Quote:
Originally Posted by merrick4
Great post GMAN, but could you please give an example of how the HOS of today cost us the money. What I mean is from what I understand they have always had HOS rules but people use to run a few log books. From what I understand, except for many many years ago, drivers have been paid by the mile even in the 80's so I don't understand truly what the difference is. Why is it we make less money? I'm talking about a company driver not an O/O. Could you please give like an example like a 3000 mile week what it would look like today and what a 3000 mile week what it would look like in the 80's?.
It would be much easier for a lot of us new to the industry to actually visualize in an example A & B scenario how things have changed.
Thanks as always.
I will try to explain the way both work and how it can make a difference. With the old hos, we were allowed 10 hours driving without having a 8 hour sleeper berth. Today we have 11 hours driving before taking a 10 hour break. Under the old hos, you can drive 10 hours, take a 8 hour sleeper berth and then log another 10 hours driving. During a 24 hour period you could conceivably drive 16 hours and be compliant. With the new hos, you can drive 11 hours, take a 10 hour sleeper berth and then drive another 11 hours. However, during a 24 hour period you can only log 15 hours driving. Lets assume that you drive 5 days under both hos rules. You will be able to legally log 5 more hours driving under the old hos than with the new. If you average 50 mph each hour, then you would be able to legally log 250 more hours driving for the same period. At 70 mph average you could run an additional 350 miles during the same period. You likely will not be able to average 70 mph, but 50 is conceivable if you log legally. If you multiply 250 miles times 50 weeks, you could legally log 12,500 more miles during the same time period with the only difference being the hos rules. That assumes that my calculations are correct. The one thing I like with the new hos as opposed to the old is that you can restart your 70 hours with a 34 hour break. With the old hos, we would usually only pick up a day, which would usually be about 10 hours or so. I have taken some liberties with the total hours per week, but you could easily drive 5 days a week and be legal.
At 50 mph average driving time, it will take 60 hours to drive 3,000 miles. Under the old hos, it would take about 3 1/2 days. The new hos would take 4 days.
There are ways in which to work with the new hos and make money, but I think it would be better to get rid of the logs and hos rules. It would save everyone money. We could drive more if we felt like it or less if we were tired. We would not be penalized as with the new hos rules. There are other professions just as dangerous or hazardous as driving a truck which do not require the operator to log each work segment of their day.