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Drivers deliver definite ideas on HOS issue; say no to black boxes
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A random sampling of truckers at a North Little Rock, Ark., Petro Stopping Center revealed drivers had some definite opinions about the new Hours of Service rules being thrown out.

The HOS rules that went into effect in January of this year were thrown out by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit July 16 for being “capricious” and “arbitrary” and for not adequately addressing drivers’ health issues. The ruling came after the new HOS were challenged in court by the group, Public Citizen, among others.

“I don’t see how it doesn’t address health issues. I think they thought it benefitted the drivers too much and that’s why they were thrown out,” said Montgomery Busby, an owner-operator from Gatesville, Texas.

That might be a decent conspiracy theory if the industry sued to change the hours, but it was PATT and CRASH and Teamsters that said driving 11 hours was too much. What an idiot. Wal-Mart did try and sue because they didn’t like the limit of 14 hours on-duty, but they lost.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration could re-write the rules. The only consistent opinion among drivers polled was that if On-Board Data Recorders (OBDRs) become mandatory under re-written rules ‹ as some industry observers believe ‹ they’ll quit trucking altogether.

“If they mandate OBDRs there’ll be a lot of empty trucks, won’t there,” said Busby.

Good. With all the trucks sitting empty, the rest of us that are running legal will be worth our weight in gold. Let the rest of us run legal and make money. Get your criminal butt off the road. Some will quit. Most are just talk.

David Woods, an owner-operator from Houston, said he has Qualcomm in his truck already, but that if “black boxes” become mandatory, “I won’t be driving anymore. I think that’s too much intrusion.”

Onboard Recorders are coming. Period. It’s just a matter of time. I don’t see the difference in having a black box and the information that is available electronically on us now. Every time we fuel, use an ATM, use our cell phone or a credit card “they” know where we’re at. Several fleets have Qualcomm or some other type of fleet computer that keeps track of their trucks all the time right now.

So, what’s the difference? All that information stays under the carpet until you have a wreck. Attorneys dig it all up and if you’ve lied, you’re up a creek. Everyone is playing the odds or is ignorant of that fact or doesn’t care.

It’s the old saying of – if you have nothing to hide, what’s the problem? Right now, everyone lies. It’s a matter of how much. The majority of us try to get as close as possible while others are lying their ass off. With OBDRs the lies catch up to you more quickly. The purpose of an OBDR is when you pull into a weigh station, troopers can plug into your black box and download all your information right there. They will be able to write you tickets for lying on your logbook and speeding.

The big problem OBDRs won’t fix is the main reason drivers get tired on the road. The OBDR won’t know if you’re in the truck or back on the dock counting or loading freight. That’s where all the problems lie. Drivers will still get taken advantage of by shippers for free labor. We spend the day waiting to load, counting freight as it gets loaded or we’re loading it ourselves. All that time is logged as being in the sleeper berth. That time should be logged as ‘on-duty’ and is supposed to affect how many hours we can drive after working all day. Since the logbook and any OBDR shows that we’ve been sleeping, we’re ready to go. Shippers, brokers and companies expect and demand you to go.

You might be saying something like – If companies already know what their trucks and their drivers are doing, shouldn’t they enforce the HOS rules, whatever they may be? Trucking companies are part of the problem. They know exactly what’s going on. They expect their drivers to load and unload, log it as sleeper berth, then put in a full day of driving. In fact, they count on it.

PMT driver Mike Mattingly liked the new HOS: “I’d like to keep the new ones,” he said. “They’ve been making money for me.” Mattingly said he’s been pleased with the new HOS, and that he wished they would stay the same.

Me too. The problem isn’t old rules or new rules or how many hours we drive or rest. It’s the enforcement of those rules that needs to change. Stop shippers from being able to take advantage of drivers. The new 14 hour on-duty rule was a start in the right direction no matter what anyone said.

Originally posted 2004-08-09 02:30:00.