By R.L. “Pa Russ” Mauzy

By now, many of your now that I am not only a lease operator with RTI, I am also an ex-Deputy Sheriff with a specialty in Commercial Vehicle Safety.  I also try to keep up on the current regulations as well as the proposed regulations pertaining to the operation of commercial motor vehicles.  With that being said, I have been asked to give the “drivers’ perspective” of the proposed changes to the DOT Hours of Service regulations.  Of course, this perspective is solely mine, however, I believe I address it from a common sense angle that most, if not all, drivers would agree with.

There are several changes to the HOS regulations that really do affect the driver and his “bottom line”, that of making money.  Most of us work on a paid per mile status, meaning the more miles we drive, the more we get paid.  Currently we are allowed to drive 11 hrs before a required 10 hr break.  Our work day is roughly 14 hrs before the 10 hr break and we can be on-duty for 70hrs in an 8 day period.  We can “restart” our 70hrs in 8 days by taking 34 hrs off-duty also.  These are the basic rules and I will not go into the details of how those hours must be used or accounted for, I’m sure that you all know them, or at least you BETTER know them.  By the way, NEVER, and I repeat, NEVER tell an Officer during a stop or inspection that you didn’t know the rules. By the FMCSA rules:

§ 390.3

(e) Knowledge of and compliance with the regulations.

(1) Every employer shall be knowledgeable of and comply with all regulations contained in this subchapter which           are applicable to that motor carrier’s operations.

(2) Every driver and employee shall be instructed regarding, and shall comply with, all applicable regulations contained in this subchapter.

In my “past life” I actually gave citations to drivers who admitted that they did not know the regulations that they were responsible to know.  Don’t get caught admitting you “just didn’t know”.  Remember, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

If it wasn’t already difficult to keep up with the regulations, in December 2010 the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Alliance proposed some new rules or changes to the rules we have all grown accustomed to following.  (My personal opinion is that those people in Washington D.C. have run out of fresh ideas so they come up with something new just to justify their own paychecks, but that’s just my opinion.)  These changes may end up costing drivers money as we might not get the same amount of miles driven in any specified period of time.  Here are “their” proposed changes:

Instead of driving 11 hrs before the 10 hr break, it is being considered to drop that back to 10 hrs before the required break. Instead of having a 14 hr work window to get your driving, fuel stops, loading/unloading, or other breaks in, they want to reduce that to 13 hrs. The 70 hrs in 8 days will not change, however, to reset the 70 hours with a 34 hour break requires two periods of time between midnight and 6:00AM in that 34 hour period.  Oh, another requirement will be that at least a half hour break must be taken after 7 hrs of driving time.  My biggest concern involves the changing from a 14 hour work day to 13 hrs.

The transportation industry is one of the only industries that the federal government regulates the hours that we can work.  I can understand the safety issues involved but I believe that the rules have become overly restrictive. When I first started driving the rules were fairly simple with 10 hrs driving with an 8 hr break. There were no restrictions concerning how many “off-duty” hours could be put into that 10 hr driving window.  It wasn’t until the 11 hr driving day came into existence that they added the maximum “on-duty” time to being 14 hrs.  Now they are considering bringing that down to 13 hrs.

Bringing the on duty hours down to 13 and leaving the driving time at 11 will only give 2 hrs to fuel, load/unload, and take whatever other breaks you need while driving.  Plus they want to use ½ hr of your time as a mandatory break after driving 7 hrs.  Now we are down to 1 ½ hrs to take care of all our off duty or on duty not driving duties.  Any other time will now be cutting into our driving time for the day, thus we get fewer miles in.  If the 13 hr day becomes law, I believe that all drivers should be compensated for detention time if it takes more than 1 hour to load or unload as it is obvious that we will be losing miles after that 1 hour, rather than the 2 hrs that we now wait for our detention, not to mention when we have to give 4 hours before receiving the compensatory pay.

In my opinion, we should not be limited to the 14 or possibly future 13 hour rules.  I have no problem with limiting the on-duty driving hours at 11 but throwing in all the other rules just doesn’t seem right. Doctors working emergency rooms are regularly on-duty 24 hrs at a time as are firefighters and other emergency personnel, yet they are not regulated. Nothing keeps law enforcement officers from working double shifts and they carry guns and have to make split second decisions on whether or not to use those weapons. In fact, as stated earlier, I know of no other industry that is under such limited working hours.

Furthermore, I have no problem with “throwing the book at” those drivers who are found to be driving fatigued. Unfortunately, this industry got out of control in the past and we were not policing ourselves and being professional drivers, responsible for our own actions. In the past, companies basically forced drivers to drive fatigued and over their legal limits.  While I am sure there are still some companies out there that continue that practice, most do not as the repercussions are very costly. The best advice that can be given to a driver that is being pressured into driving when fatigued is to refuse the load after explaining the situation to your dispatcher and if it continues to contact their safety department. NEVER put yourself in the position that you may hurt yourself or worse, take someone else away from their family and loved ones.

In my next article I will give some simple tips to help drivers, especially the lease drivers, keep a little more money in their pockets.  Until then, KEEP SAFE and REMAIN PROFESSIONAL!