our society. High supply and low demand keep the drivers wages low. The constant pressure of perfection in an imperfect occupation, where a mishap can be judged preventable by someone who uses safety records as a control factor, has ruined many a long time career. This is our tax money, and the trucking industry pays taxes, at work.
This will continue until the lofty, esoteric, intellectual mind experiment in “reality,” the gaming process, is once again augmented by plain old fashioned common sense. The intellectual, based on no field experience, believes it’s true because they think it. No real world trial or hypothesis testing is necessary. It’s already been done via computer simulation.The realist knows it’s true on the basis of the experience gained through the implementation of the idea or innovation. The intellectual is reluctant or incapable of admitting there might be a superior approach. The mere suggestion tends to puncture an already inflated ego. The realist is generally a team player willing to acknowledge their own fallibility and accept any change for the better.
If the world has learned nothing else over the past 50 years it’s that a college degree is not a replacement for apprenticeship and on the job training and computer simulations are only as good as the efficacy of the application; garbage in garbage out. The Obama’s and his administration are inexperienced intellectuals convinced, as are their equivalently educated supporters in the main stream media, that they know best and are completely unwilling and unable to even consider that there might be superior alternatives to their carefully thought out mind experiments. Computer simulations rule and their results are infallible. Just ask Al Gore and the AGW crowd.
So, today I have a minor mechanical issue with my truck. The 14 hour clock is ticking. Do I have time to get this issue resolved right now or do I keep moving in order to make the delivery tomorrow as promised? I really don’t have time to do both because of the 14 hour rule. If I have to wait over an hour, the delivery schedule will be comprimised. As a 30 year driver, I would like to be able to fix the truck and make the drop without being creative on a log book.
In that there are plenty of business owners faced with ever-increasing regulations, I don’t want to make too much of a fuss here. But imagine that your business (and all its employees) had to keep a record of every start and stop time, and keep the same record handy for a no-notice inspection all day. And, imagine that 3 to 5 times a day, law enforcement walked through your office, just looking. May the Lord be merciful if the “man” fingers you for a closer look: let’s see your drivers license, medical card, log book, registration, insurance card, bills of lading, and fuel receipts, and you have seat over there. And after this we’ll go have a look at your truck. Shouldn’t take more than an hour, if all is well.
In the past few weeks I have given much thought to purchasing a new trailer. Being a “one-horse” operation, this would increase my capital equipment value by 35%. However,the ever-increasing rules and regulations, the insecurity in the market, and the busted heads in Afganistan (and the implied continuation of our military prescence) add to my concern that ANY debt is a bad idea. My word picture is a boy trying to ride a bike with too many playing cards stuck in the spokes! Ya need more horsepower or less cards in the spokes, boy or it ain’t gonna work.
And while I’m on a roll, let me comment about wind and solar energy.
My standard for being treated like yesterday’s diapers used to be big steel mills and then the railroad yards. But the new contender for consumate time wasters is wind and solar energy.
Last week, the on-site safety guy was all over the truck drivers for PPE (personal protection equipment, ie, hard hat, reflective vest, boots and safety glasses). But he missed the big one. The crane operator stuck the crane boom into the bottom of one of the moving wind-tower blades and damaged it, of course. So, the day ended, no trucks loaded, and the second was like it, because the wind rose up and the crane crew could not work, according to their rules. Wednesday, the safety guy misses another cue and someone loses a finger nail. Next two days are “safety shut down”. On Saturday, after a hard rain storm and the ensuing mud pit, we are virtually all ready to go, but no: “there is a lightning alert, every one into your vehicles until further notice.”
And in case you weren’t aware of it, China is a huge provider of our towers and other wind related equipment, at the behest of our friends at GE. Would it not be reasonable to expect that these projects, funded and/or subsidized by ALL of us, should be built using American made products?
One of our drivers with 3 million miles of safe driving (it takes 40 years to reach that point) got the sack because of the new CSA rules and our company policy. The driver managed to get 3 speeding tickets in the last several years, one of which involved a test drive in a new pickup truck that was found to have a miscalibrated speedo. But because our company has good lawyers and the driver was 70 years old, they cut him loose, undoubtedly to limit the liability. It’s a shit sandwich for the driver, but in todays lawyered-up economy, the company made the right choice, if they want to remain a player.
Well, I’ve blown two hours waiting for repairs. Looks like the log book is going to have to be dealt with by using the Fudgemate program.
Great article! You guys should look into the regulations on the commercial fishing industry too. As bad if not worse. Did you know that local fishermen here in Ma. are forced to have federal observers onboard? REALLY! How many other industries literally have big brother looking over your shoulder?
Here are a couple of links with more info for your next blockbuster report:
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/fishing
http://www.americanthinker.com/mike_johnson/
i think we need to come up with a new mass market computer game. your goal is to drive a tractor-trailer cross country, using the interstate road net, stopping at all weighing and inspection stations, obeying all speed limits and hours of service regulations, and maintaining your rig in safe operating condition while following dispatch orders, and market it heavily to the general, non truck driving public for a taste of what the average long haul driver goes through to earn a living. i missed a lot of good time with my wife and kids back in the late ’70s and early ’80s driving otr, i think now that i made a good choice coming off the road then, seeing what its like now.
I know nothing about trucking or its regulation. But I have lived under federal regulators, and the themes are common. Washington D. C. is attempting to regulate every aspect of life. and failing badly. They take the road of good intentions and drive straight to ……….. absurdity because they do not live in the real world. The real world is complex, and trade – offs between two goods must be made, e.g sleepy drivers and cost effective trucking. But Bureaucrats abhor trade – offs for several reasons: they lack the experience to make them, they fear the responsibility of making a bad choice, which will get somebody hurt and the finger of guilt will point to them, and so they regulate absolutes, or issue libraries of interrelated regulations that no one can comprehend. They like power; it is the lawyer’s way, and no lawyer ever drove a big rig. And, to be honest, there are well connected private interests who like it one way, their way. Finally there are politicians who get elected by fibbing: I will make your highways safe from ……… (pick the villain). Every grandmother who has ever sat two feet away from a whining set of huge spinning truck tires, votes for safety. But unless she reads pajamas, she remains ignorant of the harm she caused.
The solution is decentralization of the reg writers, removal of dummies from issuing regs. The sole government function should be the requirement that regs, written by experienced people, must be followed by all. Example: Some bosses will try to push drivers to work fifty hours straight, pumped up on drugs. Example: if the trailer is disconnected, the big rig driver should follow the same rules as the driver of a pick up truck. Example: the clock should start when the tires roll, with consideration of prior rest times.
In my ignorance, I would come down hard on unsecured loads, and bad brakes, but cut some slack on driving hours. People must make a living.
“Every grandmother who has ever sat two feet away from a whining set of huge spinning truck tires…”
Okay, pet peeve. On the highway at highway speeds: get in front of me, be behind me, but NEVER, under any circumstance, ride beside me. There is no excuse for this. Your four-wheeler can out maneuver and out accelerate me. Riding beside me is foolhardy. Tires explode. Traffic cuts us off unexpectedly. In an emergency breaking situation, I may not be able to keep the trailer in one lane (Yes, I’d probably be judged wrong. You’re still dead.) And your presence beside me cuts down on my options in an emergency situation, which I will spot and react to (because of my vantage point) before you are even aware of a problem.
Most truckers try to maintain an even speed, cruise set. But road conditions and elevations will cause us to slow. Pass, if you need to. But the safest place to be near a truck is away from it. Leave the driver a cushion of space on all sides, just as you would leave space in front of you. Please.
Also, if your headlamps illuminate my undercarriage, you’re following too closely! Thanks.
Excellent point! The problem, on the heavy east coast interstates, are platoons, a mile of big trucks, nose to tail, in the right lane, and grandma/pa in the left. She/he will not cleanly pass! Soon you have a needlessly dangerous condition. Four wheelers stack up behind a slow poke, clearances drop to a few feet, and the safety margins drop to zero.
I well remember the long handle shovel that fell off a truck, cartwheeled. Lousy shoulders, no place to go.
My pet almost peaved but I dont own a pet.
Pass clean or stay behind, and occasionally move to see his mirror. If that space you left gets filled in by an idiot, let him live another day.
And my thanks to the millions who drove safely with me.
Bravo.
While never an OTR, my law enforcement days involved a lot of highway driving. One thing which invariably set my teeth on edge was seeing two rigs leaving a long clear space between them for Assured Clear Distance- and then seeing some yutz in a four wheeler dart in to the space and sit there. (And being a lab rat, I didn’t have a ticket book, and the four-lane wasn’t my jurisdiction anyway.)
Another was state or county drivers in dumpers who seemed unable to grasp the whole concept. Like seeing three county dumpers (not from my county, thank G-d) going up the interstate at the legal 55 limit- with maybe thirty feet between each truck and the one ahead of it. No visibility, and no chance whatever of avoiding a “boxcar” if the guy in front had to stand on his brakes.
The CDL requirement put an end to a lot of this nonsense, at least. Today, government-employed drivers have to be at least as qualified as commercial drivers, in terms of training. But before that, there were some things that made me perspire ever-so-gently…..
cheers
eon
Yaaa, deregulate, I want guys falling asleep behind the wheel of huge rigs going 60 miles per hour! Let them play with their cell phones while they are at it so they can be more efficient. There are regulations for a reason, safety, health, etc.. If corporate chiefs weren’t so greedy and willing to sacrifice safety and even people’s lives just to make more short-term profit, we wouldn’t need more regulation.
You expose yourself as an ignorant fool. Drivers are far more tired with these European style regs. All about control, they hurt my health and safety and cut deep into my earnings. We will turn it around when we dump the Marxists and GOP establishment next November. Run, Sarah, Run!
You act like regulation is the result of one president. These regulations have been written and passed over the course of decades, through democrat and republican presidents. You can put whoever you want in the whitehouse but they can’t change what the majority of people don’t want changed…. and the majority of people want safe roads; however that is defined. Calling people socialist or dimwits won’t change that. Until you recognize the need for responsible legislation, the people making the rules may not be the best ones to do it. That means some of you will have to get an education and get your a** out of the truck and into the administration where you have some input. Until then, I guess you just have to rant.
obviously can’t read, these regulations will caue more drivers to fall asleep. They can’t stop their 14 hour clocks to sleep, of when they are in dock. Go ahead and support this one, see what happens when accidents go up because you don’t drivers should be able to stop the clock and sleep. Real smart.
Lets say you didn’t sleep well the night before and you are 10 hours into your day. Which has been scheduled to be a full day. You still have 4 hours available but you need all of them to get your job done.
Sans the regulations you could take a 2 or 3 hour nap and resume driving and your load would be, very unfortunately, 2 or 3 hours late.
WITH the regulation, since you started 10 hours ago and are 4 hours out. You HAVE to go off the clock for a MINIMUM of 8 hours to keep legal.
At this point you could choose: drive 4 hours barely asleep and keep legal or take a break and have the load 8 hours late.
if you sit for 8 hours your clock stops and you should be taking a nap in that wait time. any less and it doesn’t. if you have a 2 hour to less than 8 hour wait you can take an 8 restart by your 14 hours is up from when you started your day (before the 2)and be given a brand new 14 hour.
if you take an 8 hour off duty you clock stops so whatever you worked before that break (2 hours lets say)will be added on to the time after you wake from your 8 at the dock up to 14 hours with a 2 hour break.
basically you need 10 hours per 24 hour period of rest with 8 hours being the minumim of “uninterrupted” rest
its a little confusing and the some of the bigs won’t let you use split sleeper for fear you’ll mess up you logs. but i’ve never had a problem with dot.
it’s actually really helpful if you are an employee in that you can use the strength of law against dispatchers or owners that want to make you run tired.
it’s actually a little more complicated then i made it but i know how to do it though not explain it. meh same thing. it’s really not that much of a hardship
also regulation as far as drivers hours go shouldn’t really screw you as a company. it’s easily adaptable and lets face it that many many people are completely willing to break rules. your load will be there on the ridiculous time you client asked for. but you may also be trading that drivers ethics or morals for it (though that is not always the case). if they are willing to break that rule how many are they willing to break. that’s how you many times end up with a dirt bag employee stable.
the big thing that is sinking companies and O/Os is fuel prices. no if and or buts about it.
It is not the president, it is number 1 the representatives, then the Senate that passes bills. Makes laws,run the f’g country. It is not the president. If it were, you would all be happy as pigs cause I think he is actually for you guys, he just can’t get past the representatives and senate. Quit blaming the figurehead, it is the assholes you are against!
Unfortunately that is not the case. Congress gave away much of their authority back in the 80′s as in the case of the DOT. In the 60′s to the EPA so Congress nor the President has to take any flack from these regs. Many of these unrealistic regulations are lobbyied for by the bigger corps in order to put more pressure on the smaller companies. Once you create a huge bureacrat-ocracy like DOT that pretty much make the law (just as if Congress made it). The larger corps can pay a bank of lawyers or compliance officers to manage regs, etc. Smaller companies cannot afford this and remain competitive.
The President definitely holds sway over these bureaucrats so when you see these type of regs coming down the pipe the President is compliant. One of the problems with the system is that any fees or fines the agency collects go back to their budget instead of general revenue and this encourages them to make intrusive regulations that will generate some monies for their agency. It is really a wonderful system for these gutless politicians who only want the glory and no responsibility. If you look at trucking company safety stats versus the overall you will see that trucking is extremely well run and no need for this additional regulation.
For me personally when I am driving next to a big rig I appreciate the fact that he is trying to make a living under trying conditions. When I see a car pull in front of a big rig and slam on the brakes I say a special little prayer for a bureaucrat.
The fact that goods must be moved from the train station to a warehouse, and from there to an end-user, is outside of their worldview. Perhaps they believe we will use human-drawn freight wagons to get the job done. (Musn’t enslave horses or oxen, you know; PETA would hyperventilate, and we can’t have that.)
First off, increasing regulations aren’t keeping new drivers off the road, crappy companies and working conditions are.
Way too many Operators of trucking companies are ‘fly by nighters’.
The stories are endless of drivers agreeing to work for X Company and all of the good things that this company will do to keep them wheels turning which is the key because the non- union driver is paid by the mile. No Miles No Money.
The stories of drivers sitting for 2-5 days unpaid waiting for the Company to find a load he can pick up to return home are also endless. And they aren’t providing you with motels, you are expected to sleep in that bunk.
Of course an overwhelming majority of the trucking companies fail on that promise. I will say that it’s not always the trucking companies fault but the problem is, they aren’t honest upfront with the driver and that could be because they don’t want to scare him/her away.
Working Conditions in addition to wages suck as well.
You are in a sleeper, which is smaller than a jail cell. Yes, some can appear quite nice on first impression to someone who has never lived in one, but it becomes ‘old’ quickly.
Lack of pay while waiting at a customer is something that the non unions have been grappling with for years and is the biggest cause of ‘churn’ in the biz. People do this for sometime then move on to something else
Another nasty trait for the Over The Road companies is keeping their drivers on the road for up to and over a month away from home.
They will send you all over the country but never bring you back to your home terminal so that you can spend some time at home.
Now, to a non unionized person the following may sound like pro union propoganda but it’s the reality. I am a Unionized City Driver (local pick ups and deliveries, home every night). And yes, there are problems within Unionized companies but they are minor compared to the non union.
I used to be a Unionized Over The Road Driver for the same company but when I got the chance to do city work I jumped at it. Now our OTR guys paid for all time ‘on the clock’. It’s a combination of mileage and down time. Let’s say the driver is going to Canada for a delivery and he gets stopped at Customs for an inspection (of the load not him) and he is there for 2-3 hours. He gets paid what a city drivers hourly rate is for that sitting time and for any delays at customers as well.
And he is always provided with a motel if he ‘runs out of hours to drive’.
The proof is obvious. Non Union companies have 100% employee turnover rates (drivers jump from company to company trying to get a better deal but it never happens) and Unionized Companies have a 1% turnover rate.
Either find a Union to join OR get yourselves a better Association to represent you. Being ‘independent minded’ dosen’t seem to be working out for truck drivers.
The turnover rate has lessened a bit since the recession but that’s only because people are desperate as seen from the following Industry newsletters…………………………..
The driver turnover rate at large truckload fleets rose to an annualized rate of 75 percent in the first quarter of 2011, the American Trucking Associations said.
That’s a 6 percentage point increase over the fourth quarter of 2010, and a 92 percent leap from an annualized rate of 39 percent in the third quarter.
The rapid increase in driver turnover — the rate at which drivers leave a company within a year — comes as competition for experienced truckers intensifies.
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.joc.com%2Ftruckload%2Ftruckload-driver-turnover-rate-hits-75-percent&ei=S559TpWaH5PUgAfc0rhI&usg=AFQjCNFYeoLl4piYYgNhc7y4hWU-QJtD0A&sig2=Tmx6o08dLZwOVMZDCGwGig
Back in 2006
Large truckload carrier line-haul driver turnover climbed to 121 percent from 110 percent in the second quarter, while the rate for small truckload carriers rose to 114 percent from 100 percent.
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCcQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldtradewt100.com%2Farticles%2Ftruck-driver-turnover-rate-on-the-rise&ei=S559TpWaH5PUgAfc0rhI&usg=AFQjCNGv07lmi-r7_CsASA-xUWJgNVgm-g&sig2=Mkz8vxQH_kfurYMoQlc7MQ
The company that I drive for has started putting the electronic logs in all 300 trucks because of the future mandating of them for all trucks that the DOT is talking about. The terminal that I work out of has had them for 6 years as the pilot for the fleet and some days we hate them but when we get stopped and point to it when the officer wants are logbooks they just let us go. Why you ask, because there is no way to print out from them and they have to send a request to the company for a print out that is then sent in the mail and just might get there in a week.
Sounds to me as though you interviewed a couple of scofflaw drivers who want to run overloaded rigs, at high speeds, loads not tied down or balanced, fueled with West-Coast Turnarounds.
Responsible drivers and operators know the regs save lives.
“As President Barack Obama is touring the country”
I know you all call him this, but he’s really not. This is part of the problem. His birthplace is being investigated on many levels now. How are you going to feel, when you know, calling him this, only emboldened him?
I don’t mean to attack you personally, but it’s a reflection of all of the media. He’s not legitimate.
I think it’s going to be revealed soon. I hope he pays the ultimate price, along with those who helped him.
Calling Obama president, is like calling Ted Bundy a nice young man.
Obama In Kenya: I Am So Proud To Come Back Home
http://youtu.be/87pXa2pK6sg
The entire premise of regulation is wrong – very wrong. People are self-regulating by nature or they cannot live. Telling a truck driver or anyone else that he has to get up at such and such a time and do x and then y is such an insult to why man possesses a mind, a fact of his nature, that I know for a fact that whatever Harvard (and plenty of other universities) touts itself to be, it is in fact an insane asylum.
The government’s job is not to violate man’s nature by insulting his mind. It is to protect his right to use it.
Yeah, what I want is for guys that have been on the go for 72 straight hours to be on the highway with me and my family. That’s the ticket!! Freedom!!! Holy crap, can’t you guys admit that *some* regulation is actually designed to keep people safe and commerce moving along?
No one is calling for unregulated trucking. The issue is that the latest revisions in the “Hours of Service” rules make the safety problems worse, not better. Habits that were previously considered to encourage safety (such as coffee breaks, power naps, allowing extra time margins and even lunch) now cost the driver productive time. Do you really think a rule that rewards a driver who pushes straight through and eats meals behind the wheel but punishes a driver that takes a coffee break every few hundred miles and takes a break during rush hour makes the highways safer? It was once good work ethic to allow extra time and arrive for appointments an hour early. Now that hour is deducted from available driving hours, unless the customer can take the load right away. I am more weary now under the 11/14 hour rule than I ever was under the 10 hour rule.
And your bogeymen drivers “on the go for 72 hours”? Nowhere in the regulation does it say I must sleep. The drivers who spend their whole break playing “Cherrymaster” at the truckstop are still out there. The regs do nothing to cure that.
Hey Justin, clearly you didn’t read this article, or else you would realize this regulation is DANGEROUS. NOE ONE is on the road for 72 sstraight hours, you need to save those kinds of lies for tea party rallies. These guys are asking to go off the clock when they are off duty, to be able to pull over when they are tired. Nothing stops the on duty clock. You get 11 hours to drive, you have 14 hours to do it. if you spend 8-10 hours in a dock sleeping, you’re going to drive 4 hours, and then twiddle you’re thumbs until you’re ready to sleep… OH! TIME TO DRIVE! BETTER NOT SLEEP! and if you are too tired to continue, and you pull over, and eat up you’re on duty clock, the load is late and you’re fired. MORE DRIVERS ARE SLEEPY ON THE ROAD NOW. maybe you better realize that not all regulation is good, maybe you should read what you’re supporting.
Independent truckers have always been on the outside looking in. It is time they Unite. Not as a union but anti-Union. Numbers are on your side. But in a peaceful way. Drive them nuts with courtesy, invite the congress to ride along and fill out the paperwork, and let them deal with the regulations do this for a few days with each congressmen. I think you will get farther with honey then vinegar. Remember we still have time.
Some of our trucks are electronically governed to a set roadspeed. Some of them are governed as slow as 62 mph. We’re not trying to be slow and there’s no way to make it move faster when you’re behind us.
Some of us have a “Black Box” in our trucks that monitor every movement of the truck. Those data recorders tell us when to work, when to sleep, and even tell us that our truck cannot be moved until the driver takes a ten hour rest break, as required by Uncle Sam. That’s often why rest areas, highway on ramps, shopping center parking lots and city streets have parked trucks in them. We’re not slow and lazy, we’re restricted to slow speeds and have to comply with Hours-of-Service regulations in a zero tolerance environment. When that box says the truck can not be moved, it will not be moved.
We’re subject to constant scrutiny and inspections at random by Law Enforcement. When you see a group of truckers pulled over by the Police, they haven’t always done anything wrong. The truckers’ paperwork, load and equipment are being closely inspected for the safety of the public.
We’re subject to mandatory random drug tests and will be forced to park and not move if any of us have any trace of alcohol in our body.
We’re subject to traffic law that changes with every state we drive through, as well as the federal laws. Some of us are small business owners and have to submit to similar scrutiny for our trucking business- on top of our other compliance responsibilities.
Several times a day we enter weigh stations to make sure the loads in our trailers are not overweight. In a weigh station our permits, paperwork and personal driving records are subject to review, as well as random safety inspections of our trucks. We sometimes travel through Border Patrol Checkpoints where we may, or may not be inspected and interviewed to ensure our citizenship. Some of us carry extra identification that’s required to enter ports and railyards to pick up freight and some of those facilities X-Ray our trucks while we drive in.
We’re subject to a higher standard of scrutiny than the general public and are expected to be cooperative and provide transparency on demand with no hesitation. Our driving record must be clean- a trucker can lose his privilege to drive commercial motor vehicles for only a few tickets in the last few years.
And a lot of these laws apply to us in every vehicle we drive, including our personal passenger vehicles.
I say get rid of all these ridiculous trucking regulations! When that well known socialist/marxist/trotskyite Ted Kennedy pushed deregulation of the trucking industry back in ’78, who knew we would be ushering in an era of Mexican drug-addled truckers roaming the highways of America a la the tranAmerican highway!
If something isn’t broke, don’t fix it. Professional OTR drivers are the safest drivers on the roads in America today. However, over-regulation is ruining the careers of experienced professional OTR drivers, forcing companies to quickly replace them with inexperienced newbie drivers, whose turnover rates are astronomically high because they lack the experience that can only come from years of driving. Hence, the net effect is the OTR industry is becoming far less safe than previously due solely to government over-regulation. In fact, most newbie drivers lose their driving careers even before they finish paying off for their driving schools. It is a very rough industry .
Guess who pushed for open trucking between US and Mexico – Tom Donohue head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It was blocked by Joan Claybrook president of Public Citizen. In addition, the government pushed through standards that kept Mexican trucks from coming into the US. Corporations are the ones that benefit from cheap trucking from Mexican. They are the ones that could care less about truckers and workers. Many regulations are well meaning (trucker safety) but ill implemented.
Something else we arent getin paid enough to compensate for the lost miles. I think they should make a regulation MAKING the shipper and consignee and truckin companies pay us for the lost miles. And also up the mileage pay to a minimum of .40 a mile
I am an OTR regional Driver.
I am getting the same rate of pay per mile that I did 20 years ago and fewer miles. That is something that was not discussed.
In the early 90s I got a different truck and wrote down the odometer reading. 365 days later I had driven 154,000 miles. Now if I can get 2,300 miles a week I am happy. So you see, I am making fewer dollars than I did 20 years ago; and those dollars are worth a whole lot less.
It won’t be long before we go to an electronic logging system. Life on the road and business will be impossible. My income will drop like a rock.
I’ll have so much time to sleep, I’ll need to start writing a novel just for entertainment.
Pride prevents me from going on welfare even though I would be financially better off.
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in the state of california can you average 51 miles per hour and comply with the speed limit say a trip from LA to SF