I have been thinking about them and talking about them with my husband as he is driving solo now. I think the smartest thing they could do is to make the rules simple.
1) Get rid of the 60/70 rule and get rid of the 14 hour rule.
2) Either get rid of the 34 hour restart rule, or turn it into a mandatory 72 hour home time/vacation a month.
3) Keep the 11 hour of driving a day. Or reduce it to 10 while allowing an extra hour of driving if the they are within an hour of their destination, and/or to find a truck stop if needed.
4) The truckers have to take a 9 consecutive hour break sometime with in the 24 hour day starting and stopping at midnight. It is up to the trucker when to stop.
Allow a split only if the trucker plans to sleep through midnight into the next day, but the split would need to equal 9 hours from the starting point to the stopping point. The trucker would still need to have a total of 9 hours within a 24 hour period.
That would give the trucker an extra hour either at the docks if needed and/or to be able to break up a long period of driving with a break -depending on their planning abilities and deadline the company gives them. It would also give the freedom to the truck driver to sleep when they need it instead of telling them they have to take a break at this time whether or not they are tired.
I think that would also make it much easier for the dot officers also. They would only have to check if you were driving only 11 hours, and to see if the driver has taken their break. The officers would not have to worry about the recap and other garbage.
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Do you know the definition of patience? Patience is being able to idle your motor when you really feel like stripping your gears!
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