Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/661456
Voices 12 | Overdrive | April 2016 As reported last month, the 34-hour restart was effectively removed due to faulty wording in the 2016 appro- priations bill, leaving the restart in a complicated legislative/regulatory limbo. The intention was only to continue the stay of enforcement of the requirement that it include two 1-5 a.m. periods and that its use be limited to once per week. Our polling shows that the largest share of Overdrive readers prefers the restart to remain as is in the hours of service rule: without limitations. The lion's share of readers who favored some change to the hours rule or the restart favors a closer look at the entirety of the hours of service. More options for splitting sleeper-berth time, "with the 34-hour restart" as it is, noted Norman Ott, "is the answer." Those typically in the know on con- gressional negotiations over the restart have been tight-lipped, and FMCSA sees the ball in Congress' court. If Congress doesn't act to fix the prob- lem with its appropriations-bill lan- guage, FMCSA's study of the restart will either kill the provision entirely or revert it to its restricted form – with a once-per-week limitation and two 1-5 a.m. periods required. There is, however, talk of that third of readers getting some form of what they want – with a new hours of service rule being the congressional end result. Few respondents (6 per- cent) showed any favor for the option floated by the Truckload Carriers Association about how the fix for this might proceed: a weekly on-duty cap of 75 hours with use of the restart. One commenter urged drivers to distance themselves from TCA's and the American Trucking Associations' options to salvage the restart: "They claim to represent us in D.C. because we don't speak with our legislators." He offered a remedy: the U.S. Capi- tol phone number, 202-224-3121. Readers weigh in on restart's future Double credits catch up with life-saving trucker OverdriveOnline.com poll Ideal future for the 34-hour restart? It would remain as-is, without limitations on use It would go away entirely, and recapping hours would revert to a norm The notion of adding a 75-hour weekly on-duty cap with restart use makes sense It would revert to being limited to include two 1-5 a.m. periods and used only once per week The hours of service rules have bigger problems than the restart – time for a complete overhaul Other/I don't know 43% 12% 6% 1% 34% 4% The status of the 34-hour restart is unclear due to inadvertent language in the federal spending bill passed at yearend. Boe Burleson of Tulsa, Ok- la.-based Paul Transportation recalls a day when Paul driver Gary Hurd was checking pa- perwork at the Paul offices. "I noticed a letter that he received," says Burleson. "For the second time in just over a year, Gary hadn't told anyone what had happened to him on the highway . After pulling a man from his burning vehicle, saving this man's life, Gary simply got back in his truck, drove all weekend and deliv- ered his load on the following Monday. Gary has saved two lives and doesn't seek any recognition or thanks." In the first instance, Hurd's actions on the scene of an accident went unrecognized until the company heard from the family of a young woman Hurd had pulled from acci- dent wreckage and had given CPR, saving her life. Paraphrasing a famous saying of Desmond Tutu, Burleson says, "If more people lived their lives like Gary Hurd lives his, our world would indeed be overwhelmed with good." A Paul Transportation driver received this mailing from a motorist he'd help save after an accident.