It's a Team's Life

FMCSA Rules

When we started driving I was able to drive five hours than Bob would drive five hours and than it was back to me. This worked out great as I was new to driving in traffic and at the end of my 5 hours I was often exhausted.   Then the new rules came out about HOS and I was now asked to drive up to eleven hours and we could not split the sleeper birth.    I was glad I was a somewhat seasoned driver by this time and I easily moved up to driving ten to eleven hours.   There were many of our friends who were not able to make this change and they have either left the industry or drive illegal and hope to not get caught.

Now we are looking at the possibility of change once again.   In the preliminary changes our organization we belong to “The Trucking Solutions Group” spent a few hours discussing the hours and the changes we would like to see.   Our group consists of owner operators who basically run the same type of operation and we could not agree on changes.   It was an interesting discussion in the futility of trying to make these rules perfect.   Each one of us required something different in our driving styles and day to day habits.   We were finally able to draft a letter that we could all agree on with our proposed changes.

I am sure once the new rules come out we will once again have a meeting to discuss the changes we would like to make to the proposed rules.   Who knows we might end up driving even longer or as a team we might end up shutting down for a few hours a day. It is all up in the air on how our driving habits will have to change next year when the rules go into effect.

Bob & Linda Caffee
Leased to: FedEx Custom Critical
TeamCaffee
Saint Louis MO
Expediters 5 years been out here on the road ten years
[email protected]

Expediting isn't just trucking, it's a lifestyle;
Expediting isn't just a lifestyle, it's an adventure;
Expediting isn't just an adventure, it's a job;
Expediting isn't just a job, it's a business.