Will no doubt be many different views & answers to this, owner drivers & employees with no doubt differ, but interested to them all.
Most of us are under eu regs, however what could you cope with & prefer? pal of mine, owner driver reckons 10dt with 9 rest tramping 11 at base. 45 break up’d to an hr
I would be tempted to agree, but often on a busy day feel really shot after just 9hr rests sometimes so am ok with the present 9 & 11 set up.
I have done 12dt for a couple of days but do feel pretty knackered, only feel ok with it after relaxing wk end off, yet thats the normal regs in Oz, Nz & usa/Canada- well 11 usa 12 oz, 13 canada
/nz & some as little as 7 hrs rest, blimey how do you expat truckers cope with that one?
So my owner driver thoughts-
I’d allow one 12dt in a wk, but only with an 11 break before & after & 2 1 hr stops in that, happy with breaks but would push it to 5 hrs dt & up break to 1 hr or 30 + 30
Not too bothered about actual driving times if I’m being honest, it aint the actual driving that degrades your capabilities, it’s the short rest periods that do it. So to that end my ideal working times (regardless of driving hours) would be twelve on, twelve off. Nice and simple.
I generally do a 12 on/12 off pattern, start about 0600 and work until about 1800. I do very occasionally have to take a reduced rest, but it’s probably been no more than three or four times so far this year.
The max hours at the minute are designed for trampers imo and for most companies they see them as a target not a limit. Not too bad if your sitting on a bay for 3hrs but when working flat out for 15 hours it can be a killer.
I would be happy with 12 or 13 hr days and 11hrs off every night but the company I’m with at the minute I usually get that anyway and I’m home most nights.
the maoster:
Not too bothered about actual driving times if I’m being honest, it aint the actual driving that degrades your capabilities, it’s the short rest periods that do it. So to that end my ideal working times (regardless of driving hours) would be twelve on, twelve off. Nice and simple.
Yip liking that thinking, could go with that, how about daily break times 1 hr? 30/30 & what about weekly? Stick with the current? Or 24 & a 48 maybe?
I don’t have a max hours number in mind ,but it would be great to live or work in a country where you don’t have so much traffic or peak time congestion ,somewhere you can start about 7 ish and work in to the evening with no deadlines .
I like a minimum 11 hours off every night, don’t mind doing 13 hour days, a lot of our work is sitting around in RDC’s on break(some even let you sit in the cab) I have the odd minimum 9 hours off but rarely more than once a week & I like my weekends off, usually with a 6 or 7 o’clock start on a Monday morning. (Yesterday I started at 08.45, Nice)
These days, there should be no need for anyone to be “at work” for more than 12 hours a day as a matter of routine - regardless of what sort of work they do. Having said that, there should be no rigid bar on folks putting in a little extra time on occasion when the brown smelly stuff hits the rotary ventilation equipment. Unworkable, I know…
POA is a fudge and should be scrapped. I think the 9/10 hour driving time limit is about right. I also think a weekly rest period should be at least “a day and two nights”.
Roymondo:
These days, there should be no need for anyone to be “at work” for more than 12 hours a day as a matter of routine - regardless of what sort of work they do. Having said that, there should be no rigid bar on folks putting in a little extra time on occasion when the brown smelly stuff hits the rotary ventilation equipment. Unworkable, I know…
POA is a fudge and should be scrapped. I think the 9/10 hour driving time limit is about right. I also think a weekly rest period should be at least “a day and two nights”.
Absolutely, 48 hours of work is enough, its not 1963 any more.
And a weeks proper wages should be payable for it, not the current situation for too many drivers (some of whom seem to want to stay there and just moan) of doing two weeks work for one weeks pay…and being away for most of the week to boot.
4 hours a day mon to friday,just enough to get me out of the house and say i’m working
that’d be ideal.
I’d go to 5 hours (2 hours drive out, 30 minutes for someone to load/unload me, 30 minutes coffee break, 2 hours drive back). Other than that…
On a decent wage of course, something like £3k a month in the bank (don’t wanna kick the arse out of it)
Seems a reasonable ideal, to me.