Truck drivers don't put in the maximum hours possible; their maximum allowed driving time is heavily regulated by law and increasingly enforced by remote monitoring.
Just a side-note: My step-dad was a long-hauler when I was a kid, before any of the "maximum hours" regulations. The stories he used to tell me are terrifying. Basically, back then, all the long-haulers were alcoholics who drank coffee and popped pills to stay awake and driving for as long as they could. Dudes used to have contests to see who could drive the longest. Driving coast-to-coast on a straight shot was totally common. There were union rules around "maximum hours", but dudes wanted to get paid, so they just kept driving. Drunk, and on pills.
The ELD (electronic logging device) reports this data to the trucking company. It is up to them to enforce driving time. However, law enforcement can request these logs during a stop or inspection and the ELD must display this on screen or a print out. https://eld.fmcsa.dot.gov/
Trucker forums are full of ways to cheat the devices like simply pulling a fuse or replacing it with one that's been burned out, and police can't / won't check electronic logbooks because it's too much of a hassle for them.
The companies installing the electronic logbook devices are the same people who have incentive to cheat the system. So do you think anyone notices, complains, or gets disciplined when "the fuse keeps burning"?
You mean like how hospitals were told to stop overworking their residents by the goverment, and told the residents to fake their timecards?
The industry shifted to electronic logbooks and while there was initial resistance, truckers quickly learned they could just pull fuses, or cover GPS antennas...and that police officers would look at paper logbooks but didn't have the equipment or interest to pull electronic logs.
Truckers in the US do whatever they please, and the rest of us pay the price when they crash and kill others or dump toxic crap everywhere.
Do truck drivers count the hours they spend waiting to be loaded or unloaded?
Sure they have breaks, but is it really spare time of you're stuck in a truck in the middle of nowhere waiting for time to pass so you can drive again?
