No FMCSA Top Administrators Ever Held A CDL!

I'd eliminate it altogether. It forces a driver to squeeze everything into that 14 hour window. Checking in, waiting, loading, driving, lunch/ bathroom breaks, unloading, etc all have to be completed in that window. Granted, in the right circumstances that can be done without a problem. But with the constantly changing schedule drivers face, drowsiness will inevitably occur. But the driver can't afford to pull over for a quick nap, because that 14 hour clock never stops ticking. Before the 14 hour rule was in place, a driver could take that nap and continue driving as long as he/she still got a combined 10 hour break in that 24 hour day.

In a nutshell, 214 hour rule forses a driver to drive tired if they want to be productive.

To correct and clarify myself, all driving must be completed in the 14 hour window. That can be inherently dangerous if you're tired.

Great stuff guys!

Brett - I totally get it. Just want to mention that every now and then a professional (investigative) journalist - not just looking for a headline or a sound bite - does actually seek out the whole story (AKA the truth). Perhaps one or two of them will find their way here!

As for the 14-hour rule... just wondering if anyone here thinks that is something a professional driver-turned-administrator would have come up with - or ever agreed to?!? Especially in this era of ELD's...

I'd eliminate it altogether

I agree. It needs to go. I can literally remember the very first time I heard about it I thought it was a joke. Then I figured they would reverse that decision quickly because it was obviously super dangerous and made no sense whatsoever. Here we are all these years later and somehow that abysmal rule still lives on. It's shocking to me, to be honest. It's like all of the thousands of studies that have been done over the course of a century about worker safety and productivity after prolonged periods of work without an extended break were thrown out the window.

Do they really think it's reasonable that someone should start their work clock and have to go, go, go for the next 14 hours? Who does that all the time??? There's no flexibility with that rule in place. It makes no sense whatsoever.

If it was my call, I’d like to see both the unstoppable 14 hour clock AND the 70 hour, 8 day week both go away. Maybe have it where a driver can have “X” available hours each 24 hour day, from 0001 to 2400, to use each and every day for being On Duty and/or Driving. The 30 minute break would also go away, too. Wouldn’t it be nice to drive 10 to 11 hours a day, every single day, and still have the flexibility to stop for bad weather, traffic at rush hour, fatigue, etc., and your clock would also stop, too?

My Cardiologist never had a heart attack and my wife's oncologist never had cancer.

Is that not the same thing? OK, fine. How about: The president has never worked a blue collar job or held a political office before.

Many college professors never worked in their field of expertise.

United States Secretary of Education has never been an educator before.

This practice is not uncommon and doesn't automatically mean they don't know what they are doing.

That being said... I'm on board with having more people in leadership positions that have some life experience in the the trenches.

If I had to complain about something it would be the 14 hour rule.

That would absolutely be #1 on my list. If I could only change one thing about that industry, that really would be it.

I think the whole room just "2nd'd" the motion. I'm OK with limiting the amount of hours driven in a single day, but drivers need to be able to stop that damn clock when they are sitting - especially at Shippers/Receivers. OR - Keep the 14 hour clock, but pay drivers like they are covering 60 Miles per hour.

Great stuff guys!

Brett - I totally get it. Just want to mention that every now and then a professional (investigative) journalist - not just looking for a headline or a sound bite - does actually seek out the whole story (AKA the truth). Perhaps one or two of them will find their way here!

As for the 14-hour rule... just wondering if anyone here thinks that is something a professional driver-turned-administrator would have come up with - or ever agreed to?!? Especially in this era of ELD's...

They agreed to it, because on paper, it looks like it will protect the soccer mom in her mini-van full of kids from getting hit by a truck driver who has been awake for 24 hours without ever getting more than a couple of hours of sleep.

But paper vs practicality ended up being different.

I stopped my 14 hour clock. I did it with my 14 lb sledgehammer