sleepiness and HOS
#32
Originally Posted by golfhobo
The FACT remains that there IS a "split sleeper" option available to all drivers that CAN be used efficiently (in some cases) to meet schedules while STILL ensuring a rested driver. If managed properly, it allows a driver to take a shower and eat.... AND have that time count towards the total 10 hour off duty requirement. And when all is said and done, you arrive at the SAME time as you would if you took a full 10 hour break OR if you drove/slept 5 and 5. I mean no disrespect and am not looking for a fight Stonefly... but, I'm not sure you actually understand the new rules. NOTHING in what I said above (that you quoted) implies any "falsification" of a logbook. More on this after I answer your other post.
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#33
#34
stonefly said:
an "expert" is somebody who's a long way from home because at home they don't let him talk.
I don't believe it. The testing and research is junk science and means nothing at all.
A trucker who lives a life of splitting his bunk time and getting rest wherever he needs it probably gains faster reaction times, not slower.
Under (the OLD?) split sleeper berth rules, mandatory eight hour stretches of sleep are not legally required, but drivers found time to get those large blocks of sleep anyway, required or not, because they wanted them. I've been looking at this for a long time and have noticed that truck stops and rest areas fill up full at night and have been for a long time. That is because most drivers want, and get, a full night's rest whenever they can, regardless of regulations.
Maybe things were different fifteen or twenty years ago, but today, drivers seek rest. They don't need regulations that categorize bunk time as work hours.
What is important is getting rest when needed.
The most dangerous part of the mandatory eight hour sleep break is the part that counts blocks of bunk time shorter than eight hours as a driver's working hours.
That is an insane bit of legislation. No driver wants to, or can afford to, sacrifice his working hours. Therefore, in order to stay legal under the present regs, he has to skip sleep breaks and naps.
Another way of stating this is that he must continue to drive when sleepy. That is the greatest danger of all and has nothing to do with "cumulative sleep deficit."
I'm not on this forum to wail about the present regs or look for sympathy because I find them difficult to live with. I'm writing about them because I'm trying to get the split sleeper berth provision restored as part of HOS regulations. I'm trying to find drivers who will continue to contact their legislators and get the present regs reversed.
Here is the gist of it: The most important, and most dangerous reality regarding the present regs is the practice of forgoing needed sleep breaks because the time counts against a driver's working hours.
Split time was part of the trucking regs for 70 years, for good reason.
__________________
Remember... friends are few and far between. TRUCKIN' AIN'T FOR WUSSES!!! "I am willing to admit that I was wrong." The Rev.
#36
Check this story out;
Regional pilots lack sleep, salary, experience 100K in debt for a 25K per year job? CDL mills look wonderful in comparison.
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#37
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 68
golfhobo,
You're wrong. You're wrong about this, and I see you don't understand a thing I said. I know that you don't understand the advantage of splitting bunk time. Also, you do not realize that presently there is no split sleeper berth provision. You are trying to explain to me that I can still split my time, and that I should be having no problem. I started having big problems in October, 2005. I split my time for 7 years OTR and it became a way of life that I enjoyed. It gave me no sleep problems. I rarely hit 70 hours. I run under my own authority. I rarely get close to 3000 miles a week. I do not try to drive a lot of miles. I try to take loads that pay good rates. You do not understand. You don't. You cannot see the problem. I don't want to go through an entire post line by line, but I'd like to start with one point of discussion. Management of time? The law. Once a driver starts his truck and takes a walk around it, looking things over, he has started his day. He must draw a little line on line 4. Fourteen hours later, he must stop driving. My friend, that is the law and I think you know it. I've driven coast to coast many times. I've also spent a lot of time on the eastern seaboard. For most of my 11 years OTR, the eastern seaboard, with its 500 mile to 600 mile runs, has been my bread and butter. I pull a reefer. I am used to backing up to a dock door and going to sleep, very often, for loading and unloading. I know the places where I might oughta' watch 'em load me and I know the places where I don't have to watch 'em load me. I like the places where I don't have to watch 'em load me because then I can lie in my bunk and sleep. It's not unusual to sit at a dock for 2, 3, 4, or 5 hours, or perhaps longer, to get loaded, or unloaded. That's food warehouses, my friend. Perhaps you already know. To make this simple to understand, and believe me, I wanna try and do that here, let's say it takes 3 hours to get a door and get loaded on a 600 mile run, for an 8 AM appointment the following morning. That is a standard, run of the mill, everyday, common type load. Now, let's say pick up time was 9 AM. There is nothing unusual about that. A 9 AM pick up appointment, and a 600 mile run, for an 8 AM delivery the following morning, is not, or shouldn't be, anything that is particularly difficult to accomplish. That's 23 hours to load, drive, rest, eat, fuel, and maybe even shower. Follow this so far. A 9 AM pick up on day one, for an 8 AM delivery the following morning, 600 miles. That is a common, bread and butter run for many truckers like myself. The 3 hours loading is normal. I don't know what kind of trucking you do, but time spent at loading and unloading docks is part of trucking. For a driver who obeys speed limits, I'll guarantee you that running 600 miles on the eastern seaboard is going to eat up every bit of 11 hours. Now, my friend, 3 hours has been spent at a loading dock, and 14 minus 3 equals 11. So you see, my friend, management of time has been removed from the hands of the man who needs it most, and if I need to explain the matter to you any further, let me know. I'll be happy to do so. For now, I choose to leave it up to your intelligence, and I know you ain't dumb. stonefly
#38
It's all too clear to me that your beef with the regulations has nothing to do with obtaining restorative sleep (which the new regulations certainly allow for), and everything to do with your inability to earn as much money under the new regulations.
You are using the guise of "junk science" as your scapegoat. But the facts don't support you, and no matter how much you try to ignore them, they never will. |


