Martin Cassidy has a pretty diverse background. He’s served in the Army, been a policeman and a fireman, and now he’s come to North America to drive a truck. Did I mention he’s originally from Aberdeen, Scotland? Well, he is, and he and his girlfriend have driven commercial vehicles all over Europe, and they happen to think driving in North America is awesome.
Martin met Veronika Lengvarska in Germany in 2009, where she says he talked her into getting a commercial driver’s license. They have since driven independently and in teams in Germany, France, Holland, the UK and Spain, and I’m sure I’m missing a few other places. Suffice it to say, if there were a European version of “I’ve Been Everywhere, Man,” Martin and Veronika could sing along.
We met the couple during a 10-hour break in Limon, Colo., and they were kind enough to sit with us for an hour or so after their evening meal to answer questions about the differences (and similarities) between driving here and in Europe.
They’re currently on a two-year work visa with an outfit from Calgary and hauling oversized loads in separate trucks, convoy style, into the United States and back out again. They were headed to Texas from Calgary when we crossed paths. Martin drives a Pete, Veronika a Freightliner. They’re company trucks, and the couple says the company is well above standard and treats them (and the trucks) very well.
My first question was about the hours of service. With the ELD mandate on the near horizon, I was curious as to how they tracked their hours of service, and what they are allowed to drive. For some reason, I expected Europe to be behind in the technology — I fully expected paper logs and manual calculations. Turns out, we’re the ones behind in our technologies.
When you start your pre-trip in Europe, you have a credit card with a chip that’s inserted into the dash of your truck and records everything, down to the minute. These are your logs. You have four and a half hours to drive before you take a 45-minute break. You’re then allowed another four and a half hours of drive time before you have to take a nine-hour break. There’s no such thing as moving to a safe haven; there’s not even one meter you’re allowed to move before you’re fined, you are parked or you’re in trouble. And parking is a problem.
Says Martin, “You will pay sometimes in upwards of 50 euros a night to park with no facilities in the UK. The parking in America is comparatively superb.”
