Really Phoebe the FMCSA had an HOS that worked for 70+ Years the old 70/8 with 10 hours of drive time 15 hours on duty Per day max and NO Resets on the HOS time. Then Lobbists such as Crash the ATA PATT and other Groups got involvoed and wanted it Rewritten they have done 4 Rewrites in 1 Years and now are on teh 5th and still no END IN SIGHT. Why they tampered with a system that WORKED. Kept Drivers off the Road that were TIRED now we are forced to drive Tired or NOT because compaines go YOU HAVE HOURS YOUR MOVING.
Take CVSA 2010 Biggest Screw Job in the History of all Regs in OTR History where a Seat Belt Ticket is worth MORE to Suspend a Drivers License than a Missing Bolt on the Suspension that can lead to it FAILING. Seat Belt Weight is 8X Suspension is 2X. Per the CVSA weighting Regs.
Or the HazMat Regs that got rewritten after 9/11 all of a sudden thousands of Drivers that had been Hauling it for YEARS had to let the Feds crawl thru their Lives with a Microscope to determine that they could haul Car Batteries or other Items. Or its Buddy the TWIC Card if you do not have one you can not Enter a PORT as you are not Safe to Enter one.
Best one however has to be out is California that a Dog has more right to be Cool than a Human Being that is in Charge of a Vecihle that weighs up to 80K and Said dog must be Kept COOL or WARM at a Comfortable Temp at ALL TIMES. The Man LET HIM ROAST at 120+ in a Metal Box and Not sleep well so he can not stay awake to drive a truck that could have 40K lbs of Explosives on it going down the road. Nice reg the CARB board passed in a Hurry. The NJ Legislature came up with Idiotic one also requiring all Trailers to be Clear of SNOW AND ICE at all times but not giving any places to Do so with the Required OHSA saftey Railings. Why did they pass this some State Senator had a Truck pass him and had some snow fly off him and hit his car.
Ed, there are lots of cases of “snow missiles” injuring and killing people. But you knew that. I hardly find that to be an “idiotic” regulation.
And I have no problem with OSHA safety railings being built at places to allow the driver to remove said snow. You can even use my tax monies…
The regulation even applied DURING BLIZZARDS to trucks going DOWN THE ROADS. So say an OTR truck was going down the Road and hit a Blizzard he could be FINED for having SNOW on his roof before he was able to REMOVE it at an APPROVED removal Station. The Fine is 2500 Bucks. The cost to the OTR Industry to comply in Workmans Compensation was estimated at 10 BILLION Dollars in FALLS from the Roofs of the Trailers if they tried to comply with out Saftey Railings since the State refused to Build any removal Stations. Even the Insurance Compaines came out Against this one. BTW who or What would keep the Snow removal Stations Clear of all the Snow or Ice Build up from the Trailers that would be using them. Yes I had a few times when snow flew off my trailers I pulled however called there is a Federal Regualtion that states Drivers will make a Resonable Attempt to keep Trailers Clear of Snow in Inclement Weather going up on a Roof with a Broom to satisfy some Idiot at the State Level is NOT a Resonable request.
BTW if they suceeded on OTR trucks they could do the Same thing to the RR’s think about all the Snow that builds up on Boxcars Hoppers and Containers NJ could require them to be Cleared before moving at all times also. The worst Regs are the ones that are written as a Knee Jerk reaction to something some Idiot Sees on the News.
ed said [ in part]:
“…Drivers will make a Resonable Attempt to keep Trailers Clear of Snow in Inclement Weather going up on a Roof with a Broom to satisfy some Idiot at the State Level is NOT a Resonable request…”
[:-,] I had been told that was the reason in the NE[sigh] (Conn/NY/etc.)[sigh] there were so man 13’7" bridges…[:-,]