Hos. Rules?

[JimT]

(01-24-2020 )Chamberpains Wrote:  Last I read a month ago or so, they were starting a listening session on breaking up the the day, expanding the total hrs to 16 possible under adverse conditions, dropping the 30 minute break to after 8 hrs of driving not after the day starts and proposed split sleeper birth again but it has something to do with 7/3...

https://www.chrobinson.com/blog/transpor...ng-market/

I don't see them actually doing anything until they get there new analysis back from the NTSB about whether ELDs are the cause of crash increases. The last article I read about this stated that the FMCSA admitted the crash rate is rising rapidly but they don't want to blame the ELDs because they didn't go in to full effect till last December. Now they want to see what happens after so time goes by post December. Just kick the can... and kick the can... hoping they can get a reduction to show up to justify their rules.

Well, it's government. Nothing happens fast in government (at least nothing good).

We all know what the outcome of the study will be: Inconclusive, do a another study!

Personally, I think the increase in crashes is only partly due to ELD's. Yes, it forces you to race the clock sometimes, especially when working around urban areas or if you're not good at trip planning. But I see three other big factors here:

Distractions (whether it be talking on the phone, texting, eating, personal grooming, digital bill boards, whatever)

Poorly built and/or maintained roads.

Bad Drivers (both car and truck).

The last one is very noticable in and around urban areas. While it's nothing new, the total number of drivers keeps increasing and that in turn increases the percentage of bad drivers.

I think the new proposal will help, a little, with the ticking clock. Although they need a better way to deal with unexpected and unavoidable delays in the HOS.

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I have an idea to help fix the HOS:

Do away with the 30 mi break.

Allow any split to the sleeper berth as long as it's 2+ hours, adds up to 10 and doesn't count toward the 14 hour clock.

Borrow:

Allow drivers to exceed the 14 hour daily limit, if needed. Any time past the 14th hour must then be deducted from the following day's On-Duty total. Time spent driving past the daily maximum must be documented in the log. Multiple days can be strung together, such as:

Day 1: Started with 14 On Duty hours available. Drove 30 minutes past the 14th hour.
Day 2: Started with 13.5 On Duty hours available. Drove 30 minutes past the 13.5th hour.
Day 3: Started with 13 On Duty hours available. Drove 1 hour past the 13th hour.
Day 4: Started with 12 On Duty hours available. Did not exceed the 12th hour On Duty.
Day 5: Starts with 14 On Duty hours available.

There should be some limits in place to help prevent outright abuse, such as maybe a 2 hour maximum extension per day. There should be no need to limit the number of consecutive days since each day the available hours decreases resulting in shorter maximum shifts.

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Work more, rest more:

Another option would be to increase the required time off after exceeding the 14th hour. So, for example, every minute you drive past the 14th hour gets added on to your required 10 hour off duty period. Drive until the 15th hour? Fine, now you need 11 hours off duty. This approach allows for flexibility but also imposes a penalty to discourage abuse.

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EDIT: In all the examples above the same flexibility would apply to the 11 hour drive time as well. In the first example an overage in drive time results in a reduction of available drive time the following day. In the second example an overage in drive time would result in a longer off-duty period.

Those are just my opinions based on logical and practical application. Which of course means that the government will never consider them.