Originally published at: Truck driver coercion fear looms over sleeper berth test - FreightWaves
Trucking and safety groups are warning FMCSA that its pilot program for more flexible truck driver rest rules poses a high risk of driver coercion.
As with the stopping of the clock,once the test period is over,and assuming all this becomes law,i fear that fleets will apply pressure on drivers to utilize these two options to the benefit of the carrier,not the driver.I do support these two changes if these are left soly up to the driver.Fleets need to take on shippers and receivers to deal with detention times,not drivers logs.
Split sleeper birth was around long before the ELD and was never used to coerce. It makes a lot more sense to allow splits to 5/5 for many reasons. Trying to legislate sleep patterns for an OTR driver was ridiculous right from the start. Drivers will be far more alert when they can manage their own sleep biorhythms. This is also a plus when it comes to arriving or passing through major cities at the wrong time of day during rush hour heavy traffic. Find a hole to dive into 50 miles or so out and take a good long nap and avoid all that aggravation.
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Thats why I like the company I currently work for. They will not force me to split the logs, the log is completelyup to me and as I see fit to get the deliveryor pickup made safe and legal. They believe in safety first and foremost. If I’m not able to complete the load all I have to do is message or call and they will arrange a relay with another driver.
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Its true..they push the drivers.. ive been driving 49 yrs now. U loose your job just because u dont want to do splits and most of the time u mess up doing splits and go into violation with all these stupid different splits nowadays ive try it all driving at night.and etc .very careful because they tell u that u have to or loose your job.and this thing about using your 30 min brk while fueling is ridiculous … but they do force drivers to do things they donot want to do the last three companies i work did that to me.And gets away with it. When it is a law in books …that states its driver choice to make decision on their own due to their body clocks. It should be everyones choice. Some folks like doing splits. I like my 10hr.brk.And all of u know that at times u dont even get time to take a bathroom break. Its about time.. they started checking all this ■■■■ out with some of these so called trucking idiots and shippers.
Any change to the sleeper birth provision is dangerous. Using both the 8/2 and the 7/3 as a flatbedder I can literally start my clock at 4am and then not shut down until 4am the next day. The FMCSA needs to hire drivers like me that purposely abuse the clock so we can make $ (if you want to call it that) to find ways to stop us. Of course I’m of the mind that clocks should be used to monitor what we’re doing when we’re doing it only. One size fits all models don’t work, never have, and never will.
I record every call I have with any company I work for. Let 1 tell me if I don’t use my clock a certain way they will fire me. That’s 100% coercion and illegal. I’ll own the company before I’m done.
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Hello. I grew up in the trucking industry. I learned to drive on my dad’s 1965 Peterbilt. 318 hp and a 4 speed main box and a 4 speed brownie. I turned 21 in January 1970 . And by April I had my first interstate driving job. It was for Howard Callens trucking, out of Rosemead, Ca. We ran 40ft refers from California and Arizona to the NY and and other places on the east coast. We ran teams, and everyone of the teams ran 5/5 and we had a very good safety record. And all of the other company teams that we chased down the road, with very few exceptions also ran 5/5. Eventually I changed from refers to dry box and started driving solo. And another thing is 70hrs in 8 days comes to 8.75hrs per day. So if you keep your days to 8.75 you will never go over your 70hrs.
I drive and do splits all the time because I can’t sleep for more than 5-6 hours and then sit idle just to get tired so the 5/5 or 6/4 would be great especially if they were to cease the 14 hour clock.
I get the FMCSA needing regulations, however as long as the driver meets the required 10 hours in the sleeper, nobody should have the right to tell the driver how that 10 hours is spent or broken up.
As for these companies (shippers, trucking companies, who ever) demanding drivers go against the FMCSA just to make a paycheck. Those are the people the DOT needs to start targetting.
“We recommend that enrollment in the program remain confidential between the driver, the employing carrier, and FMCSA, with shippers, receivers, and brokers having no access to participation information to minimize opportunities for coercion.”
A major change that needs to be made, to help prevent this, is that the FMCSA enforces its own rules and rights afforded to truckers, from the brokers. The contracts brokers use, going thru these clearinghouse companies, that require us to wave our rights to almost everything, also, sometimes requires access and sharing of our ELD.
THE BROKERS / SHIPPERS will use this to victimize drivers and anyone not complying with their demands, will be placed on Carrier 411, with Irreversible damage.