Do you find the quality of truck drivers on the road to be decreasing?

[Tazz]

ELD = Electronic Logging Device

The changes in the industry, such as mandatory use of ELDs that typifies increased regulation is more than many can tolerate. Trucking is becoming vastly different than it was 20 years ago.

It does not increase any regulation. The HOS is exactly the same regardless of what method of reporting is used. ELD or Elogs is just the latest excuse for drivers to .

 

[ironpony]

It does not increase any regulation. The HOS is exactly the same regardless of what method of reporting is used. ELD or Elogs is just the latest excuse for drivers to View attachment 35378.

So sez the WallyWorld company driver. You must comply with company policies and regulations, including submitting to the electronic supervision of an ELD system and GPS tracking, and being required to work under the whims of a supervisor. Your O/O brethren came to the industry as owner operators precisely to avoid this situation.

None of this is meant to denigrate your choice. If it works for you, bravo! The fact that your choices work for you does not mean they will work for others, nor does it mean that their choice of independence is any less worthwhile. That choice of independence is typified by a lack of supervision by others whether by individuals or devices. The ELD mandate directly contravenes this choice by many - although as you rightly point out ELDs only are a method of reporting compliance to the letter of the HOS regulation.

While this may be of little import to you in light of your choices, it may resemble carrying around an 800-pound gorilla on ones back to others.

 

[Getfit Tommy]

I've only been in this business a little over a year...What is an "ELD"? And why would owner/operators walk away?

You can always Google it, but I'll go ahead and save you the trouble. It's an Electronic Logging Device... like I said in my post, an ex-con on parole might have to wear a tracking bracelet while he is on parole, but we are professional drivers who have taken responsibility for when we stop, sleep, drive, bathroom, shower, etc., etc.,

Now, all of a sudden, those of us that have been Lone Rangers without having our hands held for the last 40 years are going to be tracked like criminals, told what to do and WHEN to do it.. and we are expected to accept having our privacy invaded, and enjoy being reprimanded for it.

There is a certain inconspicuity that goes with a lone trucker, whether it be a drop visor or whatnot. We like our privacy. We have certain hours we prefer to drive. We know our limitations.

Now we are going to be told by a computer device how we should act....and how we should drive.... and these things are not being manufactured by truckers for truckers. They are being manufactured by people that know absolutely NOTHING of the trucking industry.


Some people say that complying with the device will be as easy as just staying in your seat for eleven hours. But what if that isn't the way we operate? If we still get our loads there on time and in one piece (you know what I mean) who should/would care how we do it? Granted we shouldnt be staying awake for days and running for days at a time, but this is why i mention "responsiblity"...it's being given over to an electronic device and it will be tracked, LOOOONG after the fact even.

Its not right, its not fair to us, we should have a choice. Who should be mandating things to truckers besides other truckers who have done their time? Surely not a civilian who pushes pencils all day and has no clue how to be a Guardian of the Highway... let alone stay awake all night for that load that HAS TO BE THERE by morning.

It's all contradictory bullshit and its just more government control and bureacracy B.S.... it's too much for us right now. We need more acceptance and appreciation or at least 'realization' for what it is we do out here. We don't need any more laws or reprimands, fines, or condescension.

 

[Getfit Tommy]

It does not increase any regulation. The HOS is exactly the same regardless of what method of reporting is used. ELD or Elogs is just the latest excuse for drivers to View attachment 35378.

BULLSHIT!

It changes the game, and if you don't see it, you havent been out here long enough to know it.


We don't need excuses to cry.. and for you to say so just shows the same mentality I explained in my previous post.

I need to hustle to make money. No wasted time, but I dont need to be told how to do it. I never have before. Why now? With one law or regulation or tracking device follows another. This is also part of the problem. Something else will follow.


Need to cry. You are really something, ya know?


There are plenty of reasons to cry in this industry.... this is a legit reason to take issue.

 

[Electric Chicken]

So sez the WallyWorld company driver. You must comply with company policies and regulations, including submitting to the electronic supervision of an ELD system and GPS tracking, and being required to work under the whims of a supervisor. Your O/O brethren came to the industry as owner operators precisely to avoid this situation.

None of this is meant to denigrate your choice. If it works for you, bravo! The fact that your choices work for you does not mean they will work for others, nor does it mean that their choice of independence is any less worthwhile. That choice of independence is typified by a lack of supervision by others whether by individuals or devices. The ELD mandate directly contravenes this choice by many - although as you rightly point out ELDs only are a method of reporting compliance to the letter of the HOS regulation.

While this may be of little import to you in light of your choices, it may resemble carrying around an 800-pound gorilla on ones back to others.

All ELDs do is ensure you're running legal.

The rules are the same.

If you can't run an ELD, it only proves that your paper logs are fudged.

I run an ELD and it's easier to keep track of my time, and dispatch has enough on their plate that they don't bother me without a good reason.

 

[Tazz]

It is a simple as this.

There are rules you agree to follow by requesting your authority. Oh you could make up some fantasy in your head about freedom, and independence. That does not change the fact your still subject to the exact same rules and laws as any driver out here, and you answer to the customers you serve.

I will be the first to tell you this is not a lifestyle, or some insipid Kris Kristofferson movie. It is a job. None of you are out here for free, you all charge so spare me the lifestyle or real driver speech.

My point was that as usual people use an excuse about why they are going to quit. New drivers don't respect me, insurance to high, DOT out to get me, ELOGS make it harder to cheat, not fun anymore.........

I could care less. Most are not happy unless they are whining about something. Main reason they put the sob counters in at a truck stop. Misery loves company.

 

[Duck]

Translation: embrace big government or you're a "whiner".

 

[Tazz]

I have some truly troubling news for you. The government quite correctly funds, builds, maintains, and regulates the use of our highways.

Now I would prefer private roads not owned by the government, but then most start whining about cost, regulation, access.....just like they do now.

It is not about big government. Those are programs like food stamps, medicaid, student loans, corporate welfare, land grant universities. ....... It has nothing to do with using public roads, and following the laws and regs governing them. Feel free to not use the roads anytime you wish to not be subject to them.


Give me a better option for having highways and I am all ears.

 

[Getfit Tommy]

There are some seriously delusional tree-hugging idiots answering this question... and I am most certainly NOT one of them. WTF moron would think that an ELD would NOT change the game? Would not change the way you do things?

Youre gonna sit longer without stopping.... this has nothing to do with "fudging" it has to do with government controlling a huge money-making industry. You guys answering these questions the way you are answering have obviously NOT become accustomed to your freedom, don't like your freedom, and enjoy being told what and when to do whatever it is you do. You need babysitters and are proud to admit it.

This thread needs to go away. it is infuriating. I meet you idiots at a loading dock listening to you babble your bullshit while im trying to hustle and get down the road while you cant wait to go sit somewhere and watch your big screen or hang out in the truckstops.


Two different worlds of drivers......I am not saying I am one hundred percent right or you are one hundred percent wrong but I am saying you are one hundred percent gullible and naive.

 

[Tazz]

Nope saying you should already be in compliance because your phone records, browsing history, fuel stops, bills of lading, weigh station passes, and a million other things already have the evidence to convict you in a court of law if your dirty and in an accident. That if you are out of compliance you have no material testimony to give in a court of law. Any half assed lawyer will make anything you say suspect because he can prove you lie for a living running on falsified logs. Or to put it in lawyer speak "He clearly shows a reckless disregard for safety in pursuit of padding his profits, and regularly falsifies signed documentation of his crimes. Now ladies and gentlemen of the jury why should we not suspect he is lying now to protect his wallet?"

As I said you are done testifying because your lawyer will not put you on the stand.

That you and everyone else has had the opportunity to speak on HOS and whether you like them or not they are a condition of operating a commercial motor vehicle on public roads.

So yeah there should be no change in how you run.

The way your explaining hustling sounds more like falsifying for profit. I make, have made, and will continue to make good wages in the industry running legal, maybe charge more for your labor and you could as well. I despise video games, and would prefer a good book to any TV show though I do watch them when on break.

No one tells either of us when to use the restroom, or any of the other silly crap being mentioned. Yes I am dispatched on loads, and given the required time frame to do the load. I can then say whether I can safely and legally do it just like any O/O out there. If I say I can do it it is done, if I say I can not they find someone else. That is the extent of my "babysitting".

There are a lot of freedoms out here because we are largely unsupervised. But this illusion that you do what you want when you want simply does not exist. Once you agree to a load your under the same constraints as anyone else for timetables, deliveries, HOS compliance etc etc.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Electronic logs are to paper logs as email is to a hand written letter.

 

[Duck]

Give me a better option for having highways and I am all ears.

I got an idea. How about:

The government quite correctly funds, builds, maintains, and regulates the use of our highways.

... but doesn't require tracking devices to use them.

It's been working that way for years.

 

[Duck]

You guys answering these questions the way you are answering have obviously NOT become accustomed to your freedom, don't like your freedom, and enjoy being told what and when to do whatever it is you do. You need babysitters and are proud to admit it

This is what e-log lovers look like to sane people:

 

[Tazz]

You have not been in the industry when HOS was not required, none of you. They do not require tracking devices to use them, and elogs are not a tracking device. There is no real time ability and no one gives enough of a crap to want to fund any real time monitoring of HOS compliance. It is simply an adjustment to a more modern technology.

 

[Duck]

You have not been in the industry when HOS was not required, none of you. They do not require tracking devices to use them, and elogs are not a tracking device. There is no real time ability and no one gives enough of a crap to want to fund any real time monitoring of HOS compliance. It is simply an adjustment to a more modern technology.

Saying it's not a tracking device doesn't change the fact it's a tracking device.


It's a tracking device intended to rat you out the minute you break the law.

It's "big brother is watching you". Nothing less.

And no, the government doesn't pay for the roads. We do. Government just writes the checks.

 

[Duck]

And this is what people who do not understand reality look like to those that do

Dont worry man he has your back

Yeah anyone who disagrees with Tazz's fucked up delusional world views is gay.

 

[Tazz]

Saying it's not a tracking device doesn't change the fact it's a tracking device.


It's a tracking device intended to rat you out the minute you break the law.

It's "big brother is watching you". Nothing less.

And no, the government doesn't pay for the roads. We do. Government just writes the checks.

It calls the police and notifies them? No it does not, it simply records your change of duty and location of that change. Just like should already be on you RODS. It is an advancement in technology, nothing more or less.

Yes we use the government to write the checks, and the laws. You people act like it is not regular people who advocate this. Good grief do you people even notice all the hearings, comment periods, congressional reports, crash reports presented every time the goobers at OOIDA, PATT, CRASH, ATA, IBT file yet another insipid lawsuit? For cripes sake they even have paid advisory councils with members of those organizations collecting a paycheck to design these regs and laws.

You puck nuts think it is some mysterious couple writing this up in the wee hours of the morning or something. This has been coming fopr a decade, if you can not adapt McD's needs a burger flipper I am sure.

 

[Tazz]

Yeah anyone who disagrees with Tazz's ****ed up delusional world views is gay.

Just as factual as your ignorance. Don't like Government interference don't use public (government) roads. It is not about sheep, it is about rule of law.

 

[Electric Chicken]

Elog haters talk about hustle but with elogs I can hustle more because the driving and on duty/not driving are automatically toggled for me. I can be in and out a lot faster and I'm never sitting parked to draw lines.

 

[Tazz]

Elog haters talk about hustle but with elogs I can hustle more because the driving and on duty/not driving are automatically toggled for me. I can be in and out a lot faster and I'm never sitting parked to draw lines.

They do not draw lines either. Which is how we ended up with elogs