In a recent article it was noted that truck drivers are the second most likely occupation to be injured on the job and require time off of work because of it. Since it is open enrollment time I thought this is a good time to talk about that.During open enrollment you can choose to change your benefits at your company. Many larger companies offer long and short term disability. This pays you a certain percentage of your check if you are unable to work. Short term is generally for up to 26 weeks and long term takes over from there. Depending on the plan it can be for 5 years, 7 years or even longer. We currently have a driver that is injured and has been off for 11 months. Without the short and long term disability he would be in a real pickle. I take the short and long term disability at work and I recommend it to you if your employer offers it. If they don't, ask them to. It is very expensive to buy on the open market. In the event of an injury you will be able to recover and keep a roof over your hear. As you get your open enrollment information look for the disability part and give it a read.
See you on the road!
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The time has come. For those of you that are on my live show Monday's you know that I am going to lose the weight I have put on over the years. About 9 years ago I got sick of being fat and lost close to 100 pounds by changing my diet and moving myself but I have slowly let myself go again and I now find myself closing in on getting all of that weight back. UGH. So, I now embark on losing it again. I have a short intro video to the series and I will chronicle my path to 200 and beyond. Each video will have the same thumbnail so if this is something that would interest you it will be easy to find and if you are not interested it will be easy to ignore. I am already in my extreme upper 30s and this weight is a problem. Obesity is just as bad for you as smoking so I am done with it. Remember, it will take time. You didn't put it on overnight and you won't take it off overnight. Stick with it. Ready? Let's roll. I have the beginnings of a webpage as well.
See you on the road! Although Maverick is the latest one to do it, I see this from many companies. A large Sign-On bonus. Companies are ramping this up as the Rona has taken a toll on drivers. Some are not coming back and many are now looking for local or close to home jobs. Road companies, though, are going about hiring all wrong. These sign ons only benefit you for a year or two at the most. Then, you in effect get a pay cut when the bonus ends. Crazy. They put all this effort into getting a driver and virtually no effort into keeping the drivers they already have. In some cases a new drivers gets a higher pay rate, at least for a year, than a driver already working at a company. This leads to increased turnover after the first year as the bonus ends. A circle of turnover. I think companies should end this sign on garbage immediately. OTR companies should do some soul searching and really ask DRIVERS how to make their company better. A good company attracts good drivers. Never choose a company because of the bonus. Take the bonus if they have it but don't go there because of it. A bonus should not even factor in to what you are thinking as it will end and you should be looking for a company to stay with over the long haul.
See you on the road! The new hours of service to into effect TODAY! Are you up to speed on all of the changes? I made a video about it to help and I will go over them here as well. Short haul drivers who start and end AT THE SAME PLACE are now allowed 150 air miles and 14 hours a day without a log as long as their hours are kept track of. This is to better align with OTR drivers.
The 30 minute break can now be accomplished by on-duty, off-duty or sleeper berth time and is only required after 8 driving hours instead of 8 hours on-duty. 3 separate breaks of 10 minutes don't count, the 30 minutes must be consecutive. Adverse driving conditions now add 2 hours to your day and 2 driving hours instead of just driving. So, adverse driving conditions give you 13 driving hours in a 16 hour day. Adverse driving condition is defined as something unusual that could not have been know by you at the time you leave and could not have been know by dispatch at the time of dispatch. Just because you didn't know does not mean you could not have known. It is easy to get a weather report. Split sleeper changes to allow 7-3 split. 8-2 also still allowed. Both parts of the split now stop your clock and can be taken in any order. Also, it can be 7.5 and 2.5. The short part must be AT LEAST 2 hours and the long part must be AT LEAST 7 hours and they must add up to 10. Need a break or want to wait out some traffic? No problem. Take 2 hours and stop your clock. When you stop to sleep later be sure to get at least 8 hours and you are good to go. I will be doing a separate video on the split sleeper as that is what I get the most questions about. See you on the road! Drivers wanted this for the new HOS that goes into effect on Sept 29 but it didn't make it. Well, it is back. The FMCSA is going to start a pilot program to test a new break. Here is how it would work. You would be able to stop your clock for between 30 minutes and 3 hours, once per day, and have it not count against your 14 hour clock. It would stop the 14 hours so you could theoretically mean you work 17 hours. Now, at the end of this you MUST take a full 10 hour break, no split sleeper if you use this. This could very much extend your day. In fact, here is the longest day you could have. Start at 9 am. At noon stop for a 3 hour sleeper (allowed under new rules for split sleeper). Now 3 pm and that section stopped your clock under the new rules in effect Sept 29. At 6pm stop for 3 hours off duty, stopping your clock again. It is now 9 pm and you only have 6 hours logged. At 5am you hit the sleeper. WOW. You just legally worked from 9am one day until 5 am the next day. Amazing. This would be allowed under the new proposal. I think they might change so you can't use the first split part to stop your clock as well but currently this would be just fine. At 5am you would be required to get a full 10 hour break. Since all this does is extend your day without extending your pay I am against it. Sure, it might help avoid traffic but companies don't have to become better at dispatching as long as drivers continue to accept sitting in traffic being paid mileage. I encourage everyone to carefully consider this new proposal. Going from 14 hours to 17 hours or even more without an increase in pay means I am against it. We are already expected to do work for free so I don't support more free work.
See you on the road! We again return to CDL Life and find an article about a driver who parked and rolled his windows half way down. First off, who the heck in the day is sleeping with their windows open at all? Folks, this isn't 1952. People could get in your truck but so could the creature in this article, a western diamondback rattlesnake. Fortunately, the snake was seen crawling around near the open window by the driver before he fell asleep. I guess I don't understand leaving your window down to sleep. A snake could be the least of your problems getting in. Perhaps this driver worked for a company that would not let them idle. I have no idea who would work for these places but OK. The only reason they can do that to you is because you allow it. The moral of the story is this: Keep your windows closed while you are sleeping!
Now more than ever, with everything that is happening, it is so important to document what happened. One way to do that is with a good quality dash cam. It is your silent partner, your eyes that never close. Check out the dash cam that I use every day right HERE. See you on the road! In a recent post on CDLLife, a woman recounts an incident in which her truck was broken in to while she slept inside IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. She says she heard nothing which is amazing. Please, be careful sleeping out there. There are numerous ways to secure your doors and this is what I always did. I got 2 of the black bungees that are flat, not the round stretchy ones. The thick flat ones that don't have as much give. I got long ones. I would put it through the door handle and attach it to the bottom of the seat in the back of it. Tight. This way if someone pulls on the door it gets tighter. I would also hang a bell from the handle. Get a small cowbell or kitchen bell and attach a wire to it. Hang it from the handle. If the door is moved the sound will alert you and the bungee will slow someone down even if it doesn't prevent them from getting in. It will give you time, a fighting chance. Remember where you attached the bungees because in a fire you will need to remove them quickly or your secure truck will become your coffin. Some people stretch a strap between the door handles to attach them to each other but I think that is too complicated to remove in an emergency. By the way, this is not just for the ladies. Everyone should be safe out there and anyone can be the victim of a crime.
See you on the road! A truck driver who was illegally parked on the shoulder of the highway sleeping was struck by a pickup truck. The pickup then veered back in to traffic where it was struck by another semi. The driver of the pickup was taken to the hospital where he died. I will link the article at the end of this. I know what people are saying: "Mark, the pickup truck driver should have moved over so as not to hit the semi". I agree. I also think that parking illegally contributes to accidents and unless it is an emergency you are not allowed to park on the shoulder. I see it almost every night. Trucks parked on the shoulder. It is so dangerous. This accident didn't have to happen. The semi driver currently has four charges against him and possibly more to follow. He will likely be fired and sued by the family. There can't be an excuse for doing things that you know are unsafe even if the proximate cause of the accident is another's negligence. This happened at like 3am. People who don't drive at night are tired. They swerve and are all over the road. I see it DAILY. Please, park somewhere safe and legal. Don't even start writing down HOURS OF SERVICE or anything else. I don't want to hear excuses about why someone does something unsafe. The bottom line is you cannot park on the shoulder to get sleep in Virginia.
HERE is the article. See you on the road! July 29 will be the first day that wearing a mask will be mandatory at all Love's. What about that? I think the rest of the truck stop chains will follow suit soon. As someone who strongly believes in private business doing whatever it wants, I have no problem with it. I have a problem with the government mandating masks as my state of Indiana just did. A private business I can choose to go or not but the government mandating masks and then threatening people with a fine or even jail is ridiculous. For crying out loud, they are letting people OUT of jail due to the Rona. Love's will have masks for sale if you don't have one although I have to believe most people have a mask by now. I have a couple in the truck and one in the Trucking Answers mobile unit.
Funny story: I had a regular doctor appointment Tuesday and the place I go requires masks to enter. OK. I wear my cloth mask and at the desk they gave me a surgical grade mask to wear. They don't allow the cloth masks. I asked why and they said the cloth masks don't do anything, they don't protect the wearer or others. I then asked my doctor about masks and he said if you aren't wearing a surgical grade mask you aren't really doing anything. Hmmmm. He gave me a few more to take with me. He said if everyone wore surgical grade masks all the time they are in contact with others we could stop the Rona but other than that it is going to be a long haul for us, maybe years. Interesting. See you on the road with a mask! According to THIS article, if you are planning on being in the Rochester, NY area this weekend expect protesters to shut down 490 at 2pm Sunday. Why? We all know why. Avoid the area. It is currently illegal to block the highway even for a protest but I am sure the police will look the other way. Interfering with interstate commerce is also against the law but I am sure nothing will be done about it. All I can tell you is to be careful and try to find another way around if you are headed there. I have no idea if they will be on time or what will happen.
See you on the road (but not 490)! |
AuthorHi! Welcome. I'm Mark and I've been a professional truck driver for over 33 years, the last 19 years at the same company. It is time that drivers got paid for every minute that we work and we are treated like the licensed professionals we are. Archives
February 2022
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