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Troy: Alright hello and welcome truckers. The date is September 4th and you’re listening to the 37th episode of Big Rig Banter. I’m your host Troy Diffenderfer.
Lenay: And I’m your favorite cohost Lenay Ruhl.
Troy: And we have a very interesting episode on tap for today. We’re covering some pretty big news within the industry. Lenay, why don’t you give us a little preview of that?
Lenay: Sure, so apparently the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, everyone’s favorite, is proposing to change some rules around the hours of service for truck drivers.
Troy: Yeah so, we’re gonna be jumping into that, giving you guys some more details, really taking it step by step and breaking it down for you truckers and what you can expect in the future. Before we jump into that Lenay, we have a pretty exciting event going on next week. I think you truckers are gonna enjoy it.
Lenay: Next week is truck driver appreciation week so we’re going to be doing trivia all week long on our Facebook page. You can have the chance to win a $100 gift card at the end of the week.
Troy: Truckers, again, we encourage you to reach out and answer some of those trivia questions. I think it’ll be a good time. You’re gonna get $100 to spend wherever you want so that’s always great too, if you win.
Lenay: The trivia will be on AllTruckJobs.com’s Facebook page so be sure to check that out. AllTruckJobs.com is an online job board website specifically for truck drivers, so if you’re looking for a trucking job be sure to go online, and you can find some jobs there too.
Troy: Speaking of trucker appreciation, you know the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is talking about changing up some more driver hours of service rules to make them more flexible so we’re gonna break those down right now in the main topic of the episode. It’s a hotly debated topic already and I’m sure you truckers have your own opinion on it so again, make sure to reach out to us using the hashtag #bigrigbanter to jump in on that conversation as well. Lenay, why don’t you kick things off? There are a lot of details going into this so we’re gonna try to break it down as much as we can and go kind of one point at a time on what changes you might be seeing in the future.
Lenay: Yeah so before we get into breaking down the five things that they’re contemplating changing, just to kind of give everyone some background so you keep in mind why these changes are even being talked about. When the ELDs when into effect, a lot of drivers, as you know, have been really upset about the regulations around how many hours they can drive, if they hit traffic, or bad weather, or anything like that, they’re having to stop before they can get to places on time and it’s killing the amount of money that they can make, essentially. So, there’s a lot of discontent around the regulations right now. Troy, do you have anything to add to that before we get into it?
Troy: No, again that’s what a lot of these rules are supposedly going to address. These kind of stops and starts and these breaks that drivers don’t really want. It’s gonna address sleeping time, initially when these ELDs rolled out some of these changes wanted to address that and allow truckers the opportunity to get some sleep on the road. Ultimately, it’s affecting the money that goes into their pockets. I think there are a lot of truckers out there who struggled after these rules went into effect.
Lenay: These drivers, many of them have been driving for a long long time and they’re used to staying awake. So, where I see where the government is trying to make things safer and not have people awake for so many hours at a time, I also see the driver’s point of view where they’ve been doing it for so long, why slow down now? Now you’re talking about cutting their income when they’ve been making this much all along.
Troy: Yeah, and I think in some cases they’re just looking at this raw data and looking at truckers as just another number and trying to make these regulations based on statistics instead of maybe opinions of people who are actually in the industry and putting in the work. I think that’s a huge role as well.
Lenay: Yeah, absolutely. So, to get into it, there are five things that could potentially change. Just so you guys know, you can go online and voice your opinions on this. In the show notes we’ll provide a link for you to do that. Anyway, the first thing that they want to change is the rule around the 30-minute break. So basically, right now, to take a 30-minute break you have to go off-duty. They’re talking about changing it so that you can remain on duty but not driving as your break time instead of having to switch to off-duty so when you’re stopping to get a cup of coffee, go to the bathroom, get gas, all these stops can count towards your break time instead of having to go off-duty and sit there for a straight half-hour.
Troy: Ultimately, this will create less stops for you and will provide some more flexibility while you’re on the road. That kind of ties into number 2. So, this one is a little confusing, but I think I can dissect it for you truckers. It has to deal with the sleeper berth changes. So currently you have two breaks. You have to spend 8 or 9 hours during this total 10-hour break time in a sleeper berth. And then in a separate break, you can use one or 2 hours in the sleeper berth or doing off duty tasks. So, the proposed change would give you 7 hours for your sleeper berth break and 3 hours for your sleeper berth/off duty break. So essentially it gives the drivers more flexibility when it comes to how you spend your time when you’re not driving. Some drivers don’t need 8 or 9 hours of sleep. So, they often find themselves just sitting in the sleeper cab just waiting until that time goes down. So, this change could give you more flexibility when it comes to how you use your off-duty time and how you use your sleeping time as well, which is definitely something that drivers are looking for.
Lenay: Yeah, I think I definitely don’t get 7 hours of sleep a night, so I’d be going a little stir crazy if I were stuck in the cab like that.
Troy: For sure. And there are many drivers like that and some maybe prefer a longer nap, or a longer time to just get some other off-duty stuff done.
Lenay: Yeah for sure. The third thing that they might change is rules around pausing the off-duty clock. So this essentially means that instead of having to drive through rush hour to get as much of your driving into the 14 hour window as possible, you could actually stop for 3 hours mid shift as long as you take your full off duty break at the end of your shift. So basically, if you know you’re coming up into a major traffic jam, right now you’re thinking “well I’m on duty and I’ve gotta stay on duty for the straight 14 hours.” With this change, you could say well I’m gonna waste a lot of driving time just sitting still in traffic, so I’m gonna pull over, take a 3-hour break and then jump back on the road once this traffic clears out. As long as at the end of that, once you get where you’re going, you take your full 10-hour break.
Troy: Yeah and I think this is one of the biggest things that truckers have been vocal about. I mean we see it on our Facebook- different comments about truckers that are losing money because they’re stuck in traffic and there’s nothing they can do and it’s definitely gotta be disheartening to watch that clock tick by and realize that you’re not really going anywhere so if this change does happen that could hopefully prevent situations like that.
Lenay: Yeah, absolutely. Another thing kind of tied into that is if you’re facing bad weather, you can add 2 additional hours to your driving time. Obviously if this change is approved so basically that could mean that you could drive for 16 hours instead of 14 hours if you hit snow or there’s a tornado warning or anything like that where you feel like you’re gonna need more time to get through that weather safely.
Troy: And again truckers, if this regulation and rule does go in, make sure to use your best judgement. Obviously driving in bad weather, we want you to still be safe out there and remember don’t risk it if the weather does get too bad but again, hopefully this regulation could provide some more flexibility if it does go through. And one last proposed regulation for you short haul drivers out there. There is a rule being batted around that could extend the maximum on duty period from 12 to 14 hours and extend the distance limit within which the driver may operate from 100 air miles to 150 air miles, so again, that could be more money in your pocket if this regulation does go through.
Lenay: Yeah, like I said there’s an open comment on the government website for this. We’ll include that link in our show notes, but you have up until October 7th to go on and comment on that. If you have any opinion about that, be sure to go on that website, leave your comments, and in the meantime reach out to us on Twitter, #bigrigbanter and just let us know what you’re thinking about these changes.
Troy: Yeah and we’ve already been doing research and looking at some of your comments. Truckers, we’re not just looking at some of these news articles, but we do wanna get a temperature on how you truckers feel about these regulations that could be going in as well.
Lenay: Yeah there are already some comments posted on the website that are listed publicly with names and everything and it seems like a lot of drivers are still disappointed that they have to rely on a computer to tell them whether or not they’re too tired to drive. I mean at the end of the day, when you look at the comments, it looks like there’s a lot of frustrations still.
Troy: Yeah, and from an outsider perspective, many might see this and say “oh they’re looking out for the safety and these are gonna be great regulations to potentially pass” but many truckers feel that the regulators are considering the opinions of everyone except those who are making a living as truck drivers. We found the consensus that while these changes are deemed to be quote for the safety of the driver end quote, they’re nothing more than smoke and mirrors and not actually looking out for those doing the driving.
Lenay: Yeah I mean I think there’s, like with everything, there’s good intentions but maybe not so much thinking about the driver’s perspective because, like I said earlier, you guys have been on the road, you’ve been doing this a long time and obviously you already have your routine and you know how long you can drive and you know when to pull over.
Troy: For sure, but luckily for you drivers, there is a forum so you can voice your opinion. And again, that link will be in the show notes and again we wanna hear what you have to say using the #bigrigbanter. Voice your opinion with us. Let us know what you think of these potential regulations and for that forum, you have until October 7th to get on there and leave your opinion as well.
Lenay: Yeah and don’t forget to leave us a review. I hope this episode was informative and gave you some things to think about. Be sure to go to BigRigBanter.com. Leave us a review and sign up for our newsletter!
Troy: For sure. And truckers, if you’re looking for a job out there be sure to check out AllTruckJobs.com. They’ve got everything there. If you’re looking for a trucking job or just some resources, it’s a great website to check out. Make sure to head on over there as well.
Lenay: And I have one more thing to say before we wrap things up. The next time you hear from us, Troy will be a married man so if any of you truck drivers out there have any words of advice for Troy before his wedding day, you can just private message us at Big Rig Banter and let us know what Troy should know before he says “I Do.”
Troy: Well thank you Lenay. What’s one piece of advice you would give me as someone who works closely with me every day and often feels like you’re my work partner. So, give me one piece of advice on how I should handle marriage.
Lenay: My only piece of advice would be if you take guacamole home for your fiancé, make sure to also bring her a bag of chips.
Troy: That’s a story for another day truckers. But why don’t we wrap things up Lenay. Once again, I’m your cohost Troy Diffenderfer.
Lenay: And I’m your favorite cohost Lenay Ruhl.
Troy: And this has been Big Rig Banter.
Music – Thanks for tuning into another edition of Big Rig Banter. For your next job check out AllTruckJobs.com, the premier online source for finding the best driver jobs in the country. Browse hundreds of positions by freight or driver type to get back on the road with confidence. Click subscribe to keep the conversations coming until next time on Big Rig Banter.
