Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/734262
VOICES CHANNEL 19 8 | Overdrive | October 2016 Visit Senior Editor Todd Dills' CHANNEL 19 BLOG at OverdriveOnline.com/channel19 Write him at tdills@randallreilly.com. Inspectors' ability – or willingness, as it were – to write 30-minute break hours of service violations is on a downward trend. In August, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance of industry and enforcement was denied a petition to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to do away with the daily 30-minute-break requirement entirely. Part of the rationale behind re- questing FMCSA remove the regula- tion entirely is, I suspect, complication introduced by the raft of exemptions granted to particular companies and sectors that'd rather not bother with it for a variety of reasons. Those exemptions also could be part of the reason for the downward trend in violations. What the downward trend doesn't show, however, is how big a share of all hours violations the 30-minute break accounts for. In 2015, even with the decline in total violations, 30-minute-break violations were 14 percent of all of the hours violations incurred. Only two other hours vio- lations were written more frequently in 2015 — logs not current, and form and manner. Both of those, however, are weighted for purposes of safety scoring in the CSA Hours of Service category a good deal lower — 5 and 1, respectively. The 30-minute break violation sits at a 7 weight, equivalent to the weight given to driving beyond the 70-hours-in-eight-days cumulative limits and providing an offi cer with a false log, clear evidence the agency attaches a heavy safety-related impor- tance to the rule. But given the agency's willingness to exempt so many from it, combined with CVSA's request for its removal, if the agency won't strike it altogether, there's certainly a rationale there for a reduction in its Hours of Service BASIC weighting. Meanwhile, it's clearly easy pickings for some offi cers. Log it like it ought to be – off -duty, and before you spend any eight more consecutive hours on – or don't be surprised if you get dinged for it. And try your best to enjoy the milk and cookies. Choking down the milk and cookies In late August, trucker and singer-songwriter Tony Justice delivered a knockout performance to an appre- ciative crowd at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas. If I thought he couldn't possibly do any better than he did last year opening for John Anderson with an acoustic-only set … well, I'd have been dead wrong. This was just the second time I've heard Justice live with a full band, and he brought the house down with songs from his Brothers of the Highway record, from the title track to the "Highway Junkie" uptempo opener. You can listen to the full performance in the Aug. 27 post to the blog. The band, backed by an American fl ag, ended with the debut of Justice's "Stars, Stripes and White Lines" patriotic anthem. It's planned for release with his next record, as we talked about in my podcast interview with him before GATS. You can hear more about his plans for the anthem in the Aug. 11 post. THE TREND IN 30-MINUTE BREAK VIOLATIONS 150,000 130,000 110,000 90,000 70,000 50,000 2013** 2014 2015 **Violations for 2013 doubled from total numbers after the break regulation went into effect July 1 of that year. 30-minute break violations issued Federal data analyzed by Overdrive and RigDig Business Intelligence Tony Justice hits the mark for trucking, patriotism Scan the QR to hear trucker/singer-songwriter Tony Justice's live full-band performance at the Great American Trucking Show in August. Holley Young