Comments By Scott B.

Just keep in mind you cannot be truly "homeless." All companies will require that you have a valid permanent address. They have to have somewhere to send the dang company newsletter. Uncle Phil's house in Footer Missouri will work but I can't vouch for what Uncle Phil does with the newsletter.

Cooter, Missouri. Stupid auto-correct.

Just keep in mind you cannot be truly "homeless." All companies will require that you have a valid permanent address. They have to have somewhere to send the dang company newsletter. Uncle Phil's house in Footer Missouri will work but I can't vouch for what Uncle Phil does with the newsletter.

If that guitar youre holding has 4 buttons and is plugged into an Xbox then we are definitely kindred spirits lol. I'm the kinda person who got really confused by truckers saying "deadhead". I thought they were either talking to me directly or generally whining about migrating bands of hippies.

In general, I think elogs and HOS rules are very beneficial to driver health, public safety and the trucking industry as a whole. I do see a couple of flaws and from what I've read, it seems they are in the process of being addressed.

#1: The two 1-5 am rule in a 34 hr restart. This is done in an attempt to reset a truckers circadian rhythms. What's the point? Your CR's will be off when you start the 34 and will be off again within 2 days of completing it. If you're a driver who takes restarts in the road, would it be better to be in a constant battle with your circadian rhythm or just get used to bring off and staying off? Also, this rule forces you to start a 34 at exactly 1900 or you're going to lose time to this silly rule. Being that we so frequently cross time zones, drive all night, sleep during the day at shippers etc. any attempt to regulate circadian rhythm is in vain and detrimental to the goal, preventing fatigued driving.

#2 The 14 hr rule. Let's say I drive the last 100 miles to a receiver. I log 2 hrs in SB then drive 50 miles to a shipper and log 90 mins in SB. Then go 15 miles to another shipper for the rest of a load. They can't load me for 4 more hours so I drive 15 miles and park then go back and get loaded . It takes them 4 hours to get me loaded. I now am unable to drive under 14 hr rule and have done nothing but sleep all day basically. I can't drive because I'm out of hours, I can't sleep because I slept all day and I can't stay where I am because they are about to close and lock the gate. What is one to do? Now if the split sleeper rule was revised so that any period of say 3 or 4 hours on line 2 would pause the 14 hr like 8 hours does then I would be fine. I still think spending 8 consecutive hours in SB should be required in order for it to count as a 10 hr break , you need some uninterrupted sleep but you also need to do it when you haven't just finished sleeping all day, but revising the split sleeper rule could account for some of the really screwed up days like above. As an added bonus, it would keep some whiny trucker videos off of YouTube (you know who I'm talking about).

What do you guys think about current HOS? What are some ways do you think they could improve without sacrificing the goal of safety and fighting fatigued driving?

I've had a couple times where my 14 hr clock ran out while being loaded or unloaded. My company's logging department instructed me to drive to closest t/s and put "safe haven" in the remarks. The logs dept. Doesn't want to see this kinda thing done a whole lot and I definitely wouldn't want to do it more than once in any 8 day period because that's how far DOT will look back.

Asked over the QC if load could be picked up early. Was told by weekend to call Barry. Had no idea who Barry is nor how to call him. Got a # over the QC and called it and was met by gruffness and agitation. Turned out I was instructed to call my load planner on his personal # on his day off. I apologized and said goodbye. About 10 mins later Barry called me back and apologized for his demeanor and explained his frustration with dispatch not answering my questions and pointing me his way. I told him I understood and would never had dialed the number had I known the circumstance. He then told me the load would probably not be picked up one single minute early and that it left a tight time window to get to Mesquite. He then told me that this truck was picked specifically for the load and he was glad he had gotten to speak with me. He actually said "please" when he talked about the load getting there. I replied " you sent me the info on where to get a load and where to take it. I'm gonna do that everytime, Barry. No pleases and sorry's are required. " I'm not sure but I think this is what he wanted to hear. He said the favor would be repaid and mentioned something about "upgrade." I've never been more happier to sit all night in a wal-mart parking lot.

All the above answers are correct. If you make a list of what yo like and don't like about certain companies and compare it against what you desire in a company (a list only you can make ) you will find the answer staring back at you. I know nothing about the London Ohio outfit but I was very disappointed when Roehl denied my application. Seemed like nice company if you don't mind learning to understand Wisconsineese.

I'm not going to implicate myself here but suffice to say doing it 10 times and getting caught once turns out to be profitable. Now if they ever found out about my NRA or JBS memberships that ratio might change to 10/10.

Not sure about your question sir. I've never heard of a 3rd party CDL test. Far as I know they are all administered by the states Public Safety Dept's or divisions thereof.

I have no trolley valve. I sit my kingpin lock on the foot pedal or try to back up to something reflective like a t/s window.