KEN'S KORNER - OCTOBER 2007

THE REAL HOS PROBLEM
BY AUTHOR, EDUCATOR & DRIVER KEN SKAGGS

For over sixty years the hours-of-service (HOS) rules remained the same, then they changed them. Then they changed them again. Now, they are trying to change them yet again, but none of the changes have fixed the problems. In my opinion, they still haven’t even looked at the real problem.

The problem is that drivers get paid by the mile but have to log it by the hour. It’s as if they are picking apples, but have to keep their records about oranges. When a driver gets paid by the hour he doesn’t have a problem. Only the drivers who get paid by the mile have a problem with HOS. And they always will, until they start getting paid by the hour, or by the day, or the week.

The Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association (OOIDA) is leading the fight for realistic nap periods, splitting sleeper berth time and separating the 14-hour driving day. The ATA seems to be more concerned about the effect on the trucking companies’ ability to adjust to any changes. Clearly, OOIDA represents owner-operators and drivers in general, while the ATA seems to represent trucking companies. Both organizations bring up good points and argue in the name of safety, but neither one is addressing the real problem, just the symptoms (drivers needing naps and trucking companies’ ridiculous paperwork jungle). But again, the real problem, as I see it, is the fact that most drivers get paid by the mile but have to log by the hour. This situation causes a lot of drivers to lie on their logs and lose sleep, and creates an unsafe and unhealthy environment.

The no-nap rule (the original HOS change), which only changed the number of hours from 10 driving and 8 sleeper berth, to 11 driving and 10 sleeper berth, wasn’t really a major problem. It was the next change that took everybody by surprise when they announced the new driving time/sleeper berth splitting rule. It became mandatory to take a minimum 8-hour break when splitting sleeper berth time in order to extend the 11-hour driving time (or 14-hour driving day). This law has forced more drivers to keep driving when they really wanted to take a nap (hence the no-nap rule, as I like to call it). I can’t count the number of times I wanted to stop for an hour or two but had to press on because I didn’t want to exhaust my 14-hour driving day.

And it is an even bigger problem for teams, who should be able to rest any time they want since they have a driving partner and can easily keep it moving. OOIDA understands this aspect and, to give credit where it is due, is fighting for a more realistic sleeper berth splitting procedure. But, unfortunately, any time you are dealing with the federal government and have studies to back up any assumptions, it will take a lot of time and money to get anywhere. Common sense has no place in the courtroom today. If you want anything to happen now, you’ll need to get through miles of red tape and a pile of paperwork.

In all fairness, all of these HOS changes are directly related to drivers complaining about wasted time at shippers, and trucking companies expecting these drivers to drive the maximum time allowed after they get loaded. Drivers are spending a lot of time in places where they don’t get paid. And, in an effort to maximize their pay, many of them are cheating on their logs and losing much-needed sleep. It’s a gut-wrenching feeling for a driver when unforeseen delays like traffic, communications, shippers and receivers cause him to lose more and more time (and money) as the week progresses. By the time the end of the pay-period comes, his picture of a good paycheck looks more like he’ll be lucky if he can pay his cellular phone bill.

All of this undue stress is unsafe, not to mention unhealthy. It causes drivers to skip meals and eat on the run. Some drivers lose weight while driving because they feel they don’t have time to eat while others gain weight while driving because they eat on the run. Many drivers feel they don’t have time to exercise, let alone sleep. Paying drivers by the hour would eliminate all the stress associated with always being in a hurry. Plus, the roads would be safer for everybody if truckers were less stressed.

In summary, I would like to suggest that OOIDA and the ATA address the real problem and fight for hourly pay for drivers (and an hourly rate for shipping, receiving and transit). I am not too concerned about the amount of hourly pay at this point, just the fact that hourly should be the way (then let the market define the amount on it’s own). If all drivers were paid by the hour, there would never be any cheating on logs, drivers would get the rest they needed, and trucking companies wouldn’t have to push their drivers so hard. Being paid by the hour, drivers wouldn’t mind waiting at shippers or receivers - or even traffic jams!

Of course trucking companies would have to change the way they bill their customers (they would have to charge them by the hour, too) and HHMG and Rand McNally would have to change their “shortest route” directions to reflect realistic drive times. And shippers would have to pay for any time a driver spends at their location. And ten miles in L.A. on a Friday afternoon shouldn’t pay the same as ten miles in Arizona on a Sunday morning. And two hours standing on a dock should pay the same as two hours of driving. After all, time is the real issue here, not miles. Drivers deserve to be compensated for their time, and they deserve to get the rest they need - and not just on paper!

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