09 rules rules and more rules

Avatar photo
@RayHaight

When I reflect on what has happened legislatively this past year from my own prospective I think the speed limiter law should not have happened, but here it is and we have it. From what I see maybe 50 – 70% of the trucks in Ontario are compliant at this stage. I would have preferred legislation similar to the EOBR (Electronic On Board Recorder) rules that should be out sometime next year from FMCSA. Their final rule will likely do away with paper logs and will also likely measure speed and distance at the scale, just my guess as to the outcome of the rule, but it makes sense to me that it would look like that. When this rule is passed mechanical speed limiters would be redundant to a large degree as we will have to be compliant to the US rules anyway and we in Canada should have perused such a rule on our own as an alternative to a speed limiter rule.
Can’t smoke in a truck if you’re a provincially regulated carrier, give me a break and get out of my truck and go fix something that is broke, what a crock, this one is around the bend, although I have to admit the restriction on smoking in a vehicle with a child under 16 is all right with me. If you an adult and want to smoke just don’t blow it in my face and I’m okay with that, your call, but with all the science that is well known and accepted as fact that none of should smoke, kids don’t have a vote and responsible folks should not lock their kids up in cars that are full of carbon monoxide and nicotine.
A ban on hand held devices while driving, as much as I hate to admit it is probably a good move, I drove professionally for 10 years and did over a million miles with no accidents, I am proud of that, and all the while I was on the CB, difference was I pressed one button to talk, that’s it. Fast forward to today though and I know myself that when I am in my vehicle and I need to make a call, let’s just say I have lost track of my vehicle in my lane from time to time, Not Good. When I am behind a vehicle that is driving erratically and get a chance to look inside while I navigate around the same car two or three times because they speed up and slow down continually, usually they are on the phone. As I reflect on the situation I consider myself to be a very good driver who, other than a couple speed issues, obeys the rules of the road. Some of these other space cadets have no idea what they’re doing behind the wheel of a vehicle let alone try to find, answer or dial a phone while driving, send an email or text. As you know you see it all as a driver, people watching TV reading books and on and on. Truck drivers have a two-three year exemption for CB radios, keep your eyes open for this when the rules effecting CB’s comes down the pipe, who knows what this might look like.
Finally CSA 2010 (Comprehensive Safety Analysis) in the US, if you go to the web site I gave you and read the information provided it really doesn’t look to bad, if they can pull it off as written. If you are a good carrier or a good driver you should be fine with the new process, in fact for those of you who have been prone to suggesting that we need to chase the bottom dwelling scum suckers out of this industry, this could do it.
Under CSA 2010 drivers will have safety ratings just like carriers do now and as part of the screening process this information can be accessed through the FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) data bank, so if a driver has had five jobs in three years and had issues at each carrier it will all be laid out there for the world to see.
This could be a game changer folks, think about what a trial lawyer might do if he sees that a carrier has hired someone with a less than stellar FMCSA safety rating? Carriers who pay less and hire drivers who might work for less because they have a history of problems might be looking for new occupations soon? One can only hope!!!!!!!!!!!
Safe Trucking
rjh

Avatar photo

Mr. Ray Haight has enjoyed a successful career in transportation starting as a company driver and Owner Operator logging over one million accident free miles prior to starting his own company. After stepping down from a successful career managing one of Canada’s 50 largest trucking companies, Ray focused on industry involvement including terms as Chairman of each of the following, the Truckload Carriers Association, Professional Truck Drivers Institute, North American Training and Management Institute and the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities voluntary apprenticeship of Tractor Trailer Commercial Driver, along with many other business interests, he enjoys a successful consulting business, also sitting on various Boards of both industry associations a private motor carriers. He is also Co-Founder of StakUp O/A TCAinGauge an online bench marking service designed to assist trucking companies throughout North America focus on efficiency and profitability within their operations.


Have your say


This is a moderated forum. Comments will no longer be published unless they are accompanied by a first and last name and a verifiable email address. (Today's Trucking will not publish or share the email address.) Profane language and content deemed to be libelous, racist, or threatening in nature will not be published under any circumstances.

*

  • With regards to speed limiters, you originally came out in strong support, I see your thoughts have second’s.
    Hopefully you can apply some “second’s” to the up’n coming EOBR rules as well. But this time, try not to embrace a defeatist, victim or “aw shucks” mentality to your position.
    If industry lobby groups and government legislators insist on babysitting truckers, then North America will end up like Europe (BTW… not a good thing). In preporation for this I suggest trucking companies start calculating what rate per hour drivers and equipment will be paid. As you know, North America almost universally pays by the mile. EOBR’s will eventually change that. If not, sending a driver on a milk run and paying per mile will end up producing less than minimum wage in too many cases. Sending a driver to Texas and laying him over for two days (and not paying him) will be a thing of the past. Initially hourly may sound good for the driver but long term its counter productive (de-motivating).
    I know you see the risks of hourly as well. Therefore, when customers pay by the mile/weight, how many OTA members will lead the way and provide hourly rates to their drivers and equipment? Who’s willing to pick up the productivity risks? I’m assuming NOT OTA members! However, when hourly rates come in they will have little choice! Then again, without the change in pay structure, cost of productivity loss and additional risks will be entirely absorbed by the driver (maybe that’s what OTA members / FMCSA have in mind). Trucking companies will escalate their abuse of their workforce. There will probably be a considerable revolt!
    If EOBR’s are mandated, legislators will succeed in eliminating truly professional drivers while simultaneously sacrificing customer service. Hourly rates do NOT motivate drivers to perform (usually)! Productivity and innovation will be manipulated and eventually eliminated. “Leveling the playing field” dose not mean increasing service, it means legislatively bringing the higher service performers down so that everyone is a moderate performer! It’s a system of “dumbing down” the industry. If that’s the way lobby groups and legislators see the future then North America will be “Europe” in a decade.
    The EOBR push is contrary to the worlds most respected business analysts such as Dr. Edward Demming, who’s fourteen points speak directly against such methods. This move would be REGRESIVE not PROGRESSIVE. It’s a reflection of industry leaders true ignorance, arrogance, narrow mindedness and selfishness.
    Here’s some homework Ray!
    If you don’t read about leadership such as Demming, then watch! Rent the movie “Lean of Me” (Morgan Freeman playing Joe Clark), a movie all leaders should watch at least once a year. What did Joe Clark say about the cages in the cafeteria?

  • Robert, I know Ray doesn’t need me to fight his battles for him, but I just wanted to weigh in with a couple of points.
    On speed limiters, I don’t remember Ray ever endorsing Ontario’s speed limiter legislation. In fact, I’ve seen him speak at numerous events and publicly question the policy.
    As for EOBRs, it’s hard to blame Ray for supporting EOBRs based on his personal experience with MacKinnon Transport. I realize he’s not blogging on behalf of MacKinnon, but it’s worth noting that at the OTA convention the other day Evan MacKinnon said only five drivers left the company when they brought in e-logs. Four of those drivers later applied to return. It’s not just carriers that like EOBRs – most drivers I’ve spoken to like them as well. They don’t have to worry about being bullied by their carrier to bend the rules and they’re more user-friendly than paper logs once you get the hang of them. Most drivers who work for fleets that use e-logs rave about them. There’s a lot to like about electronic logs if you keep an open mind.
    James

  • Thanks James, I appreciate the comments as I was going to ask the gentleman to produce one article or quote where I supported speed limiters, didn’t happen!!!!!!! and to your observation concerning e-logs when you look back on other technologies of the past decade you see similarities to satellite tracking, same thing drivers will rebel, and again we had a couple of owner operators at MacKinnon that quit because big brother would be looking over their shoulder only to return later because the fleet they went to was implementing the same technology. Some fleet are suggesting productivity improvements with e-logs of 1-1.5% which is of course significant in such a thin margin business as trucking and as suggested drivers are beginning to like not having to write every move that they make down on paper, like satellites it they life easier.
    Mr. Crapper seems more interested in taking cheap uninformed shots at me than he is at commenting on issues pertinent to the industry…….
    To Mr. Crapper I say “aw shucks” to your position and I don’t think I will be doing your homework assignment………

  • The opposition to hourly pay is mostly to get free labour out of the driver.I worked for a large teamster union carrier that is hourly paid.With the technology available to day it is pretty easy to figure out who is dogging it.Most of the other bulk haulers in the same type of business areO/O or paid by the load,our guys did the same amount of loads in the same amount of time except we got paid for things beyond our control like shipper or reciever delays which were billed to the shipper.I don’t know if the other carriers billed for this but some drivers got pretty up tight when they got held up so I think it was another case of drivers paying indirectly for rate cuts.
    Pete

  • I agree with Robert D Scheper on EOBRs because I been there.
    The carrier I worked for installed e-logs and said carry on
    but follow the rules. Ok but you always keep in mind how many
    hours you have left to work. So in the past you would hussle to
    to get the load off get empty so you could load the next day.
    If you did not empty you could not get a load till the following day.
    So you some times you ran a little long ( over hrs ) to get empty.
    This was done to ensure you had a full days pay tomorrow.
    Other wise you would just finish off what you did not get done the day
    before 3 or 4 hrs the next day.
    With E-logs if you could see that you cannot get the load off in one
    day like before you slow down and strecth it out.
    Way out to try to show managment this is a bad idea.
    By the way my pay did not fall much at all although there were more
    unwanted layovers the company had to pay for.
    This was a milk (peddle) type run.
    Productivity went way down costs (more layovers more hrs) went up.
    So if thats what you want bring on the E-logs
    meslippery

  • Yes James 4 out of 5 my have returned but look at the state of
    the economy you do what you have to do.
    I do not think you can take from that they wanted to.
    meslippery

  • Blogging is a great place to air views, check and BE checked for accuracies.
    Ray’s statement “…but here it is and we have it…” was a prior quote about speed limiters that included strong support associated with the implementation. It attacked those who opposed it. I relied on my memory that it was one of Ray’s comments. I have searched archives for over four hours but have not found it (either in Ray’s articles/blogg or other articles I re-read). However, I know I read it! After re-reading countless articles and bloggs from many individuals I am personally convinced that the statement “…but here it is and we have it…” was either stated by Ray in a blogg comment (which I have no access to) or by someone else in another article (yet without proof). Therefore, confronted with a lack of evidence and time for research I MUST retract my statement “… you originally came out in strong support..”.
    The “second thoughts” illustration was only there for written “aroma”, now defenseless against an accusation of Crap. I concede.
    However, I still believe Ray Haight embraces a defeatist, victim or “aw shucks” mentality in his stance on speed limiters and legislation such as the EOBR’s. Expressing doubts or “questioning policy” in the face of bull headed special interest groups gets him a “pat on the head, a wink, and a nod” from proponents. To others his weakness and indecisiveness may even reflect reserved complicity.
    Of course Ray is entitled to his opinion on EOBR’s but I believe it comes from the perspective of trucking companies not drivers. This is disappointing since he is CEO of ATBS Canada and 80% of Canadian O/O’s do NOT like speed limiters (never mind EOBR’s). I wonder how his clients feel about not strongly opposing limiters when it was first introduced by OTA? I wonder how his clients feel about him simpathetic to EOBR’s and CSA 2010 (maybe ATBS Canada only deals with the 20% of O/O’s). I think Peter McGill understands the potential conflict with ATBS Canada clients better than Ray may.
    My comment about ignorance, arrogance, narrow mindedness and selfishness was a reference to the leaders of the industry trying to implement a regressive legislation. I wasn’t implying Ray was I,A,N and selfish… just that he was supporting or justifying those who were I,A,N and S.
    Expressing “success” at MacKinnon Transport with EOBR’s in this “non-hiring economy” is an absurd conjecture! For nearly two years drivers have hunkered down in their employee turnover foxholes digesting tons of company “Crap”. Currently, drivers just continue to huddle together in their foxholes thanking their superiors for a job. If, however, the recession would end we would see a REAL reaction to MacKinnon’s EOBR transition. As Peter McGill implied “…drivers paying indirectly for rate cuts…”, the companies 1-1.5% productivity increase may well have been lifted from the driver’s pockets.
    Answer: When Joe Clark took over as principal of East Side High he berated the janitors for putting up cages in the cafeteria (to protect the staff from violent students). He stated “…if you treat the kids like animals that’s exactly what you’ll get!…”.
    My point: Babysitting drivers with EOBR’s and report cards only produces babies… mindless robots void of initiative and innovation, inwardly callous of their employers. I suggest tear DOWN the cages, respect and empower the driver to perform as a true professional.
    QUESTION: How many of Demmings fourteen points does: CSA 2010, EOBR’s and speed limiters VIOLATE?
    http://www.hci.com.au/hcisite2/articles/deming.htm
    Sincerely
    Mr. Craper

  • CSA 2010 may well be a godsend for good, safe, compliant drivers. If that’s you, congratulations – your stock is about to go up substantially. Now that driver performance will directly dictate a carrier’s safety rating, the best drivers will have an ace up their sleeves and those who jump from carrier to carrier leaving a trail of violations and destruction in their wake will be exposed and will ultimately become unemployable.
    The end result of all this may well be as Ray implies: shoddy carriers and drivers will be weeded out, capacity will be reduced and driver compensation will increase. Hey, maybe it’s a pipe dream but can’t we acknowledge the potential benefits of change from time to time and take a glass half full view of the world around us – at least until proven otherwise?
    James

  • James ( acknowledge the potenial benefits of change )
    Yes there can be benefits so with EOBRs I no longer have to put
    pen to paper to make a log. Very small benefit for lots of down side
    risk on fexabilaty.
    I said this before but they trust us not to speed in school zones
    but not on controled access hiways.
    To me its not a benefit to have a slower truck that can not go as far.

  • Are you implying that shoddy carriers will be weeded out by policing ALL drivers? I agree with you in part but its a little like firing a missile at a house fly. Shouldn’t safty ratings weed out unsafe companies? Yet some “qualify” for LCU permits!
    No doubt there are shoddy drivers but is babysitting ALL drivers the way to weed them out? Is our extremely efficient government going to be in charge of the database or is there going to be a private “credit rating company” keeping score? BTW do credit rating companies stop all bankrupcies?
    What stops owners of a shoddy company from just going out and buying new running rights every two to four years? Or more realistically buying a “worthless company” that has a better reputation or score? Is anyone going to police them?
    It appears that all the regulations coming down the pike are aimed at the driver not the company. Yet companies are pillaging operators at historic volumes (as they do every recession). A year ago the industry was saying that as many as 10% of trucking companies would be bankrupt. What has kept them alive? I say in many cases “theft from owner operators” (I reviewed one fuel surcharge scale that kept up with fuel costs only if operators got over 12 miles to the gallon). So what does the industry do? Police the drivers! Obviously anything negative that happens to drivers is their own fault.
    I had an operator who was sent to a company that overloaded his truck at five minutes to five (company arranged all pickup appointment times). By the time the operator found out his dispatcher was “gone for the day” and he had less than three hours to get to the boarder. He delivered the load (bypassing scales). Confronting the company when he got home they said “they are our customers and we can’t afford to loose them”. They refused to even consider paying the fine (if there would have been one). This top level operator was on the “drivers committee” almost 15 years at the company, and has a perfect driving record. What’s he going to do? Quit? NOBODY IS HIRING! I have dozens of stories like this. I stop listening because they eat me up. The regulatory industry dosn’t care what the dispatchers and company owners are doing or saying… they wag their finger and then issue LCU permits.

  • CSA 2010 will be good, it’s about time that drivers will be accountable for their actions, to many drivers get away with way to much just by jumping to another carrier, as far as EOBR’s most drivers that I know don’t have problem with using them. The drivers who have problem are the type of driver who waste some much time at truck stop during the day and drive all night long to make delivery and then blame everything that goes wrong on dispatcher, customer or custom officer. Those drivers then falsified their logs to match border crossing and fuel stop. The same drivers are terrorize by the word “GPS and Satellite Tracking” because as Manager we can find out what they are doing.

  • RGJ if you have 10 or 15 or more drivers who have made the same run
    you get a pretty good idea how long it should take.If the driver is
    reliable and on time whats the need to mico-manage ?
    If he is at a truck stop God forbid he is not getting paid.
    If you hire good drivers you send him out and you trust him, after
    he has earned it. Worked realy well.
    I think your idea of managing is to read the rule book out to drivers
    if they ask you to be fexable and work together.
    meslippery

  • Hey Crapper
    You state that “Blogging is a great place to air views, check and BE checked for accuracies.”Meanwhile you took a long time to get to the part where you admitted being full of crap about my stance on speed limiters and then you still managed to suggest that your unsubstantiated accusation had merit, that’s not taking responsibility for an inaccuracy, that’s chicken crap. Then you mention it again when you take a cheap shot at ATBS and how it’s clients think about my positions again saying I supported speed limiters, you’re a piece of work Crapper, have you ever been inside a truck before, by yourself I mean, for some reason I think not, I think you run double with your mother probably from Toronto to Buffalo.
    What a crock you spew referencing Deming as though you have first hand real life knowledge of TQM, Deming was not the enemy of new technology, he embraced it, to see your written word you must have been a staunch enemy of seat belts, where are you on lane departure products, how about log books are they the boogey man too? The FMCSA had not updated the rules of carrier safety for over five decades, what do you think, it might about time. Having a clean record as a driver with FMCSA will be a point of pride for most drivers those that are scared about this new system shouldn’t be in this industry to begin with, period! You’re not one of the later are you crapper? Technology and innovation is not the enemy of the driver, assimilation by some trucking companies of today’s new trucking technologies into their fleets so that the driver is made part of the process rather than a victim of its purpose is where some companies go wrong in this and other industries. But you of course Crapper would like to revert to the Stone Age and will capitalize on some of the failures some companies will experience to spew your tired diatribe of every company on the planet colluding to undermine the driver and beat them into submission, what a pile of crap.
    Pat on the head, a wink, and a nod” from proponents, not this cowboy Crapper, I remember when you used to write me Haight mail about my monthly articles from Over the Road, long convoluted diatribes masked to appear as though they had come from some pseudo intellectual with a superior oversight of all things trucking containing nothing but a load of crap. If you recall I told you then that you should feel free to ignore my ramblings all together and see if you can stop your infatuation with my comments, I understand now with this blog this will be hard for you, you to draw attention to yourself by writing me the long endless piles of crap that where me out.
    I have seen Mr. McGill’s comments on speed limiters and they are surprisingly similar to my own, referring to enforcement of existing laws not legislation to compensate for lack of effective policing or putting monies into budgets necessary effective policing. I am not sure what your angle might be to suggest that I would have any issues with Mr. McGill, to set the record straight I have none and I am sure he is a fine gentlemen Crapper. I am done, you have conned me once more into wasting my time with your drivel Crapper, one final thought though, with all the amazing minds in the world, you offer words of wisdom from Joe Clark, what is your mind made of __________, that one was too easy, sorry folks, lose my number Crapper!!!!!!
    Ray Haight

  • Seat belts in a tractor trailer what a waste of time.
    Can you say revenue generator?
    Cars just bounce off and if you hit another truck
    head on the seat belt wont help.
    If Crapper is slandering you Ray I understand being upset
    but he makes many valid points.
    You said (technology and innovation is not the enemy of the driver)oh I can come up with real life times when it
    was or could be.Some of my posts on cyber cb go into
    great detail.
    meslippery

  • Embrace Technology
    When Police came out with radar I embraced radar
    detectors and CB radios.
    I am ready to embrace anything to defeet speed limiters
    and EOBRs.
    Bring on the technology.
    meslippery

  • Meslippery..seat belts in a tractor trailer are not a waste of time!Back in 1999 I was blown over up in Montana while running empty with winds in excess of 70 mph.If not for my seat belt I’d have gone out the windshield and ended up under the truck.Worn it ever since.

  • I am glad it worked for you Linner.
    Never say never. prehaps I was a little rash in my opinon.
    Its just that you can ride a motorbike ok you have a helment
    but are you safer in a pick up? I think maybe you are.
    Its a choice to ride and take the risk.
    If I chose to ride its legal, if I chose not to ware a seat belt
    it is not.I guess I like things to make sence.
    meslippery