How will the New Hours of Service Rules Provisions affect your O/O business?

[JohnMueller]

I've recently been corresponding with some Owner Ops on their feelings how the new HOS Regulations that will become effective mid year 2013 will affect their operations. The crux of the new rule changes are:

* THE MANDATORY 30 MINUTE REST PERIOD * May drive only if 8 hours or less have passed since end of driver's last off-duty period of at least 30 minutes. [HM 397.5 mandatory "in attendance" time may be included in break if no ther duties performed]

and

* THE REVISION TO THE 34 HOUR RESET *
(1) Must include two periods between 1 a.m. - 5 a.m. home terminal time.
(2) May be used only per week.

Items or issues currently mentioned to me have been:

* Duel driver loads.
* A pass on Explosives 1.1 1.2 and 1.3 but not on anything else
* DDPS loads.

What are other potential issues that YOU possibly foresee? Can YOU think of any possible solutions to these issues?

Many minds - those of the driving population and the Safety personnel - could help many others in our industry. Find possible solutions now, rather than wait till after the July 1 2013 implementation date. All ideas are appreciated!

 

[highway star]

Truckers did just fine for decades without the 34 reset and will be just fine with this change. I already take a break, so the half hour doesn't bother me at all. It's my belief that the vast majority of expediters will see very little, if any, impact from these changes.

I'm now prepared to be told what an idiot I am for feeling this way.

 

[paullud]

I don't like it because it is just one more regulation, one more gotcha for the DOT to put you out of service. I really don't think the impact will be wide spread but will certainly hurt some drivers. I believe we can say with certainty that it will lead to cheating on log books and HOS violations all due to the ignorance of our job by regulators.

 

[scottm4211]

Idiot is a strong word.

 

[paullud]

Idiot is a strong word.

But is it accurate?

 

[Swamp30]

So the home terminal break once a week is gonna be a dousy. So how are drivers suppose to get to home terminal to do reset?

 

[purgoose10]

I've recently been corresponding with some Owner Ops on their feelings how the new HOS Regulations that will become effective mid year 2013 will affect their operations. The crux of the new rule changes are:

* THE MANDATORY 30 MINUTE REST PERIOD * May drive only if 8 hours or less have passed since end of driver's last off-duty period of at least 30 minutes. [HM 397.5 mandatory "in attendance" time may be included in break if no ther duties performed]

and

* THE REVISION TO THE 34 HOUR RESET *
(1) Must include two periods between 1 a.m. - 5 a.m. home terminal time.
(2) May be used only per week.

Items or issues currently mentioned to me have been:

* Duel driver loads.
* A pass on Explosives 1.1 1.2 and 1.3 but not on anything else
* DDPS loads.

What are other potential issues that YOU possibly foresee? Can YOU think of any possible solutions to these issues?

Many minds - those of the driving population and the Safety personnel - could help many others in our industry. Find possible solutions now, rather than wait till after the July 1 2013 implementation date. All ideas are appreciated!

testing testing

 

[redytrk]

So the home terminal break once a week is gonna be a dousy. So how are drivers suppose to get to home terminal to do reset?

Home terminal TIME. Not the physical location.

 

[JohnMueller]

"I believe we can say with certainty that it will lead to cheating on log books and HOS violations all due to the ignorance of our job by regulators."

Paullud;

You are hurting my sensitive Safety Director eyes having to read such a thing!

I think what we will see is that these new regulations will be a thorn in the side on a very ocassional basis. Unfortunately when the thorn is present it can hurt. I see drivers missing out on loads, or attempting to adjust sleep to fit the mold of a regulation rather than when their own individual body tells them it is fatigued.

 

[highway star]

or attempting to adjust sleep to fit the mold of a regulation rather than when their own individual body tells them it is fatigued.

Which is what we've been doing since HOS has been in existence.

 

[JohnMueller]

Highway Star;

Most of us could never do what you drivers do. When my body says sleep - it means sleep - Period!

Heck, even my partners can't stay awake during the day.

 

[paullud]

"I believe we can say with certainty that it will lead to cheating on log books and HOS violations all due to the ignorance of our job by regulators."

Paullud;

You are hurting my sensitive Safety Director eyes having to read such a thing!

I think what we will see is that these new regulations will be a thorn in the side on a very ocassional basis. Unfortunately when the thorn is present it can hurt. I see drivers missing out on loads, or attempting to adjust sleep to fit the mold of a regulation rather than when their own individual body tells them it is fatigued.

The 30 minute break will be the biggest issue and will likely be the one "worked around" the most. If making some adjustments to a log book is the difference between getting a load delivered that day or the next it will be a tough call. You can be sure there will also be a lot of 16 or 17 minute "30 minute" breaks where the driver stops at 1:07 then starts at 1:23 so that it gets logged as 30.

 

[highway star]

Highway Star;

Most of us could never do what you drivers do. When my body says sleep - it means sleep - Period!

Heck, even my partners can't stay awake during the day.

They just don't have the sensibility to get your humor? I'm sure it's not you!!

I've always said it, there can never be one size fits all for HOS. And, the idea that just conforming to the rules will absolutely make a driver safe is pure folly. You got it right, you're tired when you're tired, not when some silly arbitrary regulation says you're tired.

 

[zorry]

I often hear "one size fits all" can't work.

How screwed up could they get it if they tried different rules for different classes ?

 

[highway star]

It is a tough situation since we can't be trusted to police ourselves. I'm not gonna hold my breath in anticipation of a good solution.

 

[paullud]

It is a tough situation since we can't be trusted to police ourselves. I'm not gonna hold my breath in anticipation of a good solution.

I have a feeling the drivers would police themselves now, of course there will be the occasional idiot but that happens now. The biggest challenge the driving industry faced was empowering the driver to say no to the company. That hurdle was overcome because of government regulations and unions which now burden us.

 

[JohnMueller]

Paullud - I like the response on many 16 to 17 minute breaks.

These were the things I was looking for when I started the post or thread. What ideas do you have to help other drivers "work with" these new regulations.

Nice work guys - keep 'em coming.

 

[zorry]

The 17 minute 30 minute break ends with EOBRs.

Is that for carriers that pay book miles instead of practical miles ?

 

[Thomkatt]

The 17 minute 30 minute break ends with EOBRs.

Is that for carriers that pay book miles instead of practical miles ?

With EOBRs, there is no cheating minutes, that is for sure. you could cheat the 14 hour by a few minutes. Log 15 min pre inspection, then if needed to give that 10 min push to the stop, edit the log back to a 5 min inspection. Shifts the 14 hour 10 mins. ONLY IF the 11 hour has the time. Can't cheat that clock. Tried, failed. LOL

I don't think it would matter which miles used. It's all about the TIME....

 

[JohnMueller]

Here is a new App that Commercial Carrier Journal wrote about today. Looks like it could be a nice tool for drivers.

Complete Innovations releases HOS app for Android | Commercial Carrier Journal

Thanks,