Un-slaving The 14 Hour Rule
'"The road to hell is covered with good intentions"
The idea of the 14 hour rule was to ensure drivers do not overwork themselves. Those who thought of the rule had the best intentions to protect drivers and to ensure the safety of truckers and everyone around them. As with many other things the idea sounds better than it actually functions. The biggest problem of the rule is that the people who created and implemented it probably have never been truck drivers, have never operated a big rig and have never been away from home for weeks enclosed in a truck away from their families.
For drivers the rule was hell back when it was enforced for the first time and it is hell now. So, what exactly is the issue? Back in the day truckers could split their sleeper brakes and were not limited by maximum working hours. After the 14 hour rule was adopted truckers were limited to a 14 hour work day that includes driving. As a result once the driver interrupts his 10 hour break he has 14 hours to make money. Chances are that the driver may not even be able to drive that day due to delays at shippers, receivers, mechanical issues, etc. Once the 14 hours are up the driver can't drive any more.
Is it safe to operate for more than 14 hours? It depends on the scenario. If the driver drove and worked non-stop for 14 hours, the answer is absolutely not. But there is the other scenario in which majority of drivers suffer on a daily basis. So, the driver wakes up at 8 AM. He finishes his pre-trip inspection by 8:30 and starts driving towards his delivery. An hour later he is at the receiver. The receiver tells the driver to drop the trailer and that he will be called once the unloading is done. For the next 4 hours the driver eats, lies down in his sleeper, takes a nap, relaxes and is well rested once the receiver calls him to come and pick up his trailer. It is already 1:30 PM. The driver still doesn't have another load and decides to go to a truck stop and wait there. The truck stop is 15 minutes away. The driver waits for 45 minutes while having his lunch. Then he gets the information for his next load. That load is 1.5 hours away. The driver arrives at the shipper at 4:00 PM. The loading takes another 3 hours in which the driver falls asleep again or takes rest in the sleeper. At 7:00 PM the driver can finally start driving again and now he realizes he only has 3 hours left to drive because his 14 hours will be over at 10:00 PM. What is the recap of the story. The driver works in theory for 14 hours out of which he naps, eats, sleeps for 7.75 hours, works for 30 minutes and drives only 5.75 hours. The driver only drove 350 miles and took in his pocket about $160.00 if his boss would pay decently.
There is another issue with the 14 hour rule, which defeats the purpose of the rule. Instead of providing drivers with decent amount of rest, truckers actually have to suppress their bladders, listen to the symphony coming from their empty stomach, and enjoy the taste of bad quality coffee to keep them in shape, because they only have 14 hours in which they can fit their driving. There are situations when drivers can't afford to pull over more than once in 8 hours because of prior delays that result in limited operational time. Guess what: this is the recipe for disaster. The driver is annoyed to say the least, brokers and receivers are concerned, because if the driver decides to use the bathroom he may shut down 15 minutes away from delivery and stay there for 10 hours. The driver pushes himself to the limit to do his job because he only has 14 hours to do it. As a result he is at risk of making costly mistakes due to the added stress. And guess what not: it is not the shipper, or the broker, or the receiver, or the carrier that pushes the driver to drive (even though history has shown it may happen). The driver himself knows that if he does not deliver the load on time, he will wait at that receiver for the next two days, because of a missed appointment. The result - no money for two days. So the driver actually harasses himself in his attempt to provide income to his family. The 14 hour rule's main purpose is to regulate and control drivers not to overwork themselves in the worst possible way - by making the drivers work harder because they have limited time to work. Imagine if you are stylist. In option one you can take your time and fix the hair of your client as they want it to. Client is happy. In the second scenario your shift is over and your client has only half of their hair done and has to wait for 10 hours until you are legally allowed to start working again. Of course the risk of error from a fatigued stylist is not as concerning as the one from a fatigued driver, but you get my point. Something more risky: lets say you are a doctor. In the middle of an open heart surgery you are required to walk away and take a 10 hour break. Lets hope there is another doctor to take over. There is an open discussion about long hours and doctors' errors, which I will not discuss here, but I would probably choose a fatigued doctor than no doctor at all.
With all said so far I am not saying that drivers should be allowed to drive non-stop and risk their lives and the lives of people around them. All I am saying is that drivers need to be able to drive certain amount of miles for certain number of hours without paying the price for delays due dealing with lazy and slow forklift operator, overbooked repair shop, or an accident on the road that stops the traffic for hours. Drivers must be allowed to accumulate their rest time and add it to their breaks and expand the lifespan of their working day. From the example above the driver worked for 14 hours and slept, ate, etc. for almost 8 hours of that day. The driver actually did not work for more than 6.25 hours. Wouldn't it be fair and nice if that driver was allowed to use the time in the sleeper towards his actual working time? Enough with the dreaming. The Good news is that even the limiting 14 hour rule gives drivers a beautiful option. Problem is that it is so complicated that majority of drivers do not know how to use it and as a result drivers make little to no money. I will not go into much details of how the sleeper berth provision works here. Check my other post about HOS and you will learn how to use it.
So from the example above what could have the driver done differently? As I advise my drivers if you sit a lot somewhere just take a bit longer break. Eight consecutive hours in the sleeper do not count in the 14 hour rule. With that said if the driver stayed at the receiver for four more hours in the sleeper, he wouldn't have to pull over at 10 PM but rather at 6 AM. This way the driver would be able to use his full 11 hours allowed for driving. Keep in mind that in this scenario the driver wouldn't be able to arrive at the shipper before 7 PM and as a result he may not be able to pick up the next load. I recommend taking a longer break at the shipper instead, as this way the driver will not miss anything.
