Driver says current HOS regulations place compliance before safety

The Trucker News Services

11/9/2009

Dear Barb Kampbell: your article in The Trucker Oct.1-14 was informative to a point. But it lacked the opinion of the most important people concerned with this issue — the drivers.

All these non-drivers want to write Hours of Services rules that they know nothing about. Non-drivers think that drivers are some kind of pawn that can be forced to do their bidding. Let me first tell you that I am a driver with over 35 years and 3.5 million accident free miles of experience. Safety has always been first to me and other drivers. And rule No. 1 has always been never drive tired. Now with the HOS written the way they are we are forced to put compliance before safety. The HOS are unsafe, unhealthy, and inhuman as written. The HOS rules worked for 60 years and then the DOT started messing with them and now they do not work.

Non-drivers tell us just obey them, but they do not understand that being legal means being unsafe. Being safe means being non-compliant. Now we are being punished for putting safety first because we are not compliant. There are two issues that make them unsafe. First, not being able to split the sleeper berth times forces us to sit while rested and wait until we are tired before driving. Sitting is more tiring then driving. For example, I go off duty and sleep for four hours (most drivers only sleep four or five hours), then I have to sit for six hours before I can start driving. That six hours is very tiring and stressful because I sit there wasting good rested time to get tired before I can legally drive. If I drive when I get up and am rested that is illegal.

The second problem goes along with the first and that is the 14-hour rule. Because of that rule no matter how tired we get during the day it is now illegal to stop and nap. The DOT will deny that but in the real world because of the 14-hour rule taking a nap does not stop the clock so it comes off our driving time. Before the 14-hour rule we could stop and nap then when rested get up and continue to drive. Now we have no choice but to drive tired to stay legal.

There are many other examples of how the HOS are unsafe and do not work in the real world. Another example is that we drivers watch the weather because it is such a big part of putting safety first. Before the change when I saw a blizzard coming I could drive to get away from it. Now we are expected to wait until the blizzard hits and then drive in it. When I have put safety first and gone around the blizzards I have been punished for it because I was not in compliance. They said I should have waited for the blizzard to be in full force before driving.

Now an example of how the HOS are unhealthy. Many drivers — myself included — are concerned about out health. I am a runner and bicyclist and used to be able to exercise every day. Now it is illegal for me to stop where it is safe to exercise because of the 14-hour rule. This goes for eating healthy, too. Since I have been driving so long I had favorite places to stop where I could get good, healthy food, but now it is illegal to stop because I cannot log those stops because of the 14-hour rule. Again there are more examples I could give.

One last thing is the HOS being inhuman. If you locked your dog in your car for 10 hours without food, water, and toilet you would be arrested for cruelty to animals. But when drivers find themselves in this situation (it has happened to me twice, so it does happen) it is considered acceptable. When I explained this to a DOT official he said "it is good enough for the likes of truck drivers." That is the attitude the DOT has toward truck drivers, they consider us less then human.

Now they want to put EOBRs in our trucks to monitor our ever movement. This makes us drivers feel like we are being treated like criminals, guilty of being truck drivers and sentenced to imprisonment in our trucks. The EOBRs are nothing more then an ankle bracelet they use on people who are under house arrest.

The thing is only two changes will make the HOS safe, healthy, and human that everyone could live with. Let us split the sleeper berth time so that we could drive only when rested never tired. And do away with the 14 hour rule so that we could take a break when needed and drive safe in bad weather.

As I talk to drivers everyday I am finding something that is very disturbing to me. Many drivers are turning to over the counter drugs to force there bodies to sleep when it does not want to and then stimulants to stay awake when their bodies want to sleep. The old HOS could be molded to fit each driver to their own body clock but now we are expected to forget our bodies and adjust to a set rule. We are individuals and not a mass of machines that can be forced to do what does not work.

Fortunately I still put safety first, stopping to rest when tired, exercising every day and eating healthy. But I am not in compliance. Most of us drivers are very confused, we have spent decades putting safety first and now we are being told by the DOT to put compliance before safety. Five DOT officials have come right out and told me "safety is not our concern, the law is."

Please call me or write if you are interested in more information. This is a very important issue and I wish they would listen to us drivers because we are the ones who know much more about safety and trucking then the ones who are writing the rules.

Sincerely,

— Craig Duysen

Missouri Valley, Iowa

Reader wants national ban on all cell phone use with heavy fines

I read your recent article on cell phone and texting. I live in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., a college town [and] all you see is people on their cell phones and texting and not paying attention to how they're driving.

Instead of going through a green light they sit there or they’re running lights. I’d like to see a national ban on all cell phones and texting with heavy fines.

— Michael Thayer

Safety of Mexican trucks not real reason behind NAFTA furor

The story in the Oct. 1-14 2009 issue on Page 3 about Mexico-domiciled trucks is proof the trucks are safe enough for our roads here in the U.S.A.

However, let us be completely honest with ourselves. This is not the real issue that continues to stall progress with NAFTA. It is also not the issue that continues to have politicians getting calls to prevent Mexican trucks from traveling the roads in the U.S.

The issue of Mexican truck safety is a scape goat for the real issue because of a lack of trust and the feeling of being backed into a corner. The real problem with NAFTA is law between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. We can’t escape this issue. War has been started over smaller things and the other issue is immigration. We have a major problem with immigration law and Mexico following it.

To put it simply, if we do not find a way to honor our side of the NAFTA agreement the trade war we have with Mexico will escalate and cause serious problems. There will be only one thing to blame and that will be politics. Either change the NAFTA laws or fulfill our part of the agreement.

Immigration is the second part of the problem. The Mexicans like to sneak across the border and work [as] cheap labor illegally.

Even if Mexican trucks are safe can we trust a few not to slip through the cracks and drop off illegals? If they are willing to sneak across the border and work cheap, who is to say they will not haul a load from California to Michigan, then do it for a third of the price?

The other truth is if we allow Mexican trucks to travel the roads of the U.S. unrestricted except for inter-country freight, the next part of our agreement is for Mexico to allow the U.S. to travel their country also. That is our trucks. Every driver I talk to doesn’t want to travel in Mexico. I’m afraid of getting mugged.

It is time to be honest with Mexico or honest with ourselves. Fulfill our agreement with NAFTA law or change the law.

— Jac L.C.,

Riverview, Fla.

42-year career driver responds to two previous letters to editor

This letter is not very politically correct so you may not want to print it. This is in regard to a letter written in your Sept. 15-30 paper from Larry Ferroni of Stockton, Calif., that was about a letter written in your Aug. 15-31 paper. Are you confused yet?

Yes, it is true that drivers are disrespected because they’re disrespectful. I have 42 years of experience and I have no idea how many miles of accident-free miles I have, 20 years I think.

I had one parking ticket that cost me $375 at a Waffle House in Georgia. That is because of our loving and kind DOT. Oh yes, they are so kind to us and love us so much that some of them actually have a 9/16 or 7/16 wrench in their pockets so they can back your brakes off while giving you an inspection.

Don’t believe me, check into the issue when a certain weigh station in Tennessee was caught doing just that.

I was one of the people who helped catch them in the act. Oh yes, this is so 1970s. How about when they pull you over and the traffic is whizzing by at 70 mph and there is an exit ramp less than a quarter mile away but no, on the side of the road is just fine?

I have been known to call the state and report these people to the authorities.

I guess I am unique because I can and do live on four to six hours sleep a day. Oh yes, I have taken tests on my reaction responses and guess what? I passed them all. Imagine that.

I also spend most of my day driving around other so-called professional drivers. All day long I have my feelings hurt because I have to turn off my cruise control to avoid hitting a truck in the rear that just passed me. I really amazes me how you can see a speck in the mirror a mile away and then within seconds they are beside you and then something happens and they lose power and it takes three miles to get by, then all of a sudden you look up and they are just a speck in front of you. I have never purposely held anyone in the lane beside me to keep them from passing. That’s called common courtesy, my friend. Ever see a drive shaft come out of a truck running 65 mph? How about blowing a steer tire? I guarantee you, you don’t want to be beside one.

I also drive for a large company whose trucks are governed at 65 mph. The most dangerous and disrespectful thing you can do to a driver. Oh yes, I am a member of OOIDA who is active in fighting mixed speed limits.

Yes, the HOS laws are so good to us. What other industry tells you when you can sleep, eat, relax, and work? Aren’t they just so great? I like to stop and get out, walk to a nice restaurant, not a Wendy’s or Burger King, and sit down, relax and enjoy the companionship of people. Not be locked in a truck for 14 hours a day and forced to drive 11 straight hours. And, I don’t like frozen dinners, either.

Oh, one more thing, the Wild Wild West days are over because of these drivers that let all of this happen to us.

Give me a break.

Thanks very much,

Jerry O’Daniel

The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at editor@thetrucker.com.

Follow The Trucker on Twitter at www.twitter.com/truckertalk.