Say What?

Question: What’s your opinion of the current hours of service rule?

Patty Brodeur, 51, Elizabeth, CO 
Professional driving experience: 14 years   
“They don’t give us enough time to do what we need to do. The split sleeper berth is horrible. As a solo, it works out OK, but for a team, it doesn’t work at all. What if you want to take a nap? You’re infringing on the other person’s sleep time because you get off kilter!”

Wesley Yoder, 44, Stuarts Draft, VA  
Professional driving experience: 20 years  
“I have mixed feelings. I think 11 hours of driving time is good. The 34-hour restart is good. I think the 10-hour sleeping time is too long. You end up sitting around waiting for the 10-hour period to be up, and that wears you out more than the driving does. If you could sleep a good six or eight hours–whatever your body needs–and then get up and go, that would be fine. Instead of getting up after eight hours and going, you have to sit there for another two hours. It’s wasted time.”

Sheila Zeigler, 49, Tylertown, MS 
Professional driving experience: 15 years     
“I think they should have completely different hours for a team than a solo driver because it’s a completely different situation.”

Darrell Oliver, 50, Franklin, OH  
Professional driving experience: 30 years   
“I drive local right know so I don’t really have to deal with the hours of service. I’ll let them other guys worry about it.”

Susan Pardue, 53, Clarksville, GA   
Professional driving experience: 24 years   
“I don’t like them. The hours of service may work for a solo driver, but not for a team. It doesn’t matter what kind of truck you have, whomever is supposed to be back there sleeping, when their partner stops to get fuel or whatever, the person in the back is going to wake up. You just don’t get that good of a rest. When a solo guy stops, his truck is standing still, so he gets a good eight or 10 hours of sleep. As a team, we have to do our sleeping going down the road, and that just doesn’t work.”