Should truck drivers be allowed to have a 16 hour day?

[General Zod]

On the AOL news tonight I read a very interesting article saying Wal-Mart wants us truck drivers to have a 16 hour work day The current one is 14 hours Here is a link Hope it works
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/business/article.adp?id=20050309105609990001&ncid=NWS00010000000001 I am against it I don't see how a 16 hour day can be safe for us truckers and the motoring public in general

I have been doing this job for almost 9 years None of the stuff we haul for you the consumer is worth my or anybody elses life What is bad is we generally get paid only for driving Usually all those hours we spend waiting to be laoded or unloaded we don't get paid for

We do have something called "detention pay" We are "supposed" to get that after we have been at the docks over 3 hours Sometimes the customers pay Sometimes they don't It is no wonder that a lot of drivers are driving ilegally I am so glad that I have nobody depending upon me for a paycheck

I really would love to hear from anyone who is for us truckers or those who hate us Those so-called safety groups like CRASH-www.crash.com (I think) have no idea or clue as to what they are talking about All they'll tell you is that us truckers are a danger to society They will have stories about people who survived a wreck in their car that collided with a big rig Funny thing is they will never say who was at fault

They always assume it's us evil truckers at fault OK Sorry to bore ya'll I am done ranting now Please drive carefully out there And watch out for that other driver
Chad aka General Zod

 

[TklDuo-Ann]

Drew's best friend is a driver as well. We get a call from him once in a while as he's on his way back from a run. He calls because he needs help staying awake and has a hands-free set-up in his rig. I'd hate to think of letting them demand more of you guys than they already do. It simply isn't safe.

So, my order gets here a day later, or grandma's package arrives a day later, or the grocery store gets its canned goods a day later. The world isnt going to end for stuff like that. But, there ARE people for whom it will end if we push you guys too far and end up with you or others killed in the process. Your lives are worth much more than some consumer product!

As for truckers being a danger to others....only when they're pushed beyond reason. That's true of everyone on the road, though. Be safe out there, Chad!

Ann

 

[unclebill]

Wal-mart Schmal-mart, I don`t care what company it is. No driver should be allowed to work a 16 hour shift. Too many innocent lives will be lost in traffic accidents.

 

[General Zod]

I should have included the way the hours of service rules are Basically it's set on a 14 hour work day 11 hours are allowed to be used for driving We are not "supposed" to drive any more than that The other 3 hours are for loading/unloading/fueling/inspections on the truck/trailer and other minor stuff That is to be followed by a minimum of 10 hours off

Now we are allowed to split the 10 hours off The way that is done is by going into the sleeper for at least 2 hours at say a loading dock If I drove 5 hours to get there I can go into sleeper for 2 hours That way I can drive 6 more hours till I get my 11 hours of driving in Then I would have to take at least an 8 hour break

Then after that break is over I can start out a new day However I don't like using the split sleeper method I am not one of those drivers who can drift off to sleep whenever they feel like it I have tried it before in the past when I was at the shipper for quite awhile I always feel to tired to do it that way

 

[Wicker Man]

Gauge?

I heard somewhere that truckers have a sort of gauge to make sure that they dont spend too many hours driving. I think it works like after 10 hours the gauge informs the driver that its time to stop the truck and get some sleep in a motel or someplace. Makes sense because if you have a 16 hour day you stand a great chance of falling asleep at the wheel and killing someone with that monsterous truck. I wonder if they do have some sort of monitoring device to make sure the truckers rest or if I heard some kind of erroneous tale.

 

[General Zod]

Wickerman
I believe trucks over in Europe are like that Over here and Canada rely on the log books It is so easy to fudge those log books to make them seem legal Anymore I am thinking maybe it is time to put those gauges on our trucks
Anne
Thanks for the good wishes😀

 

[BigJim]

In my opinion it is way over the bounds of safety work that long in a 24 hour period. Not only should it not be legal for such a thing to be forced on a driver, I don't think it should be legal for a driver to volunteer for it.

 

[Oddjob0226]

How do they even do the 14 hour days? Dang. On rare occasions I do 12-13 hours of video work and when I'm not angrily cursing my fate I'm yawning - and I'm never in a position to accidently kill anyone. For the most part.

 

[Shem the Penman]

Just yesterday, they had to shut down half the Pennsylvania Turnpike when a trucker fell asleep and hit a tollbooth (fortunately, there was no one in the booth and the driver only sustained minor injuries). We can look forward to more of that if this idiotic bill passes.

Oh, and I think it's an especially nice touch that the extra two hours would be unpaid time.

 

[General Zod]

How do they even do the 14 hour days? Dang. On rare occasions I do 12-13 hours of video work and when I'm not angrily cursing my fate I'm yawning - and I'm never in a position to accidently kill anyone. For the most part.

Oddjob
It used to be a 15 hour day until January of last year That's when the new rules came into effect We can work up to 70 hours then we goota sit for however long it takes to get back hours to work

It's rare for me and most drivers anymore to work that many hours Especially since the fething rails have taken loads from us

 

[General Zod]

Just yesterday, they had to shut down half the Pennsylvania Turnpike when a trucker fell asleep and hit a tollbooth (fortunately, there was no one in the booth and the driver only sustained minor injuries). We can look forward to more of that if this idiotic bill passes.

Oh, and I think it's an especially nice touch that the extra two hours would be unpaid time.

I am glad that it wasn't worse I see these wrecked rigs on the road and think that could be me So far I haven't let them push me that far The day they do is the day I leave trucking