Letters to the Editor: Hours of Service, Driving Rules

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fter all the changes in the hours-of-service rules in two years, the powers-that-be in Washington still haven’t come up with a plan.

I have a suggestion: Why not go back to the old plan developed decades ago, with a few minor changes. I would suggest going back to the 10-hour driving rule; this might satisfy the safety critics. Keep the old 15-hours on-duty rule, and increase the sleeper berth/off-duty time from eight hours to nine hours. And keep the 34-hour restart rule from the new rules. Also, allow the sleeper berth time to be split into two periods of at least two hours.

I know from experience in hauling food products and doing less-than-truckload runs to these customers that detention time of two or more hours is not uncommon. Most of the food houses on the East Coast require the use of “lumpers,” which allows the driver to use the sleeper-berth rule. Under the newest rule, if the driver sits for more than two hours he can only count that two hours as sleeper-berth time unless he ends up sitting at the dock for eight hours. This rule has made it very difficult to run legally and still get the job done.

I also feel that if a driver can use his time sitting at a dock while a “lumper” is unloading the truck as sleeper-berth time — that is, all of the time, not just two hours — he will be a safer, more rested driver in the long run.

Granted, he can count two hours of this time toward his 10 hours off, but if he is sitting for, say, five hours, three hours of that time is wasted, since he has to take eight hours off later in the day.

The only people who make out better under this ruling are the “lot lizards.” The more time a driver has on his hands, the more trouble he can get into.

Tom Oehme

i>Oehme Carrier Corp.

ititz, Pa.

This is in response to the article “Ontario Trucking Association Calls for Speed Governors” that ran recently on your TTNews.com Web site.

o new requirements really need to be instituted — especially ones that require additional costs?

The speed limit is a law; law enforcement should enforce the law. Everything is in place already, so why do they need to add new controls? They are just making compliance more difficult and costly for those affected.

David Kalec

i>General Manager

hicago Heights Intermodal

hicago

All you people who demand all these special requirements for trucks should get a commercial driver license. Before long, you will be the only ones driving the trucks. You know more about driving than the people behind the wheel now.

At this point, I don’t see how anyone is able to drive across the country. With all the requirements and limitations placed on a driver, I won’t drive cross-country anymore.

t is local or nothing.

Louis Johnson

i>Former Cross-Country Driver

allas

These letters appear in the Dec. 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.