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The industry was regulated when Diane and I entered it ten years ago and we went in with our eyes open, accepting the regulations of the time. But something very bad has developed. It is as if someone took the brakes off the regulatory machine and it is now running out of control. That fact that...

Diane and I would have stopped for breaks, and some of them would have been 30 minutes or more. Indeed, that was our practice under the old rules. But now, under the new rules, we need to plan ahead, not for anything having to do with stretch and refresh breaks but, because there must be a break...

Individual practices vary greatly among drivers. It is very rare for Diane or I to take more than 15 minutes to complete a fuel stop. It might take longer if there is a shift change going on at the fuel desk or some other similar mess develops. We usually fuel during non-peak times so lines at...

"Safety is our highest priority," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "These rules make common sense, data-driven changes to reduce truck driver fatigue and improve safety for every traveler on our highways and roads." I know that the FMCSA does not think about one driver at a...

Here is the text of the news release from the FMCSA presenting the FMCSA's view of this: New Hours-of-Service Safety Regulations to Reduce Truck Driver Fatigue Begin Today WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration...

What would you have been doing if the old rules had been in effect? Would you have made the stop? If not, how would you have spent the time?

Driving in the Northeast last night around midnight, Diane made a fuel stop and then, combining the fuel stop with the mandatory stop, took a 30 minute break at the truck stop. She combined the two stops to save fuel. One trip off and back onto the freeway for fuel and a 30 minute break is...

The subtitle of this thread is "figure out how to make it work." Some truckers may be doing exactly that, but not in a way the regulators anticipated. Diane and I got stuck in a four-mile backup today. The busy freeway was closed to one lane as crews cleared a big-rig wreck. It took us 40...

That's interesting, and perhaps encouraging for the expediting industry. We may see more loads like these for the reasons you shared. We have been talking about how the new mandated 30 minute break affects or does not affect us. Thought must also be given to the shippers. I cannot think af a...

Thank you. Driver supply (shortage) and demand has been discussed multiple times here in the Open Forum. A tiny few participants have asserted that a driver shortage exists but the majority disagrees. No one has been able to show that expediter pay has increased because of a driver shortage...

We are running today, under load. Driving north on I-77 and I-81, we saw no trucks parked on ramps and many open parking spaces at rest areas and truck stops. This is the week in which the Fourth of July happens. How it will be in a non-holiday week remains to be seen. Very interested in the...

All true. It is also true that injecting a new eight-hour clock into the mix will create new time management and legal compliance challenges that will make it more difficult to deal with unanticipated events on the road. And ther is nothing that carriers and customers can agree upon or...

Yesterday (Monday) was the first day of the new rules requiring a 30 minute break after eight or less hours of driving. Our task: Deadhead 500 miles from our Florida vacation house to position ourselves for Tuesday's pick up. Pick up time is anytime after 8 a.m. Delivery time is fixed at 8 a.m...

I have not seen an inspector manufacture a defect but I have seen one cite a defect that did not exist. I saw it with my own eyes because it happened to me. Diane and I were new in the business and our fleet owner, wanting to save money on a carrier-required DOT inspection, asked me to...

The nut may be tight on the threads but that does not mean the U-bolt is tight on the frame. It happened once on our truck where during a DOT inspection, not at a scale but at a truck stop by a mechanic there for our carrier's periodic DOT inspection, that a U-bolt (truck body bolt) was found...

In our case, the breaking point was reached when: 1. New CARB regulations were passed and retroactively applied to our truck that was fully compliant when purchased but made illegal to drive in California after the new regulations were applied; and 2. Those same new regulations would have...

That is true if the delay happens at the beginning of the work day, but what if your planned stop is two hours ahead and you get delayed from hour six to hour seven? That gives you one hour to find a place to park for 30 minutes. How easy is that? For a van driver who has no HAZMAT on board...

The money can be easily raised by placing an excise tax on all new and used van sales. With millions of them out there, there will be billions of dollars raised to find the new program, and the program itself will create jobs (alteit governemnt jobs) and improve safety on the roads. Construction...

Plans frequently must change when things like shipper delays, traffic delays, detours, closed rest areas, full rest areas, etc. develop. Scuh developments are more consequential to people who keep log books than to people who don't; and there are more consequential still when a new eight-hour/30...

If trucks start parking that way frequently and in large numbers, local ordinances will be passed and/or enforced to prevent it.