Re: Proposed new HOS rule


"tscottme" <blahblah@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:-_WdnYYeuYWuRz3anZ2dnUVZ_jKdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I thought the point of your 12/12 idea was that it would be less likely to be forged, or it would be more relevant to real-life work and less need to forge them. The problem with current HOS, 12/12 HOS, and team driving is the strict and inflated requirement for rest before being able to drive again. Your proposal increases the current problem from 10 hours of bumping around to 12 hours of bumping around before driving again.

Awww, but here you've hit the nail on the head. Right now, there is a requirement of a 10-hour break before driving again. Employers interpret that as, if you aren't on the road at 10 hours and 1 second, you can easily be replaced. Never mind that the only time dispatch left you to shoe-horn that 10 hour break into fell between 5AM and 3PM and you were -required- to work (briefly) at 9 AM. (off the log, of course)
Right now, when dispatch wants to work you to death (and that is ummmm, always), you can always tell them that you are due for a mandatory 10-hour break. They won't be happy about it, but there aint ***-all they can do about it. Except require you to hit the road at 10 hours and 1 second, that is. 12/12 would be better. When you take your mandatory break, it would be 12 hours, and it's a lot easier to get REAL rest on a 12 hour break. You gotta figure that you need a couple hours at each end of sleep for eating, bathroom, showers, etc. That is, if you want a real rest break. 10 hours is just not enough, considering many people need 9 or more hours of uninterrupted sleep alone. With a 10 hour break, you are lucky to have the opportunity to sleep about 7 hours, and that's assuming you don't get interrupted.

As for team drivers trying to sleep while bumping around in a cab, changing HOS won't change that at all. Under any HOS (current, or proposed) team drivers are still going to find that they spend much of their sleep time in the sleeper while the truck is moving.


The HOS, despite truck driver claims, are not just a way to hassle truck drivers for no reason or to generate fines. How is extending the driving hours in an industry most people agree has too many fatigue-related crashes going to make things better?


By extending the MANDATORY break time. A well-rested driver is going to be safer driving 12 hours a day (maximum) than a poorly rested driver will be driving 11 hours a day. -Dave

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