A new HOS rule issued by the Obama Administration should include the following basic safety parameters:

• 24-hour circadian schedule

• Lower daily driving and work time limits

• Lower weekly driving and work time maximums

• Increased daily off-duty time, including in sleeper berths

• Increased end-of-week rest time

• Recognition of safety hazards of night-time driving

• Universal Electronic On-Board Recorder (EOBR) requirement

Daily Shift Drive Time Maximum:
No more than 8 consecutive hours of driving per shift, based on extensive research findings that show dramatic increase in relative risk of crashes after 8 consecutive hours of driving.

Daily Shift Work Time Maximum:
12 hour work shift; 8 hours of driving, and 4 hours of other work and \ or rest breaks as the driver chooses

Daily Shift Off-Duty Time Maximum:
General rule:
12 hours of consecutive off-duty rest time to ensure minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep each night that research shows is needed to perform safely, and allow time for drivers to perform other daily non-work tasks

Sleeper Berth:
More than 8 continuous hours to ensure minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep each night that research shows is needed to expunge sleep debt and recover safe performance

Weekly Total Driving Time Maximum:
Maximum 40 hours 7 days

Weekly Total Work Time Maximum:
Maximum 60 hours in 7 days

End of Week Off-duty Time Minimum:
Minimum 48-hour off duty layover before starting another tour of duty

Source: Regulations.gov

 

All I know is that if that BS goes through (or anything similar), and our pay doesn't go up to make up for it, I'm done driving OTR - Period.

 

WOW!! Now that IS change. It will be interesting to see how much of that becomes regulation.

 

The last thing we need are more regulations and shorter work days. I suppose they could start bringing in workers from India, Mexico, etc., Oh wait, they are already doing that. 10 hours is way too much for me to take in the sleeper berth. I do just fine with 5-6 hours sleep. It is bad enough with 10 hours, now they want to add another 2 hours? They already complain about too many trucks on the road now they want to force all trucks to drive during daylight hours which is when most traffic is on the road. Then they want to reduce work time which will require more trucks to meet customer demands. Yea.....that is going to work.:hellno:

 

If the government passes all of the regulations,then the government better build more places for trucks to park.

 

They better prepare for a lot of freight to NOT get hauled, especially JIT freight. I find it strange that they will suspend the hos rules during a hurricane and that is safe yet they want to impose more rules to prevent us from driving at other times. :roll:

 

More proof FMCSA is run by a bunch of pencil pushing idiots.

 

Price of every thing will go way up, way to kill an economy, but some time's it just seems that what they want.

 

Not really. For the most part, shipping is only a fraction of the total cost of the goods you buy in the store. Do the math (not trucker's math either). Take the rate a load hauls for, and divide it by the amount of product in the load. For the products on store shelves, this usually only amounts to a few pennies per item. If that.

 

It'll be interesting to see how this affects team operations as well... would suck to keep a team from moving 4 hours a day because of reduced drive time and increased break time.