It was the worst accident I ever seen ...
Why would anyone want to do this when they pay 40 cents a mile, you are regulated up the ass, if you get a ticket the ticket cost a fortune, you are away from your family for what could be weeks at a time. No thanks. They want more drivers then pay them by the hour a good salary, it will also stop them from driving 90 mph to make as much money as they can. I saw a rig crash into the support beam of a bridge a few months ago in Massachusetts, going way way way too fast and he lost control in a turn and BANG
1. Mandatory sleep periods
2. Travel to the job to pick up a truck was counted as on-duty time...that is travel by plane, train, bus, taxi...and thus required a 10 hour rest time before starting.
Previously I could ferry new trucks from LA to Oakland during the day and return overnight by Greyhound to pick up another next morning.
You got that right. The most famous words ever said by the trucking firms is..home weekends.
YA RIGHT.
It was the worst accident I ever seen ...
As gps maps show you the speed zone you are in (sometimes incorrect), the time is most likely near that it will interface with the truck computer to govern the engine and not allow it to exceed the speed limit. Now that won’t take into account weather conditions.
Electronic logs systems already alert company safety departments of drivers going more than 10 mph over a posted speed, so modern means are starting to regulate fast drivers. I don’t know if on-the-go de-rating of speed limit and/or hp is now available. But I know that the company my truck is leased to will have the shop set the speed for no more than 65 if the driver gets a speeding ticket.
The pay issue is partly supply and demand. Also, truck driving jobs vary greatly. A driver decides that he has had enough of seeing the country via long haul (gone from home sometimes for one or more weeks), and chooses regional (gone a week or less), or maybe local (usually home daily).
Many want a switch in the type of trucking work. The variety driving jobs can be minimal effort outside of driving (dry van, refrigerated van), to more physically demanding specialized (chains, straps, tarps). Construction driving (dirt, rock, concrete, asphalt, demolition, etc.) can be quite physical as well, and is almost always local. (I worked as a driver for one construction company that occasionally took on distant jobs that required hotel stays).
A trucker friend of mine says they’re hiring Middle Eastern drivers like crazy. That’s how they get drivers to accept such low pay rates.