The Winter Blues

This post appears as a column in the May issue of Truck News and Truck West Magazine - print & online editions

I caught a rather severe case of the winter blues this year. I had feelings of irritability, a craving for comfort foods, loss of interest in usually enjoyable activities, poor concentration, and loss of energy. After the high of the Christmas season feeling a little down in January has become part of the normal seasonal work cycle for me. By the end of January I am normally in the groove of a new year and the bluesy feeling has passed. But not this year. This year the feeling of simply being tired is clinging to me. That feeling of fatigue aggravates the normal daily irritations I face on the road each day often blowing them out of proportion. So I had to face the question: What has changed?

I spent more time on the road in 2009 than what I would consider normal and that trend continues to the present day. This revelation comes as no surprise; it is a direct result of the downturn in the economy. As I investigated this line of thought I realized that the quality of my time on the road has also changed dramatically. It is the quality and not the quantity of time I am spending on the job that has a far greater effect on my state of mind. My last trip to Michigan is a good example of this. It was short but not sweet.

I left my home terminal in Ayr, Ontario at 8:00 pm in the evening. It was a simple straightforward load. I was switching trailers in Kalamazoo, Michigan then heading up to Grand Rapids for a load that was ready the following evening. Simple. No time issues or hours of service issues to deal with. I planned to be in Grand Rapids by 2:30 the following morning, get a good nights sleep, then kill the balance of the day before hooking on to the load that evening and making the 5 hour trip back to Ayr. The problem was that 25 km after leaving the terminal in Ayr I got a check engine light and then – bingo – the engine de-rated. I contacted dispatch, flipped around and headed back to the terminal.

Luckily there was another highway tractor in the yard. I slid my gear into it while dispatch modified the customs documents. Then I was off again; but now it was almost midnight. The Kalamazoo load had to deliver by 8:00 in the morning. At this point I had plenty of time but not plenty of energy. I crossed the border, grabbed a 90 minute nap at the first rest area and had the trailer in the dock in Kalamazoo by 7:45. I grabbed an empty trailer out of the yard in Kalamazoo and made it up to Grand Rapids well within my 14 hour window. It was 9:45 in the morning. My load was scheduled for 8 or 9 that evening. You would think after been up most of the night sleeping wouldn't be a problem. But that short nap in the middle of the night combined with the bright sun, warm spring weather, and the hustle and bustle of a busy day taking place around me made sleeping difficult.

It was 9:00 in the evening when I started rolling out of Grand Rapids. By the time I arrived at the port of entry in Sarnia I had been fighting off the waves of fatigue for over an hour. Ironic isn't it? You can operate well within the hours of service rules and still not be fit to be on the road. This is a circumstance that is more common than any of us like to admit. It goes to show that longer trips do not equate with more fatigue. It's all about the quality of time we spend within each and everyday.

I have come to understand over the last couple of weeks that I'm not suffering from the winter blues. I'm dealing with a type of shift work sleep disorder. According to the National Sleep Foundation I have most of the symptoms: Insomnia, disrupted sleep schedules, irritability, reduced performance, and excessive sleepiness. Understanding this makes me feel a little better but I still have to cope with it.

I can't lay the blame for this situation at the feet of my employer or anyone else for that matter. In fact my employer has bent over backwards to keep us all moving out here and financially I had a good year last year. Obviously it has come at a price though. It goes to show that despite all the procedural issues and regulatory changes we are facing in this industry each and everyone of us are responsible for making the decisions that effect our individual health and well being. That will never change.

Predicting The Unpredictable

My past week was a typical one for a truck driver.  The daily routine requires that you expect the unexpected while committing to meet the expectations of others. It is an interesting paradox we live by on the road.  The art of predicting the unpredictable.

On Monday morning I was greeted by the hiss of escaping air from a brake pot on the trailer I hooked to.  No problem, I was in our Edmonton yard and the part was quickly replaced.  The following day I was delayed at my second drop in Winnipeg because I did not have a dock appointment to drop 4 skids.  No problem, I was unloaded after waiting my turn behind two other trucks.  After my last drop in Winnipeg I switched trailers with another truck to deliver the following morning.  There were time issues.  I had time, the other truck did not.  No Problem.  On Thursday my AM pick up in Sioux Falls, ND was not ready until noon.  No problem.  When I scaled the load at the truck stop it was overweight.  No problem.  I went back to the shipper to have some freight taken off.  No problem.  I did not leave Sioux Falls until late afternoon on Thursday.  No problem.  I arrived home at midnight last Friday rather than dinner time.  No real problem, unless you allow it to become one.  These are all issues of the day that drivers face every week on the road.  You can predict where you went want to be and when but your are never certain of your exact path or timeline.  You learn to roll with the punches in order to meet your commitments in a timely manner.  It's often not pretty or exactly as you planned but the job always get's done.

On Saturday I headed to Toronto to take in the last day of the truck show, Truck World 2010.  I had registered for a seminar in the afternoon about the challenges & changes the trucking industry faces in the coming years from the perspective of the driver.  There was a lively discussion about a number of issues.  I came away from that discussion with the feeling that, like me, the industry as a whole may be able to predict the general trends and direction it will follow but is never certain of its exact path and timeline.  There are so many volatile issues facing the trucking industry right now that it is actually a very exciting time to be on the front line.  From technological changes to driver shortages and everything in between driver's are in a position to be agents of change.

Commercial drivers are proven problem solvers.  A driver's daily routine revolves around dealing with the unpredictable issues of the day and still meeting his/her commitments.  I don't think there is a better qualified group of people to meet the challenges ahead.  We need to recognize that quality in ourselves more often and make our individual voices heard.

Praire Wind

There is an annual event I participate in every April.  I call it the: Winter In April Across The Prairies Event.  It seems that participation in this event is not optional.  This year the special guest, courtesy of Mother Nature, was the wind.  Wind accompanied the regulars; snow, ice, sleet, and drifting snow.  Luckily I had the view from the balcony and was not on the main stage for this event.  It was a long and drawn out affair this year starting last Thursday and stretching itself out well into Saturday evening.  It was a large venue covering an area from Calgary to Edmonton to Saskatoon to Regina.  Everyone in the area was welcome.  I should also mention it seems that each year I usually show up for the party with an empty trailer or a load light enough to rate as an empty.  This year was no exception.

I left Winnipeg last Friday thinking that I had a nice easy two day ride up to Edmonton.  No hurry, no pressure, and the balance of the weekend off when I arrived.  A little rest and relaxation after a busy week. I started getting hit with the wind gusts when I crossed the Saskatchewan line.  By the time I had reached Indian Head I was in the midst of a tempest.  Very strange as I was still in sun and blue skies but the trailer was been hit with hard gusts and pushed out of the travel lane and on to the shoulder.  There was a row of 35 foot tall evergreens swaying in the wind like bulrush in a strong breeze.  Small ponds were filled with large white capped waves.  Metal road signs had been bent around there 4x4 posts, some had snapped off, others were vibrating madly in the wind.  Who says the prairies are a boring drive?

I stopped in Regina for a brief rest and a bite to eat planning to continue on.  Not so.  The highway to Saskatoon was closed for ice, snow, and zero visibility.  The word at the Regina Husky was that there were 13 semi's jack knifed between Davidson and Dundurn.  The Regina Husky does not look like an inviting place to spend your evening at the best of times but on this day it looked pretty good to me.  I spent the balance of the afternoon and evening rocking back and forth in my truck and listening to the wind blow.

 Saturday morning I got underway and as I neared Craik, SK there was still a few wrecks on the road from the previous day.  There was very little snow in this area but the wind damage was obvious everywhere you looked.  This trailing trailer from an LCV was lying along the shoulder on my side of the road.  Apparently just blown over.  I didn't see any indication that the lead trailer and the tractor had gone off the road.  No skid marks or torn up sod in the ditch.  Looks like the lighter trailer just blew over and broke away.

This semi on the other side of the road looked to have met the same fate.  No skid marks or torn up sod and it appears from the position it was simply blown over.  What a lousy ride huh?

You can see from these two pictures the nice blue sky.  Looks like a nice day our there doesn't it.  Well the header on my blog (which I'll leave up until at least the next post) was what it looked like when I got a little further up the road to Kenaston.  The wind was still going pretty good too but nothing like the day before.

On reaching Saskatoon I met up with a couple of our drivers that were heading south and had come out of Edmonton the day before.  They reported that the road "sucked" just ahead of me from The Battlefords through to Lloydminster.  So I decided Saskatoon was a good spot to take the time to shower and get cleaned up then have a meal.  Apparently the plows and salt shakers were out and working hard.  The temperature was up so I hoped that in 2 or 3 hours conditions would change.  Luckily I guessed right and the remainder of my trip was fairly uneventful.  A few sections of heavy drifting snow and some deep slush but nothing longer than the length of a football field.

I made out pretty well in this years spring storm.  Let's hope there is not more than one this year.

Integrity: Putting It To The Test

I came face to face with my own integrity this week.  A result of this dam blog.  It's my own fault I admit.  I started blogging to come to terms with the frustrations, aggravations, irritations and difficulties associated with this line of work.  It's easy to blog about this and that and talk the talk.  I found myself having to walk the walk.  Of course it had to do with the hours of service (HoS) regulations and, you guessed it, electronic on board recorders (EOBR's).  One of which I have in my truck and have stated publicly that "I like" and should be embraced by the industry as a whole.  Fatigue is one of the difficulties I have been dealing with frequently of late mostly related to variable shift patterns that are screwing up my sleep/rest cycle.  This week I came face to face with the issue of how the HoS rules combined with the EOBR add to my level of fatigue.

Before I go any further let me say this is not about who is to blame or right and wrong.  This is about dealing with the day to day realities of providing a service.  It's really not any deeper than that.  There will always be obstacles in our way and there will always be solutions to those problems.  We may not like the solutions.

The greatest obstacle we face as drivers is getting the job done within the alloted time frame.  There are two basic time frames we have to deal with.  The first is a commitment to the customer.  Getting the freight from the shipper to the receiver when we say we will.  The second is remaining in compliance with the HoS rules.  We usually have enough time to get the freight to the customer but we often have had to find creative ways to do it while remaining in compliance with the rules.  Inefficiencies in the system end up being downloaded to the driver.  The EOBR  forces accountability back up the chain by taking the driver's ability to be creative with the rules out of the equation.  Now we all have to work in real time.  Perfect right?

What if you find yourself in a position that provides enough time to get the freight to the receiver but breaking the rules is safer than working within the rules?  What do you do then?  Here is where the integrity question comes up for me.  With our paper log system we would falsify *gasp* the log, deliver the freight and be done with it.  Now with the EOBR you would have to accept the violation and any punitive measures if/when the violation is caught.  That may be at the roadside or through a log audit after the fact.  Or you can operate within the rules knowing you are unsafe to drive and hope for the best.  You may end up bringing harm to yourself or someone else but according to the rules you were good to go.

The bottom line for me here is this:  I don't exceed the 70 hr cycle, I don't exceed the 13 hour driving in my day (midnight to midnight for me), but working within the 16 hour window just doesn't cut it much of the time.  I usually exceed that window because I need to stop and nap so that I am safe on the road and capable of getting the delivery done safely.

I don't think this rule will be amended until the issue is brought to light when drivers like you and I are hammered through the log audit process.  We have been avoiding the issue for the last 3 years by not showing it on our paper logs.  Very often our "work shift" commences at a time that disrupts our sleep/wake cycle and induces fatigue.

The problem is not with EOBR'S.  The problem is with the HoS legislation.  EOBR's simply enforce what is already there.  In many instances we find ourselves having to break the rules in order to live within the safety of our circadian rhythms the rules were designed to enforce.  Catch 22.

So I said I came face to face with my own integrity.  I can't bullshit the rules any longer with an EOBR in the truck.  So if I want to protect my personal safety and deliver the goods on time there are going to be times I will have to show a violation in order to do that.

This is why we need the EOBR's.  Until those unavoidable violations are recorded on an ongoing basis across the industry the rules will never be amended and the driver's work/life balance issues will never be addressed appropriately.  The big red flag issue is that drivers & carriers will have to take it on the chin in order for that to happen.  Does our industry have the will to make it happen?

We hear a lot from the upper echelon of the trucking industry when it comes to the issue of hours of service compliance and their due diligence in that regard.  Those same movers and shakers need to put as much if not more effort into ensuring that the appropriate amendments are made to that same legislation in order to meet the work/life balance issues of the industries front line.  Technology is providing the tools.  They need to provide the will.  The drivers will deliver the goods.