Thanks for the post. I am not a truck driver, although I have been around the industry for almost 20 years, so I think I know something about it. I agree with you 100% that it is getting tougher to make a living as a truck driver. I am torn, as my customers are the motor carriers, but many times I look at what the drivers are making and I think, “no wonder you can’t find good drivers….”.

For the most part, the good drivers are not out there looking for a job. The good drivers are already working for somebody else. I used to view truck driving as the last, good paying blue collar job in America. Sadly, I think that is probably going by the boards as well. I do not see this reduction in hours leading to an increase in pay. Furthermore, I know the industry is dying to replace you with cheaper labor from Mexico. I’m sure some of my customers would disagree, but I think if you pay for good drivers, your equipment lasts longer, your insurance rates are lower, you don’t have accidents, and your service is good. You get what you pay for…..

No horn blowing, but I have never had an accident, moving violation, other than one small overload violation during my career, and if I can help it, never will again. I’m just that careful. I have to be. Why pay a fine when you don’t want to.

How are “we” , meaning the CDL holding drivers of America, going to stay aflote with all of these regulation changes? Resistance may very well be futile, but how does the government expect the person that they are regulating, not to mention paying taxes, to earn a living? My hours, as well as others have just been cut by one third due in part to these rule changes. My employer has found that hiring two more people, shortening my day from fourteen hours to ten, makes sense. The two new employees are there to replace me in my capacity to perform my job. In this case, reloading my truck for the next day. My only problem is in that I don’t trust other people to properly load and secure for me. It’s not just a “throw it in, and slam the door type of operation. But I can’t work after the ten hour cut-off now, so this is what I end up with. Peace of mind in knowing that the load is loaded correctly goes a long way with me. You mentioned something about safety? Alot of accidents are caused by impropper loading/securing of loads, as well as unsafe operation.

As you also stated, routes have been set up to work a driver within a certain number of hours, True, but these new changes will force drivers to perform their duties in a much faster fashion. I have already seen this happening. Drivers are now forced to push a run that had been done safely in say, twelve hours, to now finish in eleven. This compromises safety. No way around it.

There are other factors involved as well. Operating terrain for example. Mountain roads can only be traveled at a speed that is safe. Trucks are not sports cars, and have to slow for corners to compensate for the load being carried, as well as road conditions and traffic. What these equate to is, time. It still takes a certain amount of time to go from point A to B. There has to be some leeway in these new rulings, as not all areas in the country are flat, with four lane freeways.

I don’t know if you are a driver, or just a columnist, but considder this, up untill just reciently, a driver earned a living wage. He was able to support his family. He was able to put his children through school. He was able to retire and say that he had earned his retirement doing a good job, and more often than not, passing that job on to his children. Once uppon a time, if a person could call themselves a truck driver, they were proud to do so. Once upon a time…