So this would be just a 10% reduction in hours driven per day.
I don't see how this would lead to more trucks on the road. It would just mean 10% more truckers needed to put in the driving hours necessary to get the goods to where they need to go.
This is bad for those truckers that get paid by the hour and want all the hours they can get. This is good for truckers in general as it means a higher demand for truckers ... unless of course the 10% is filled by Mexican truck drivers.
This should be good for the average driver as there will be fewer sleepy truck drivers on the road.
The average consumer will see the delivery cost go up about 10% since trucking companies will have to hire more truckers.
Those who are against the 70 hour/wk limit should presumably be against any limit at all. So even the current 82 hour/wk limit should be anathema. If the average person only needs 8 hours of sleep, then truckers should be allowed to drive (24-8)*7 = 112 hrs/wk.
Your calculation doesn’t allow any time for those truckers to eat,shower,shave,change clothes,wash clothes,use the toilet,etc.
I’ve met a few truckers like that and ,so far, they were mostly Mexican drivers.Both truck and drivers literally stank from no hygiene.Where do you suppose the waste goes when the truck has a outhouse hole in the floor?
It’s crap. Most OTR drivers are paid by the mile. Cut their hours and you cut their miles and their pay. It’s bad enough some truckers can have a rough period where it’s hard to make the equivalent of minimum wage. When they’re on the clock waiting to get unloaded or loaded the federales don’t care that the driver has to make up those miles to keep dispatch happy and build his paycheck.
What the feds are doing if more drivers are needed is creating a demand for new drivers which don’t have the experience. Some ads now say a company will accept someone with two years of experience. I’ve even rarely seen less. Think about that when you’re on the interstate alongside a truck with the placard showing a hazmat. Welcome to the world of FUBAR federale regulation.
Other regulations that create the difficulties faced when complying with hazmat quals, TWIC cards and all the other BS mean many truckers are just saying screw it and leaving the profession.
And here I thought this was a conservative site. Why not just reduce the max hours down to 38.5 and double the number of truckers needed? No wait, you could eliminate trucks and then get the donkey breeders employed!
There's a real need for basic economics training here on FR. Read Bastiat, Smith, and look up FEE or Austrian Economics. In the meantime, stop commenting on economic issues. FDR was wrong.
“This should be good for the average driver as there will be fewer sleepy truck drivers on the road.”
No, it just means more will be cheating on the logbooks.
The easiest way to control someone is to make a criminal of them