I Hate Having To Cheat.

I hate having to cheat on my logs.

Not really, because that's how logs were ran back in the day. Now that tattle tale box interferes with everything!

I'm sitting at the dock, been here 3 hours, and have 45 mins on my 14. This ain't going to happen. No parking on site, no parking in the street...and I count my lucky stars that my yard is 2 blocks away, if that.

But this isn't the first time. Several times now I've cheated the box, and risked my job. Our company doesn't really do the "safe haven" violations not often anyway. Once I pulled off 25 miles in 15 minutes in a truck governed at 61. You do the math.

I'm new to doing this myself, but I've spent a lifetime in the industry, and I really miss the old ways.

Been doing the 17 years. I don't miss the old ways or old days one bit.

I love my AC. I love my air ride and power steering.

And yes I love the Elogs. ALOT less stressful now. Don't get pushed to run over hours.

Maybe it's just the companies I choose to work for or maybe it's the reputation I developed at each company I have driven for. When I say I am low on hours or can't finish the trip on time I tell them and they adjust the appointments. They know if it could have been done I would have done it. I receive no argument over it.

I'm just glad to hear someone is governed at 61, one lower than I am. I hope to pass you some day.

Jenny, I never ran elogs. I was always on paper logs and I totally know where you're coming from.

I always tell people I used to cheat pretty much every day of my career but it really wasn't to get more miles in per week. I still wanted to average around 3,000-3,200 miles per week. That was perfect.

What I wanted was flexibility. I wanted to drive when I felt good and it made sense to drive, not because some contrived deadline was approaching. I wouldn't want to keep driving and have to push through cities at rush hour or bad weather because my clock would be running out in a few hours. And I certainly didn't want to sit at a customer for a few hours and then be forced to go park it somewhere even after getting several hours of great sleep because my 14 hour clock was running out. That's just dumb.

I thought the old logbook rules back in the day were perfect - 10 on, 8 off, a simple split sleeper berth option, and a 70 hour rule. Simple as that. I thought those rules made perfect sense and gave you plenty of flexibility. I think the 14 hour rule was a tragic blunder.

Brett, I agree 100%, the 14 hour rule causes more fatigued driving than it prevents.

Brett, I agree 100%, the 14 hour rule causes more fatigued driving than it prevents.

It certainly does. The experts are also obsessed with people getting 8 consecutive hours of sleep but personally I've always preferred maybe 5 hours at night and a solid nap or sometimes even two short naps during the day. Working 14 straight hours and then taking 10 hours off in a row is too extreme. It's a marathon of work followed by a marathon of rest. I like to work and rest in blocks. I'll work for a few hours and take a break for an hour. Work for a few hours more and take a break for a few hours. Mix it up a bit, ya know? In the end you wind up putting in the same number of hours but you get to break it up anyway you see fit. You have the flexibility to take naps, wait for bad traffic or weather to pass, or get some maintenance done quick while the shop is empty.

I don't think there's really a right or wrong way to schedule your work day in trucking. As long as you're making your appointments on time and you're focused on safety then whatever works for you is great. I just think the 14 hour rule took away all of that flexibility.

One of the great things about OTR driving is you have all that time to work out solutions to the World's problems. Here's something I worked out for the 14+10 hour rule (still the 11 hr driving limit):

Just like current rules, you start your shift. Any time of the day. You now have two kinds of time: 14 hr duty and 10 hr rest. Still nothing new. (Start thinking split berth)

Your 10 hr rest can be one chunk - same as now, or you can split it into two periods. Both periods in one 24 hr period must total at least 10 hr, and the shortest rest break must be no less than 2 hr. Any combination of two rest periods that total 10 hours: 2+8, 5+5, 3 1/2 + 6 1/2 and so on.

You cannot work any single period longer than 12 1/2 hours. (That's 11 hr drive + 1/2 hr break + pre & post trips.) You can still do On Duty work for the remaining 1 1/2 hours.

Your day clock resets after 10 hours, either from one 10 hour chunk, or the second of the two breaks 2 hr being the minimum.

So, how can you jerk this around and game the system?

One of the great things about OTR driving is you have all that time to work out solutions to the World's problems. Here's something I worked out for the 14+10 hour rule (still the 11 hr driving limit):

Just like current rules, you start your shift. Any time of the day. You now have two kinds of time: 14 hr duty and 10 hr rest. Still nothing new. (Start thinking split berth)

Your 10 hr rest can be one chunk - same as now, or you can split it into two periods. Both periods in one 24 hr period must total at least 10 hr, and the shortest rest break must be no less than 2 hr. Any combination of two rest periods that total 10 hours: 2+8, 5+5, 3 1/2 + 6 1/2 and so on.

You cannot work any single period longer than 12 1/2 hours. (That's 11 hr drive + 1/2 hr break + pre & post trips.) You can still do On Duty work for the remaining 1 1/2 hours.

Your day clock resets after 10 hours, either from one 10 hour chunk, or the second of the two breaks 2 hr being the minimum.

So, how can you jerk this around and game the system?

Did something change? For the split berth rule you have to have 8 hours continuos in the sleeper berth for it to be legal the other 2 hrs can be either sleeper berth or off duty.

Did something change? For the split berth rule you have to have 8 hours ...

Nothing changed. This is my proposal to give drivers more flexibility in their work & drive time. The split berth thing allows a driver that 8+2 split. I just expanded it out to make two "adjustable" break times.

Did something change? For the split berth rule you have to have 8 hours ...

Nothing changed. This is my proposal to give drivers more flexibility in their work & drive time. The split berth thing allows a driver that 8+2 split. I just expanded it out to make two "adjustable" break times.

Oh oh oh I got it now that was your suggestion for how the powers to be might change the way things are now .....