Speakout

Safety should be priority in scheduling deliveries

Freight should move based on safety, not shippers’ priorities for just-in-time and not on unnatural hours of service rules. I’m not sure if carriers are forcing as many loads on a driver as they can or if shippers are trying to save warehouse costs. My carrier gets loads off a load board. Sometimes those loads are on the board for only a minute but other times for days.

How can a load stay on a board for days but when you accept it, suddenly it has to reach its destination quickly, even if you’re unable to do it legally or physically? I’ve accepted many loads that post one delivery schedule and then change to another, quicker delivery time after acceptance.

One serious problem is the trucking industry’s attempt to put all drivers on the same level of performance. In my case — a driver with Type 2 diabetes — the HOS rules put my healthy schedule in jeopardy. I have always treated my health as the barometer for when I should rest and when I should drive. My endurance is most likely different from a 23-year-old’s, and I probably have more than some 75-year-olds. The HOS rules work on an average and do not reflect individual needs. We need to stop moving freight based on regulators’ decisions. Instead, we should move it based on what each driver can do safely.

JOHN SCOTT | Owner-operator | Morris, Ill.

“My mother told me that if I didn’t study in school, I’d end up driving a truck: Sounded good to me, still does.”

— Owner-operator Bill Taylor, Enfield, Conn., on Overdrive’s Facebook page

“The day you think you know everything about driving is the day to quit, and I’m still learning.”

— Warren Clark, 63, at the Holland division of YRC reception honoring his 3 million safe miles, as reported in the Chattanooga Free Press.

What’s the biggest problem facing owner-operators?

“The rise in fuel cost is putting stress on all drivers.”

JAMES REED

Monticello, Ark.

TLS Transport company driver

“The price of freight is everyone’s problem. Owner-operators have got to do a lot more research now to haul the best freight.”

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KENDELL KENDRICK

Dallas | Owner-operator leased to ALG Trucking

“Fuel prices are soaring!”

JEFF BEZAIRE

Ontario, Canada

Allied Van Lines company driver

“The long wait between shippers and receivers is costing drivers a lot of money, especially with everything being recorded in the log books.”

TOM BUTLER

Newton, Ill. | Owner-operator leased to Camp Point Transportation

“All the regulations truckers are getting hit with now — cell phones need to be banned for four-wheel drivers, too!”

NEIL KITCHENS

Baxley, Ga. | Atlantic Coast Carriers company driver

SHARE WITH OVERDRIVE

E-mail your letter to the editor to Lucinda Coulter at [email protected] or mail it to Overdrive, P.O. Box 3187, Tuscaloosa, AL 35403.