Our son is a 50 year old bonded truck driver and so is his son.......and I know nothing about the rules but then he doesn't own a computer or know anything about physics
Our son is a 50 year old bonded truck driver and so is his son.......and I know nothing about the rules but then he doesn't own a computer or know anything about physics
I used to drive a flat bed truck full of propane bottles to various construction sites part-time so they could work in the cold weather and know that a truck can only have 20,000 pounds max on each axle or you get a ticket when you cross the scales which is why some trucks have front to back axles on them.
There are routes where it is specifically legal to pull two 65' trailers with one tractor. One I have seen is the Kansas Turnpike.
The docking issue work around would involve multiple drop and hooks at the the delivery/live load points. Or yard tractors.
I don't remember my MPG but it was likely 5-7 at best. If you can get 7+ MPG on a truck/trailer combo that is scaling out at just below 80,000 pounds you are doing good.
Efficiency differences that move a fleet metric a 0.1 of a MPG save a lot of money.
A 250 mile range is nice but having a charge point at each end of that 250 mile route are likely what would make it very useful. That way the gadget could run to one end of the route. Get recharged and run to the other end. Basically the same pattern used in line hauling but a shorter route.
The point that I was going to make was that with using this, the 10% fuel savings would be offset by needing to change utility trailers every 250 miles. The time it takes for doing so offsets the money saved in using it. With enough stops for doing this on long haul routes - like Chicago to Denver (i.e. ~1,100 mi) - needing 4+ stops would potentially be monies wasted, detrimental to corporations and private truck drivers.
I think that many many truck tractors have as much as 150 gal tanks, and with 7 mpg that would be 1,050 mi range without stopping. Is there a limit how far one can drive before needing to stop and rest?
I think there is still a 10 or 11 hour driving limit with a mandatory half hour break. Maybe 14? hour on duty limit. And an 8 hours mandatory sleep break after 14 hours on duty. You can be off-duty not sleeping.
An average big truck driver running accurate logs can run between 500 and maybe 700 miles a day. All to often my calculations showed I was averaging 53 mph on flatish terrain. This was in a truck that was governored to 65 MPH Throw in uphill in the mountains or twisty highways and it slows down.
I believe a line haul drop and hook can take less than 10 minutes.
Some of the hours limits I have quoted could be obsolete.
I still get some trucking News but I don't follow it as closely as I used to.
Respectfully,
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
Tom said "I don't remember my MPG but it was likely 5-7 at best. If you can get 7+ MPG on a truck/trailer combo that is scaling out at just below 80,000 pounds you are doing good."
I think that many many truck tractors have as much as 150 gal tanks, and with 7 mpg that would be 1,050 mi range without stopping. Is there a limit how far one can drive before needing to stop and rest?
Being not a truck driver, I'm just saying...
Don't forget too that alot of trucks don't get turned off at all even to refuel or when they are sleeping so the mpg goes down alot for that too.
When I drove Fire engines we got about 4 to 5 mpg on both the Engines and Ladder Trucks due to all the idling and the way we drove to the scene, foot flat on the floor accelerating, slam on the brakes, foot flat on the floor accelerating etc etc then parking brake on and idling or changing the PTO type thing to operate the pump to pump the water or the hydraulics to raise, move or lower the ladder. Then when everything is over you drive normally back to the Station and try to relax before for the next call.
Correct 11 hour max drive time a day. Max 14 hours duty time a day. Required 30 minute break after 8 hours drive time. A 70 hour rolling duty clock per week, unless you stay close to home (drayage). Mandatory 10 hours off time. There is some provision for a split shift and I can't remember the rules on that. There is also some allowance for "personal conveyance" however it is rather limited and restricted.
As to a drop and hook, 15 minutes might be closer if you actually do the safety inspection on the trailer. A battery unit is likely going to have more items than whack the tires with a hammer, make sure the tandem pin is locked in, the lights and the brakes are working, and a pull test. Perhaps no more than the extra a reefer unit would need, unless the driver has to plug in the drop and enter use logs.
It occurs to me that your son and grandson know plenty of physics, just not in a neat and packaged conventional form. If they did do a course on say, basic Newtonian mechanics (not orbital stuff), I'm sure they'd be all over it.
Now as to driver maximum continuous road hours, it is much the same DownUnda. It's pretty well uniform across the country : 14 hours, but you need to pass an extra medical to do that. Alas that tends to weed out some drivers that don't pass the criteria, but you can usually help them to become fitter for that purpose. Naturally that assumes the clinician doing the assessment is being faithful to the purpose and the letter of the regulations. There are long shifts interstate eg. a given truck may leave Melbourne and swap drivers just over the border in NSW, then go on further north eg. to Sydney with another swap if need be for more distant destinations. The drivers have time off and/or a sleepover and then swap back into driving on the home leg.
I'm told that GPS has changed the business alot : in particular it has helped to catch up with some companies who pressured their drivers to bend the time rules and fudge the logbooks. There are far fewer fatalities of type 'controlled driving off the road' nowadays compared to say, the 1980s. The microsleep can kill of course. There are many more factors other than driver fatigue eg. distractions, medical events, substance use, vehicle malfunction and of course the weather and the state of the road.
I think the drivers could receive better pay. I'd be happy to pay a bit more for my CocoPops cereal etc knowing that good safety protocols were being followed.
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
It occurs to me that your son and grandson know plenty of physics, just not in a neat and packaged conventional form. If they did do a course on say, basic Newtonian mechanics (not orbital stuff), I'm sure they'd be all over it.
,,,,,snip.....
I think the drivers could receive better pay. I'd be happy to pay a bit more for my CocoPops cereal etc knowing that good safety protocols were being followed.
Cheers, Mike.
Well said, Mike! I too would be willing to pay a bit higher prices for... just about anything... knowing that they were following good practices on the road.
If the exceptions were not written into law truck drivers would have more protections. But transport of goods would experience a significant supply chain shock.
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
Our son is a 50 year old
)
Our son is a 50 year old bonded truck driver and so is his son.......and I know nothing about the rules but then he doesn't own a computer or know anything about physics
MAGIC Quantum Mechanic
)
I used to drive a flat bed truck full of propane bottles to various construction sites part-time so they could work in the cold weather and know that a truck can only have 20,000 pounds max on each axle or you get a ticket when you cross the scales which is why some trucks have front to back axles on them.
Tom M wrote: George, There
)
The point that I was going to make was that with using this, the 10% fuel savings would be offset by needing to change utility trailers every 250 miles. The time it takes for doing so offsets the money saved in using it. With enough stops for doing this on long haul routes - like Chicago to Denver (i.e. ~1,100 mi) - needing 4+ stops would potentially be monies wasted, detrimental to corporations and private truck drivers.
I think that many many truck tractors have as much as 150 gal tanks, and with 7 mpg that would be 1,050 mi range without stopping. Is there a limit how far one can drive before needing to stop and rest?
Being not a truck driver, I'm just saying...
Proud member of the Old Farts Association
George, I think there is
)
George,
I think there is still a 10 or 11 hour driving limit with a mandatory half hour break. Maybe 14? hour on duty limit. And an 8 hours mandatory sleep break after 14 hours on duty. You can be off-duty not sleeping.
An average big truck driver running accurate logs can run between 500 and maybe 700 miles a day. All to often my calculations showed I was averaging 53 mph on flatish terrain. This was in a truck that was governored to 65 MPH Throw in uphill in the mountains or twisty highways and it slows down.
I believe a line haul drop and hook can take less than 10 minutes.
Some of the hours limits I have quoted could be obsolete.
I still get some trucking News but I don't follow it as closely as I used to.
Respectfully,
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
GWGeorge007 wrote: Tom said
)
Don't forget too that alot of trucks don't get turned off at all even to refuel or when they are sleeping so the mpg goes down alot for that too.
When I drove Fire engines we got about 4 to 5 mpg on both the Engines and Ladder Trucks due to all the idling and the way we drove to the scene, foot flat on the floor accelerating, slam on the brakes, foot flat on the floor accelerating etc etc then parking brake on and idling or changing the PTO type thing to operate the pump to pump the water or the hydraulics to raise, move or lower the ladder. Then when everything is over you drive normally back to the Station and try to relax before for the next call.
Correct 11 hour max drive
)
Correct 11 hour max drive time a day. Max 14 hours duty time a day. Required 30 minute break after 8 hours drive time. A 70 hour rolling duty clock per week, unless you stay close to home (drayage). Mandatory 10 hours off time. There is some provision for a split shift and I can't remember the rules on that. There is also some allowance for "personal conveyance" however it is rather limited and restricted.
As to a drop and hook, 15 minutes might be closer if you actually do the safety inspection on the trailer. A battery unit is likely going to have more items than whack the tires with a hammer, make sure the tandem pin is locked in, the lights and the brakes are working, and a pull test. Perhaps no more than the extra a reefer unit would need, unless the driver has to plug in the drop and enter use logs.
Hi Magic! It occurs to me
)
Hi Magic!
It occurs to me that your son and grandson know plenty of physics, just not in a neat and packaged conventional form. If they did do a course on say, basic Newtonian mechanics (not orbital stuff), I'm sure they'd be all over it.
Now as to driver maximum continuous road hours, it is much the same DownUnda. It's pretty well uniform across the country : 14 hours, but you need to pass an extra medical to do that. Alas that tends to weed out some drivers that don't pass the criteria, but you can usually help them to become fitter for that purpose. Naturally that assumes the clinician doing the assessment is being faithful to the purpose and the letter of the regulations. There are long shifts interstate eg. a given truck may leave Melbourne and swap drivers just over the border in NSW, then go on further north eg. to Sydney with another swap if need be for more distant destinations. The drivers have time off and/or a sleepover and then swap back into driving on the home leg.
I'm told that GPS has changed the business alot : in particular it has helped to catch up with some companies who pressured their drivers to bend the time rules and fudge the logbooks. There are far fewer fatalities of type 'controlled driving off the road' nowadays compared to say, the 1980s. The microsleep can kill of course. There are many more factors other than driver fatigue eg. distractions, medical events, substance use, vehicle malfunction and of course the weather and the state of the road.
I think the drivers could receive better pay. I'd be happy to pay a bit more for my CocoPops cereal etc knowing that good safety protocols were being followed.
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
https://apnews.com/article/ur
)
https://apnews.com/article/ursula-k-le-guin-home-writers-residency-8a119efb584b4446056c12405186f4fd
I hope this comes through!
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)
Mike Hewson wrote: Hi
)
Well said, Mike! I too would be willing to pay a bit higher prices for... just about anything... knowing that they were following good practices on the road.
Proud member of the Old Farts Association
If the exceptions were not
)
If the exceptions were not written into law truck drivers would have more protections. But transport of goods would experience a significant supply chain shock.
A Proud member of the O.F.A. (Old Farts Association). Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.® (Garrison Keillor)