Re: Proposed new HOS rule

OK, you're trying to fix a bad employer problem with a sweeping HOS change.
The better answer is to not work for an employer like that and don't switch
employers until you know enough current drivers to be sure they aren't
working for dispatchers that are asking them to work as you describe.

I know, I know, "all companies are alike." They really aren't but every
driver that refuses to look carefully at a company before they hire on will
vehemently claim all companies are alike. What they are really saying is
they won't do the homework they should so someone else needs to change the
world and keep them from making a bad choice.

What is the public safety benefit of switching to a 12/12 HOS? While it may
make filling out a log page easier or reduce the math required to see if oyu
are legal, or it may be easier to fake a pge, there is no reason for FMCSA
or the public to support 12/12 for any of those reasons.

You say "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. " but you say you are willing to count time
sitting in the pax seat as satisfying rest requirements. How does
authorizing team driver to spend as little time in the sleeper as he wants
and authorizing him to sit up and watch traffic for as many as 12 hours
making him rested?

I just don't see enough, maybe any, potential benefit with 12/12 that it
justifies scrapping the well-understood current HOS.

--

Scott

The North American Union and SPP are just convenient retreats for the same
crooks and kooks that were telling you to panic about Y2K.

"Dave" <noway@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"tscottme" <blahblah@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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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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