NOT ENOUGH HOURS IN A DAY

The paper discusses how, in their original form, the Hours of Service (HOS) regulations were as much a labor issues as a safety issue. The need for adequate rest was recognized, along with the need to make a distinction between driving and non-driving in order to prevent drivers from spending too many house behind the wheel. Transport Canada first introduced a Canadian version of the rules in 1984. Similar to the American rules, the Canadian law offers more latitude with respect to duty cycles, and longer hours behind the wheel. Both countries require drivers to log certain activities as on-duty time, but over the years much of that prescribed has slipped of the pay ledger. For reasons unknown, drivers never objected too strenuously to this, and as a result, it is now common practice for carriers not pay drivers for this time. However, drivers today are feeling the pinch of this unpaid time. Record-breaking delays at major border crossings are causing considerable stress for drivers who once made up that lost time by hiding the wasted hours in the logbook, and running a few extra miles to make up the difference. The situation will only worsen until regulators re-examine the HOS laws from both a labor and an economic perspective, rather than solely from a safety perspective.