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HOS DEBATE * USA - We’re left to wonder: what will be the fate of Hours of Service No. 3
So, here we go again...
USA -The Trucker -10 Aug 2007: -- Sometime in the next few months, the trucking industry will receive the third version of the HOS rules in just over four years, and it’s our guess, the new version, just like the first two, will wind up in court... Enough, already! When is the merry-go-round going to stop? ... Is it going to take a total unraveling of the trucking industry because drivers leave by the droves as a result of the uncertainty of how many hours they’ll be able to drive next year, and the next and the next, because the rules keep changing?. We liked what Chris Burruss, the highly-respected president of the Truckload Carriers Association, said to us the other day...
* Trucking company CEOs list possible "P's" of HOS ruling
USA -The Trucker -10 Aug 2007: -- The courts have weighed in. The self-described safety advocates have weighed in and the lawyers have weighed in. Through calls, interviews, radio shows and other avenues, individual drivers are weighing in on what another change in Hours of Service could mean... We asked a few CEOs and other company spokesmen to weigh in, as well, on how they think their companies would be impacted, and most expect to receive a direct hit to their pocketbooks should truckers lose the 11 hours driving time and 34-hour restart portions of HOS that were vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals, Columbia Circuit, in July...
* Commented CalArk President and CEO Rochelle Gorman: “Our estimate is that our company would lose approximately six to seven driving hours per week per driver” and by using that estimate “the company loss would equal 2,275 driving hours per week"... And she goes on to point out that if drivers’ incomes are diminished, “they will seek out other opportunities” that compensate them better than trucking...
* Noted Steve Gordon, chief operating officer of Gordon Trucking, “Of course. The decision struck down the only gains the industry saw from the rules, and kept the more restrictive parts in place, namely the extra two hours of break time and the continuous clock.” He added that should truckers lose driving time, “It will absolutely result in drivers leaving the industry.” He estimated drivers could lose from 1,500 to 3,000 hours per week, which he said is “astronomical”...
* Said Tom B. Kretsinger Jr., president and chief operating officer of American Central Transport Inc. “I think this will have a profound impact on the industry with the effect of lowering capacity,” “The elimination of the 34-hour restart reduces the drivers’ work time by 17 hours a week,” he said. That in turn “will cause a redefinition of a one-day haul”...
* Ralph Bradbury, the president of Continental Express Inc., also was hoping for a silver lining before all is said and done... “I was less surprised with the 11-hour [being vacated] and more surprised with the 34 restart [being vacated],” he said...
* The Lack of Dedication and Accountability
USA -Life on the Road, by Renee Taylor -10 Aug 2007: -- How do you legislate common sense? While we sit and wait for yet another revision to the Hours of Service rule, that is a question that must be answered... The focus has seemed to be, in the past several revisions, on reducing actual drive time. Paperwork, pre-trip inspections, loading and unloading, shop time, fueling and other tasks are performed without compensation. With rare exceptions, the average American trucker gets paid for miles driven, period. With families to support, truck payments to make and the ever-rising cost of fuel, taxes and insurance, it leaves a driver in the proverbial “catch 22″... Do you drive or do you sleep? A majority of us are professionals who know when to rest and put highway safety above the bottom dollar. However, when it comes right down to it, it is the need to make up for unpaid hours that contributes to log book falsification and tired truckers... Only when common sense and pay for hours worked are implemented will any issue with hours of service be resolved. Reality and practicality have taken a back seat to special interest groups and public perception. It is not the work the American trucker does that causes the problem, it is the lack of dedication and accountability on behalf of the support businesses and personnel that causes the problem...
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