Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/47076
FEEDBACK Hours-of-service regs can't please everyone S eeing how everyone is different, so is everyone's rest needs. No matter how you change the rules there isn't going to be one particular way to set everything up to be good for everyone. Someone may be able to drive eight hours and the next guy/gal may be able to drive 18 (just for argument), and the next day those same people may be reversed. Thus causing fatigue because they were able to do it one day the dis- patcher/load planner looks at this and shoves at those drivers some- thing that mimics what they did the day before; when told "I can't do it" by the driver it falls on deaf ears. I think the rules imposed on the driv- ers by the companies need desper- ately to be evaluated … i.e., if you're late you get a mark against you. What if you are a responsible driver and you get tired and want to be safe so you stop and take a nap? You either lose valuable hours of work or get hit by your company with the consequences of being late (which after just a few they will fire you). Elaine Clark Douglasville, Ga. HOW WILL THE NEW U.S./MEXICO CROSS-BORDER PROGRAM AFFECT TRUCKING? Via Facebook: It is going to ruin the indus- try as it did before. — Angel S. Angel, you couldn't have said it any better. It's bad enough American jobs were lost to Mexico and Canada. — Fred S. I'm more worried for the safety of our driving public and for the safety of the general population when these "foreigners" start spending time here. Yes, there are malcontents driv- ing U.S.-based trucks, but holy cow can we be rest assured these "foreigners" aren't crazy drugged up drunks carrying weapons? — Charlie N. Charlie, are you kidding? I work for a distribution cen- ter. More then half the driv- ers I deal with are already foreign. Barely speak or understand English. Most are Russians and Middle Eastern. — Scott Z. The pros and cons are almost nonexistent. I'm not for or against. The majority of freight any driver takes is 8 TRUCKERS NEWS DECEMBER 2011 from points to and from the 48 states. Unless you pull for a carrier that primarily takes loads from the border, there will be minimal effect felt. — Joe L. I have already seen some of the effects of the cross- border agreement. I could go into the border states and get a fairly good step- deck rate. Last time I was in Laredo some Broker offered me an over-dimensional load for $1.20 that included permits … the same similar load several months ago would have been double plus permits, close to 3 per mile. I asked him, "How do you expect to move it for so cheap?" His reply, "I have drivers that will haul it." — Tony F. I am concerned about the safety aspect but I just spent money to go through a background and finger- print check to prove who I was and had no felony and was no threat to the nation. Let's see the [Mexican] driver checks … questions abound. As for what it will do to the freight price, well, with the ever-growing and restrictive regs slowing down trucks and driving some off the road and oth- ers like me [with] 27-plus years of safe driving asking ourselves is it still worth doing OTR for this little pay … The government and big trucking corps need and want [Mexican] trucks to keep or cut pay rates low. — F Scott D. I think we need to worry about the Cubans out of south Florida and whatever those drivers are that are from California also. — James J. BRUCE SMITH