Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

It seems that Dart Transit is making an attempt at bringing reality into the Hours of Service Debate. Not complete reality, mind you, but more realism than has been considered to date. eTrucker has reported, in an article published yesterday, that

“Dart Transit Co. wants a two-year exemption from two provisions of the hours-of-service regulations so that 200 of its owner-operators can operate under a fatigue risk management system that encourages quality nighttime sleep and uses electronic onboard recorders (EOBRs) to monitor drivers’ rest schedules.”

The two provisions in question are the 14 hour clock and split-rest limitations; all other HOS provisions will apply. The goal here is to place the specified 200 drivers into a scientifically valid test in real world conditions. The on-board recorders will be used to ensure that the truck isn’t moving for at least six straight hours between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. (meaning, presumably, that the driver is sleeping and not playing some silly video game). The idea is to provide night-time sleep while, at the same time, affording drivers a little more flexibility in choosing when and how they manage to get in their full ten hours of rest during any 24 hour period.

They’ll also, according to the article, use

“…software from Circadian Technologies to analyze driver fatigue risk on a daily basis. Exempt drivers and their fleet managers would get these scores, along with instructions on how to improve them, such as temporary reductions in workload.”

Dart applied for the exemption in June and the FMCSA published a notice of the exemption request, seeking comments, on Monday; the comment period closes on December 26. If the exemption is granted, Dart will begin taking applications and providing health screening from and for O/Os seeking the opportunity to participate in the study. The health screening is being done to eliminate anyone from the study who might have an undiagnosed sleep disorder.

On the face of it, this study would seem to go a long way toward bringing scientifically backed, and reality based, evidence into the HOS debate - rather than the unending litany of bias-ridden statistics. But do I think this’ll be groundbreaking or earth-shattering? Nope, but the proposed study, as well as its method and practice, is rife with interesting implications….

I don’t know why it’s not all over the internet, but it’s not. It hasn’t shown up on Drudge nor on Google News. Those two places are where I get most of my news.

It seems that a gas well near the interstate blew it’s top. I’d expect that to be all over the media. The media hates the oil and gas industries and loves to embarrass them. I can’t figure why they’re passing up this chance.

At any rate. As of Sunday evening it’s still closed.
The shutdown section of I-10 between Lafayette and Baton Rouge is not expected to re-open until December 4th.

Alternate Routes

I almost had a load going to Southern California so I spent a little time finding out exactly where the fires are. I should have known Google Maps would have the answer.

I5 was completely closed by the border and weigh check station while officials set backfires.

Another list of road closures here.

A Google map of the fire locations:

View Larger Map
Click on View Larger Map and click on each fire for information after zooming in.

This map lists all the fires plus evacuation centers. HERE.

State of Emergency After 29-Vehicle Pileup Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County today after a freeway pile-up blazed for hours, killed at least three people and shut down a major traffic artery.

This is a very busy piece of interstate no matter what time of day or night. As your going into the tunnel, it curves and banks a little as your exiting. The exact cause is still under investigation. Other reports mentioned two of the big rigs bumped each other coming out of the tunnel.

The road was reported as wet and with Friday night traffic, what a disaster with 29 vehicles, 6 big rigs (only six on a truck bypass route?), three dead including an infant.

Tentative plans say it will be open Tuesday morning, but I’m sure that’s pending any Structural Engineer reports. This report mentioned that bits of concrete were exploding in the 1400 degree fire.

UPDATE: CNN reports 28 commercial vehicles and one passenger car, which makes more sense. The same report from CNN also has a link to a video of the fire.

It’s been a slow news week for trucking -

Even the Mexican Truck issue has died down to a trickle and usually the same headlines over and over.

Hours of Service is out of the news till the changes at the end of the year. This mentions how the ATA doesn’t think the court will overturn the 11 hour driving and 34 hour reset rules. If they don’t Public Citizen is ready to take it back to the court. I’m not thrilled about driving 11 hours, but the 34 hour reset is a great idea. Why should how much I worked 7 or 8 days ago have to do with how much I work today? If I’m going to be away from home, I’d rather work than sitting around a truck stop.

Enforcement is up in Tennessee. I could go into how bad four-wheelers drive and cause most of the wrecks, but I’ve seen too many idiot truck drivers in a hurry and being stupid.

Keep it at 55 in Illinois, the measure to bump up the truck speed limit to 65 was vetoed by the Governor and not enough votes to override it.

Keep your pants on while driving. Don’t be like this idiot and get caught with your pants down, literally!

The economy is still on a downward slide.

No relief for fuel prices seen any time soon. We’ve survived high fuel prices the last couple of years, but at least the freight was there to cover it.

Why I don’t haul a flatbed!

This little item just came across my news feed followed by a notice from Melissa at FMCSA, and boys and girls, they done slipped one past us!

FMCSA to Initiate Real-Time Tracking for Mexican and U.S. Trucks Participating in the Cross-Border Trucking Demonstration Project
Tracking system would monitor hours of service, cabotage and vehicle position

Ya’ll know what this means don’t you? They kill two or three canaries with one stone.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you saw this headline, where would you assume the article originated?

Bandits an ‘epidemic’ for truckers
“It’s become quite a problem. The biggest problem is when drivers are running up and down the road they’re talking on the CB, saying what they’re hauling. “They’re talking when they shouldn’t be talking.”

This is taught during the first day of trucking school. It’s tough when someone sounds friendly and it’s only a part of a bigger conversation to come up with something that sounds innocent or maybe they’re trying to impress everyone with how important they are. If someone is asking too many specific questions, like who the customer is, what warehouse, things like that, drivers should know better.

But the violence has escalated recently as bandits target drivers in Southern Ontario; and the stakes are high, with some trucks hauling $10 million in cargo.

Read the rest of this entry »

Leaving his terminal in Monterrey Mexico shortly before 6 pm Friday, Luis Gonzalez headed north, unsure what awaited him as he became the first Mexican driver to participate in the Demonstration program.

Arriving at the border about 10 pm, he was met by officials of the Texas DPS and FMCSA, which because of the occasion, took Gonzalez and his rig to the head of the line for a thorough inspection lasting almost 2 hours.

The one thing Gonzalez did not care for were all the cameras and questions awaiting him. He shuns the celebrity as most Mexican drivers would.

Read the rest of this entry »

But who? Which group of “Glory Hounds” is it?
The Teamster’s are taking credit, obviously

OOIDA, on their afternoon propaganda spot Landline Now on XM 171 said, “OOIDA intends to put a stop to the program now” and refers to the Teamster’s as an afterthought. Only saying they were notified of the intent by FMCSA yesterday.

The Houston Chronicle is reporting the story and reactions from various persons and Agencies and soon, the kooks and crackpots will begin leaving their comments on an issue they know nothing about on that website.

Read the rest of this entry »

Does Congress not watch the news? All their rhetoric about pork spending and now this from CNN -

“There’s a war going on against energy from fossil fuels,” said Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas. “I can’t understand the pure venom felt against the oil and gas industry.”

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said the bill was “a political exercise” to promote “pet projects, … pet ideas.” He predicted it “isn’t going anywhere” because President Bush will veto it if it gets to his desk.

Exactly like our failing infrastructure being ignored for pork pet projects, now our oil infrastructure is on the same path. Instead of drilling more domestic oil or spending money on coal to oil, they are working on something else that makes them look “green” instead of fixing the problem.

Read the rest of this entry »