The U-S has proposed changes to the hours of service regulations for the trucking industry which could bring things more in line with BC.

The President of the BC Trucking Association says truckers will still spend be able to spend up to 13 hours behind the wheel, but there is more flexibility. Speaking on The Jeff Andreas Show, Dave Earl says one of the possible benefits is that you can break up your cycle a little bit better. “But again, it really depends. And it’s all going to depend on the driver and it’s going to depend on the dispatch and the route that they’re on. I would love to tell you that it was a great benefit or a great detriment or there’s some major change but, it’s not going to change the way that drivers operate in a great meaningful way.”

The big change is that the 10 hour off-duty time would not have to be used consecutively. Earl says drivers would still need to take 10 hours off in a day, but it wouldn’t have to be taken all at once. “To be sure, there’s also flexibility on the part of the company, but it can’t be overstated that sometimes the rules prevented the drivers from cycling their shifts the most efficiently to get home after a long run.”

Earl says the bottom line is they will see more flexibility but not more time behind the wheel. “The changes don’t increase the amount of time that a driver is permitted to actually drive. What they do is change the way that those hours can be scheduled and broken up to provide drivers with more flexibility.”

Listen the Entire Interview from The Jeff Andreas Show below

https://soundcloud.com/user-965676831/jeff-andreas-show-dave-earl-sept-5