Overdrive

Voices channel 19 6 | Overdrive | April 2018 Visit Senior Editor Todd Dills' CHANNEL 19 BLOG at OverdriveOnline.com/channel19 Write him at tdills@randallreilly.com. It's been said in a variety of ways on the Channel 19 blog and elsewhere on Overdrive's social networks: "Finally, someone address- ing the real issue," as Scott Bradley put it on Overdrive's Facebook page. He was talking about news of an ocial petition to the ed- eral Motor Carrier Safety Administration from the Owner-Operator Indepen- dent Drivers Association. The group asks to do away with the 30-minute break and add a "pause button" to the 14-hour clock with any rest period up to three hours in the middle of the duty day. OOIDA's modest proposal doesn't go so far as to argue for liberaliza- tion of splitting options in the required 10-hour rest period, but FMCSA currently is seeking to study just that. Last I heard, the request for the study was with the White House ce of anagement and Budget, whose director now is doing double-duty as acting director at the Consumer Financial Pro- tection Bureau, which he wanted to gut in the past, so … maybe distracted a little bit describes OMB at this juncture. Any duty day extend- ed with mid-period rest still would reuire o should FMCSA actual- ly choose to pursue the change OOIDA is seeking. FMCSA hasn't acted armatiely on these stakeholder-group petitions to change the hours rules signicantly in the recent past. One that was denied a couple years back asked for removal of the 30-min- ute-break requirement, initiated by the Commer- cial Vehicle Safety Alliance of industry and truck enforcement reps. The many individ- ual-sector exemptions granted to the break re- quirement has complicated enforcement and rendered the break in the minds of many truckers ridiculous enough to truly earn the "milk and cookie time" moniker it's gotten from many readers. As for pausing the 14- hour clock in the manner OOIDA's proposed, it wasn't exactly in the hours of service wish list we once compiled from reader sug- gestions. So: Here's to the novelty of the solution to midperiod rest exibility. ELD provider Keep- Truckin launched an online signature-collection eort about a twohour 14-hour extension that was somewhat similar late last year. Yet I can hear the long-ago words of rapper Talib Kweli in my head, echoed by a recent reader comment in protest of any extension of the duty day whatsoever: "[Expletive] the harder way. We're do- ing it the smarter way." Such logic, though delivered there in a less-than-magnanimous tone, recognizes the value of time constraints when it comes to negotiations on rates with a focus on getting the absolute most possible out of the least time worked. This push will be an uphill climb, but as is the case for any long haul o'er the mountains to the sea, the load's got to pick up somewhere. Though not all readers had positive things to say about the eort too little too late was another general sentiment the maority did. Find commentary in the Feb. 15 and 17 posts on the Channel 19 blog. Conversations still evolving over 14-hour reg Todd Dills " Glad to see that OOIDA is putting the fight where it needs to be, on hours of service. The 30-minute break definitely needs to be 'deep-sixed.' 11/14/10 is fine, but should be daily. Do away with the 70-hour rule. Putting the 14 on pause up to 3 hours is a good idea as well. It would be even better if it could be used as part of the 10-hour break [by splitting the sleeper period with it], which would keep drivers on a consistent 24-hour clock. " — Lee E. Tibbetts High on haulers' hours of service wish list is a return to the ability to split rest more liberally, as evidenced in the response to OOIDA's recent petition to FMCSA to allow a three-hour extension of the 14-hour duty day limit. Hear an Overdrive Radio "mailbag" podcast rounding out views via the Feb. 17 post on Channel 19. " 25 years driving trucks. No speeding tickets ever, and yet with this e-log and continuous 14-hour rule, I've found myself racing the clock to outrace a violation. Very dangerous. Simply, it needs to go. We as drivers need flexibility to be safe, period. " — Devin Scott

• Cover
• FLIPPING THROUGH HISTORY | A small fleet owner’s collection of Overdrives provides a fitting finale for Wendy Parker’s last blog post.
• Business: Arbitration case to go before high court The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit brought by an owner-operator that challenges his fleet’s requirement that disputes be handled via third-party arbitration.
• COVER STORY: Power plays Electric truck makers promise cleaner, more cost-effective tractors. Two years before the first vehicles hit the road, inadequate infrastructure and fueling capacity threaten to dampen the transition.
• Buyers welcome Economic conditions, tax changes, productivity pressures and equipment improvements have spurred a big increase in truck buying by owner-operators and fleets.
• ELD headaches Much has been made about the operational challenges of running under more rigid hours accounting with an electronic log. Meanwhile, truckers are experiencing a wide range of technical malfunctions.
• Severe service Heavy-haul and severe-service news from Volvo, International, Mack, Freightliner and Peterbilt, plus new products from Marmon-Herrington, Kyocera, Firestone and Toyo.
• Inspectors “putting people out of work.”
• Pulse: Make sure the grass really is greener.
• Conversations still evolving over 14-hour reg.
• Shut down by CARB, teacher keeps learning alive.
• Discovering a double- brokered load.
• ELD violations now merit out-of-service.
• Bill would allow younger truckers.
• ELD waiver extended for livestockers.
• Alleged fraud may impact 2,000 truckers.
• OOIDA wants rehearing of apnea case.
• Son earns back dad’s ’95 Pete 379.
• “Rubber Duck” Mack still quacking.
• Reader Rigs: ’16 389 on the “Edge”; a ’13 Coronado named “Betty”; ’15 389 yanks tanks; ’17 Coronado a heavy hauler; father-son duo’s ’04 W900.
• Gear Guide Hino to debut Class 7, 8 models in 2019.
• FLEET NEWS Fleets continue to hike driver pay.
• BETTER HEALTH Preventing and dealing with nausea.