Mike, I like what you have here, especially the part about running legal. We tend to ummm,want to stretch the truth a little on our logs sometimes because of the fear that we won't make any money, be fired, etc. if we run legal,and we think everyone else is doing it, too. The supertruckers, the ones cheating bigtime on their logs, and the like make us legal runners look like slackers, and only encourage the shippers and receivers and thus our companies to put unrealistic demands on us. Part of the problem is the way we are paid - by the mile. It's piecework pay, like they used to pay seamstresses - so much per garment made. I don't know the solution - being paid a set weekly salary no matter how many miles we run might average out,(and it might make load planners and dispatchers scramble to keep us running consistently, while we do not suffer financially from the feast or famine stuff we have now) but some will object to being limited as to how much they can make. At the same time, making it look like we can always run 700 miles in 11 hours - no matter the weather or traffic - results in some bad things.
Many of us in the driver's seat are very bright people - let's talk amongst ourselves and work out a solution that benefits all of us, companies, drivers, and shippers- and present it to the people who can change things.