Logbook Rules: How Would You Make Them Better?

Question is how many can just take our 30 while fueling.. If you don't have some jackwagon for a dispatch that has never driven a truck in their life telling you how to drive you never use up your 14hr day I drove long haul for 20 years before i retired from it. i do miss being able to split the berth and this 34 hr restart now is a joke. at least when i was leaving. Where you could use it once in a 7 day period. Then wtf is the sense of having it. I drove way less tired the old way. i rarely drove my full 11 hours cause anymore you drive 10 and you start looking for a place to sleep. oh and don't get me started with the OBR's Truck driving stop being fun 12 years ago. Reason why i am happy to drive for a small company and local. I don't have to deal with all that bs anymore.

Eliminate or modify the 14 hour rule.

At the very least, it should stop running when logged "off-duty", especially for the 30 minute break.

Most of the clock challenges I deal with are a result of the "14" not meshing well with the type of work involved with Walmart dedicated. Live unloads that must be observed by the driver (at a minimum) burn up to 5 hours per day with a 5-6 stop run or even more if a second load is dispatched during the work day.

It's common for me to drive 7-8 hours during the work day and return empty to the DC with minutes remaining on the "14" hour clock.

Hey folks, we just published a new article today that was built from this conversation, called:

We Ask Drivers How They Would Make The Logbook Rules Better

Hey Brett, thanks for mentioning me in this article that yall wrote about the logbook rules. I am glad to have contributed even a little bit to this discussion. Anyway, when my profile was mentioned in this forum topic everything is set right, however in the article my handle has my old one. Is there a way we can update that? If not its cool. Just putting the request out there.

We've updated it.......good to go now.

Thanks so much, I appreciate it.

On a 24 hr clock; 12 hours on-duty, 12 hours off duty. 80 hr week.

Keep 34 hr resets.

No more 30 minute break.

Airlines have a 12/12 rule for pilots.

Its simple, effective, gives more driving time while allowing drivers to get the rest they need.

I like the 12/12. I didn't have it before when I drove. I like the old way it was. 8/80 in California and 7/70 in other states. That's how I remembered, for my permit back in '98. I didn't have some computer telling me and controlling my life. Paper logs were ok with me! Deregs would be great. I never had a bad report during weight checks or ever stopped by the law. My logs were always legal. And no I didn't carry a illegal one.

The old rules worked well as did the paper logs. Someone decided for us how we should control our work day and haven't the slightest clue as to what we do. Granted there was and always will be drivers who will break the HOS rules no matter what. Do away with the mandated 30 minute lunch, keep the 34 hour reset, there is 24 hours in a day so use it like the old rules did. 14 hours on duty and 10 hours off duty. 7/70 0r 8/80 as it wasn't hard to follow and everyone wasn't off duty at the same time trying to find parking and clogging up the truck stops looking for a place to park. When I ran team we drove 5 hours, rested 5 hours, drove 5 hours and rested 5 hours then you had 10 hours off duty and 10 hours driving so you could keep moving endlessly until you reached your 70 or 80. Just my thoughts.

The old rules worked well as did the paper logs

Well, let's be honest, the paper logs worked well for us because we could write down anything we wanted. It didn't work well when it came to keeping people in line.

I will say that the old rules back in the day were perfect........10 on, 8 off, split sleeper berth , 70 hours on duty every 8 days. That's it. Simple as that. It was flexible and I felt the limits were perfect. You could drive about 3,300 miles per week legally, give or take, and I felt that was a good limit on what you could do consistently and still get enough sleep. It also allowed for breaks so you could take short naps and didn't penalize you when you were held up at a customer.

If they left it up to me I'd say keep the electronic logs , because you have to if we're being honest, and go back to the old rules from back in the day and never touch it again.