Illegal driving??

Lower the bar, lower the quality, lower the standards, lower the competition, lower the safety! We already know it wasn't about safety though. It was the ATA/Megas that want all the industry to themselves. Now, everybody is racing against the clock reaking havok on the interstates instead of being able to STOP the clock for a nap or because a shipper/receiver put them HOURS behind. Look at how these idiots are putting everyone at risk. Even flying through construction zones where the penalties for it are very strong. Look at how high insurance rates are getting. Look at how few are even writing new policies. The writing is on the wall. You are one hundred percent...CORRECT!

The driver shouldn't be speeding. That's the opposite of safe. I know truckers that would literally drive 20+ hours straight on paper logs and be falling asleep behind the wheel. I want the truckers to be safe and have time to rest instead of feeling like they have to go go go non-stop. Everyone deserves a break.

Respectfully Dale, because I do respect you, my opinion isn't taking anything away from you, the implement of the ELD is taking that away from you. My opinion maybe hurt a sore spot and I'm sorry if I offended you. That was never my intention on any of my postings.

I've seen a lot of people on here say they "have to speed" now with the ELD in place that I guess struck a nerve with me. No one should ever drive faster and feel that pressure. It's not safe but the way I took it, they're putting all the blame on the ELD and none on the driver using his best judgement.

I do agree with you that this has taken away your choices and freedom to use your best judgement. And I completely understand you wanting to get home to see your family and get the job done. I was only trying to say at the beginning that we don't have the authority to legally change back to paper logs so fighting with each other about it won't change it. I've been badmouthed many times on here for it but I was truly never trying to offend anyone.

I was really starting to think that every trucker depised the ELD and was shocked at all the negative responses to it there are on here. Good management will go a long way to having a profitable business, ELD or no ELD.

Kimberly, and others, as several folks on this forum know I presentlly run a refer operation. I'm not prepared to enter into the bulk load community---yet. As a 'manager' I miss being on the road. I started back in '63 I have been against a lot of the government interfearance initiated by college preppies who have never set foot in a tractor; but, know "everything" about the trucking industry. I was totally against the ELD, until I had to use its information to collect demurge charges awhile back. For that it's a good thing. I wrote Martinez twice about not being able to log "off duty" and not have this time counted against the 14 hour rule for lunch breaks in the middle of a shift. Others did the same thing. Now, miraculasly, the rules are being changed to allow an off duty period from 30 minutes to three hours which will not go against the big clock. I have always agreed with the 10 off duty rule because 8 hours just never seemed to be enough for me to obtain decent sleep. Increasing the driving time to 11 hours I felt was a good thing, considering the great equipment most of us drive, or own. However, the former 15 hour day should have been left alone.

Have I violated the speed limit in the past? Yup! (Are you old enough to remember the national 55 mph speed limit?) Have I violated the original hours of service? Yup! But, I can honestly state that most times this was created by a dispatcher because he had a "hot load".

The ELD HAS NOT made the highways safer. I believe the actual proof of this, if the feds allow the facts to be honestly published, will come out in the next few years. Drivers are now pressured to get as many miles as they can and get off the road before the clock runs out. Also, most of us very experienced drivers know when to park it when weather conditions warrant it. How many drivers today press the issue to get as many miles as possible under their rig before the road becomes so dicey they end up in an accident?

Back in the day I worked for a while as a driver instructer. We taught the students one on one. It was not the training companies like Swift offer, where they put a newbee with a fairly experinced driver who jumps in the bunk for his rest, while leaving the new driver to fend for him/herself. My students learned everything from pulling a 45 ft. trailer, (yeah, this was the longest trailer you pulled back then) to hooking up and pulling doubles, backing on the blind, etc. After a month the driver could do everything. Also, since I was working for a company out of Phoenix, we got our drivers from Western Truck Driving School and Arizona Institute of Technology. (I'll bet Art is familiar with them.) The pass rate for the drivers coming out of Western was dismal. About 68 percent. Those from A.I.T. did much better with a pass rate just above 90%. All the gals I trained came from this school and not one of them flunked. I believe this was because these ladies had the desire to learn the craft properly. Either that or this was the only time in my life when I got women to listen to me!

Low rates ARE another thing that causes problems. Especially with drivers who hurry back to pick up another cheap load to help him achieve a decent day's earnings. But, what has he really earned compared to his expenses? If rates were higher and more fair, considering the fact that, according to a resent trucking report, the average cost to operate most rigs around the country is $1.82 per mile, guys could earn a better living for themselves and their families. Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, in the exempt freight arena, and this includes produce, should be hauled for anything less than $35 a ton, or $2.25 per mile, whichever is greater. And maybe the guys hauling cheap will finally learn how bad they are screwing themselves, as well as the dry bulk hauling community.

Maybe!

i wish i could add a pic of our cougar, 2 million mile cat, passed a couple of years back from a stroke, before that it was buster, another kitten that was a 2 mil kitty, both leash trained and a real nice company in the truck. the boys at the border always got a shock when they would check out the truck, heehee.

something to think about next you want to let someone out in front of you from a store to be polite you can't ELD has got me in rush

So, like any of you make comment on ELD's when FMCSA was asking for comments? How about on sleeper birth hours? Or did you just figure I'll let somebody else do it? IF ya all don't speak up, how are they going to know there is a problem? And as a feed/ feed ingriendents hauler, I now stay close to home. I work rule 395.1 (k) to its limits. I have called, written the FMCSA, my House Reps, my Senators to explain my difficulties in handling the work load I do. How things just don't always go according to plan. And not feeding animals, or getting products to the mill because of a small hickup, just won't fly. And I think maybe I was in there explaining things well enough that some AG rules changed and I got some relief. Can you imagine being 10 miles from feed mill, or feed lot and have to call and say, "i'm out of driving hours and can't deliver". The odds of you ever hauling for that customer just went out the window. JIT delivery is what most run on. They know how much product they need every shift, how much storage they have, and order ingredients to match there schedule. FMCSA/ US DOT just tried to lump everyone into the same box. Well the game is different in my line of work, and they just have no forgivness. I have a constant demand to haul farther out, but I pass on all of that. I am not going to mess with rules that just won't allow me to handle my customers needs. So I stay near home, work the circle carefully.

Be safe everyone, shinny side up.