Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/24224
PULSE B y Max Heine A recent news item notes that Swiss Bank UBS is ridiculed when it came to light last year. Among its many morsels of meddling were instructions on how women should apply makeup. One of the gems for morphology of your face.” Perhaps someone from UBS has been moonlighting at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which has taken micromanagement to new levels with its hours of service proposal. Among the changes: hours without a 30-minute break. two midnight-6 a.m. rest periods. “does not include time resting in a parked truck. In a moving truck, does not include up to 2 hrs. in passenger seat before or after 8 hrs. in a sleeper berth.” already complex hours rule show just how unattainable is the regulatory hours quest. Regulators have pursued it for years, and both they and safety advocates seem to think that drivers are puppets made from the same mold. Attach enough strings in key places and an autopilot puppeteer will keep drivers alert. Granted, there is extensive research on accidents and circadian rhythms behind the labyrinth of this proposal. But what researchers also know is that already complex hours rule show just how unattainable is this quest. Tweaks to an sleep patterns can vary among individuals, especially when detention time and countless other factors differ so widely by haul. It might be time to explore simpler solutions. For example, critics have suggested the more radical solution of paying by the hour instead of by the mile or percentage of own set of problems, notably reduced productivity, but offers potential safety improvements by lessening the incentive to speed, cheat on logs or skip inspections. Since such dramatic change probably accelerate the use of electronic onboard recorders, whose automation would help tame any compliance confusion. EOBRs already appear in more and more cabs, due to the introduction of the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program, as well as improved tech- nology and lower costs for the devices. Among fleets that have converted to EOBRs, a common response from drivers has been that they feared the intrusion, pressured to fudge their logs appreciate freedom from that coercion. Just because technology can now implement an system is good. Still, given the competitive pressures of trucking and the impassioned politics of fatigue 4 OVERDRIVE FEBRUARY 2011