Simon Says... " Just curious? What five hour break are they talking about? Teams are not even supposed to run 5 & 5 now."
It's a relatively arbitrary break that someone in the Safety Department comes up with as a tangible method of covering Panther's rear end in case a van driver gets into an accident. They can show the court, "See, right here in the satellite position logs, and right here in the Qualcomm messages history, we made him take a break in order to ensure he was well rested and alert. He had a full 5-hour break. We didn't force him to drive straight through on this load. He had plenty of rest. We are in no way culpable in his accident. It was him, all him, I tell ya!"
The reasonings behind it are quite sound. Too many van drivers see a lot of miles on a load offer, and even if they've just delivered a 500 mile run, they get a woody, the blood rushes from their head, and all their brains can comprehend is the dollar signs of this next great load. They don't stop top consider if they can safely take it, if they can get enough sleep along the way, if they're gonna put themselves and others in danger. So, Safety has to tell them when to take a break, since they're too stoopid to know it on their own.
I say relatively arbitrary, because I've had several 800 miles runs, some on the heels of other runs, where nothing of a break was mentioned, and I've had other runs where a 3, 4, 5 or 8 hour break was required for the same number of miles. So the duration of the breaks certainly seem arbitrary, and whether to take one or not is absolutely inconsistent.
The "policy" is that all loads more than 700 miles are to be flagged for Safety to review, and then a break of a certain length will be mandated. Sounds good, but in practice it falls short. It's too arbitrary.
This "...policy is written in stone", so I'm told, but it's implemented in Etch-A-Sketch. I've asked for this policy in writing, but so far haven't had any luck. Must be a heavy stone.
See, the thing is, when straight truck and tractor-trailer dudes and dudettes are offered a load, they know exactly how many hours they have, and when and for how long they have to take a break. That kind of information factors into the decision-making process on whether or not you accept the load.
I'm in a van and am not regulated by HoS, so my only HoS restrictions are those imposed by me on myself in order to ensure my own safety, which most definitely figures very prominently into the process. I know how my body reacts in various situations, like the current level of rest its had and how much rest will be needed to ensure a safe trip. No one knows me better than me. The problem comes when I make that decision, and have mapped out when and where I will take my breaks, and it's all based on how I feel at the time and what my body will require, and then somewhere in the middle of the run someone from Safety beeps in and literally changes the conditions of the load offer by mandating a break of a certain length, and all too often, mandating when I actually have to take it. That's information I need at the time of the load offer, not after it's been accepted or rejected.
I don't mind playing by the rules, I just want to know what they are. I want them in writing, and I want them to apply, always, to every load, and to everyone.
It's a relatively arbitrary break that someone in the Safety Department comes up with as a tangible method of covering Panther's rear end in case a van driver gets into an accident. They can show the court, "See, right here in the satellite position logs, and right here in the Qualcomm messages history, we made him take a break in order to ensure he was well rested and alert. He had a full 5-hour break. We didn't force him to drive straight through on this load. He had plenty of rest. We are in no way culpable in his accident. It was him, all him, I tell ya!"
The reasonings behind it are quite sound. Too many van drivers see a lot of miles on a load offer, and even if they've just delivered a 500 mile run, they get a woody, the blood rushes from their head, and all their brains can comprehend is the dollar signs of this next great load. They don't stop top consider if they can safely take it, if they can get enough sleep along the way, if they're gonna put themselves and others in danger. So, Safety has to tell them when to take a break, since they're too stoopid to know it on their own.
I say relatively arbitrary, because I've had several 800 miles runs, some on the heels of other runs, where nothing of a break was mentioned, and I've had other runs where a 3, 4, 5 or 8 hour break was required for the same number of miles. So the duration of the breaks certainly seem arbitrary, and whether to take one or not is absolutely inconsistent.
The "policy" is that all loads more than 700 miles are to be flagged for Safety to review, and then a break of a certain length will be mandated. Sounds good, but in practice it falls short. It's too arbitrary.
This "...policy is written in stone", so I'm told, but it's implemented in Etch-A-Sketch. I've asked for this policy in writing, but so far haven't had any luck. Must be a heavy stone.
See, the thing is, when straight truck and tractor-trailer dudes and dudettes are offered a load, they know exactly how many hours they have, and when and for how long they have to take a break. That kind of information factors into the decision-making process on whether or not you accept the load.
I'm in a van and am not regulated by HoS, so my only HoS restrictions are those imposed by me on myself in order to ensure my own safety, which most definitely figures very prominently into the process. I know how my body reacts in various situations, like the current level of rest its had and how much rest will be needed to ensure a safe trip. No one knows me better than me. The problem comes when I make that decision, and have mapped out when and where I will take my breaks, and it's all based on how I feel at the time and what my body will require, and then somewhere in the middle of the run someone from Safety beeps in and literally changes the conditions of the load offer by mandating a break of a certain length, and all too often, mandating when I actually have to take it. That's information I need at the time of the load offer, not after it's been accepted or rejected.
I don't mind playing by the rules, I just want to know what they are. I want them in writing, and I want them to apply, always, to every load, and to everyone.
