Because of the public’s very limited understanding of truck drivers and the trucking industry, along with the obsession in Congress over getting re-elected, 98% of the focus of debate regarding the trucking industry revolves around logbook rules and grandstanding about making the highways safer. Congress, along with many trucking industry insiders, are claiming victory regarding the effectiveness of the new logbook rules that came out several years ago. I disagree with the conclusion that it’s the new logbook rules that have made things safer on the highways and I’ll explain why. Let’s take a closer look at some of the myths out there and bring to light some important facts that paint a much different picture of what’s really going on, and where we should go from here.

Get Those Sleepy Drivers Off The Road

Getting sleepy truck drivers off the road is always the focus of national trucking debates. It’s so overplayed it’s ridiculous. It’s like the group Boston – if you listen to the radio, you’d think the only song they ever wrote was “More Than A Feeling”. I love the group, and I feel they have at least twenty songs I like much better. Well I drove for many years with the old logbook rules and more recently with the newer ones and I feel the older ones were actually safer. Why? Mainly because they permitted flexibility with the sleeper berth rules, allowing you to take naps during the day and still get your miles in safely and legally. The new rules make your day a 14 hour marathon without regard to your schedule or sleeping preferences. But the highways are getting safer according to crash statistics. So what gives?

Tighter Enforcement Making Highways Safer

That’s right, the logbook rules are being enforced far more effectively now than in the past. The combination of using Qualcomm’s GPS tracking as an enforcement measure, the increased use of electronic logbooks, and more truck inspections out on the highways have made it much, much harder to cheat the system nowadays than it was in the past. And I would know, I was pretty much a “cowboy” back in the day. I was always very safe, with 1.5 million safe miles under my belt, but logbook rules – well, I really didn’t care much about that. I mostly wrote down whatever I felt like writing down and drove when I felt I could safely drive. In fact, almost all of us did.

If you were sitting down in a truck stop or at the docks and heard a driver talking about the hours they had available to drive, you knew they had to be a rookie. Nobody else really cared about that. Only rookies hadn’t figured out that you make up your day however you see fit and write down whatever looks good in the book. You ran hard when the miles were available, and wrote down in the logbook whatever would get you by. Well, not everybody has the judgement necessary to govern themselves, and this practice lead to a lot of accidents.

Better Safety Statistics In Recent Years

Fast forward to today and you’ll find that it’s incredibly difficult to cheat the current system and far fewer drivers are doing so. That, my friends, is why the safety statistics are showing steady improvement, not because the logbook rules are better rules. I love the 34 hour reset I must say, but the 14 hour rule needs to go in the garbage. I feel it’s more dangerous to force somebody to work for 14 straight hours every day than it is to let them work the schedule that suits them safely each day. Some days you really just need a nap for an hour or two and you’re feeling great! In fact, I felt that way most days – I love me a nap! But the new laws make this a difficult thing to do anymore – you just don’t have the time.

Brenda Neville, President of the Iowa Motor Truck Association (IMTA), an ATA affiliate, spoke recently to a panel at an FMCSA listening session and said:

“The truck-involved fatality rate has reached an all-time low under the current Hours of Services rules. These are good rules that allow drivers to gain quality rest.” – Brenda Neville, President of the Iowa Motor Truck Association

Neville asked FMCSA to enhance the rules by adding flexibility to the sleeper berth provision, which would improve motor carrier safety and promote overall driver health by encouraging naps, shorter continuous driving periods and a more natural sleep approach:

“Greater flexibility would also help reduce highway congestion and promote operational flexibility. These important factors would have a positive impact beyond just the trucking industry.” – Brenda Neville, President of the Iowa Motor Truck Association

The Most Recent Federal Safety Statistics

The most recent figures from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) indicate that:

• The truck-involved fatality rate in 2008 declined 12.3 percent to 1.86 per 100 million miles, from 2.12 per 100 million miles in 2007. This decline marks the largest year-to-year drop ever and the fifth consecutive year the fatality rate has dropped.
• Persons injured in large truck crashes went from 44.4 per 100 million miles to 39.6, an 11 percent reduction.
• Since the new HOS regulations took effect in 2005, the rate of persons injured in large truck crashes has dropped 25 percent and the truck-involved fatality rate has dropped 22 percent.
• The fatality rate is at its lowest since the DOT began keeping those records in 1975 and has dropped 66 percent since that time.

So clearly progress is being made and everyone has to be happy with that. Personally, I feel that combining the old sleeper berth rules with the newer 34 hour reset, while keeping strict enforcement, would be the best path to safety while increasing efficiency within the trucking industry and on our highways at the same time. So I agree with Brenda Neville with regard to the highways being safer now than ever before, but I don’t believe it’s because of the new logbook rules. I believe our highways are safer due to stricter enforcement, in spite of the glaring flaw in the current logbook rules.

Ok, Now You’re In Charge

I just got the ok from the Feds to allow you to rewrite the logbook rules any way you see fit! Ok, that was about as honest as my logbook back in ‘95. But what if you could? Put your best ideas in the comment section below and let’s see what kind of rules we come up with. Here’s mine:

• 70 hour rule stays the same
• 34 hour reset rule stays the same
• 14 hour rule goes in the garbage
• Go back to old rules: 10 hours on, 8 hours off, allowing split sleeper berth – minimum 2 hours in each sleeping period
• Continue allowing DOT to match the Qualcomm GPS with a driver’s logbook
• Enforce the use of electronic logbooks nationwide

So there you have it. Yap, I’ve stepped on my own toes by allowing increased enforcement and electronic logs, but as long as I can take a nap when I want to then all is right with the world from my perspective! Now jot down your rules below!