Letters to the Editor: Special Interests and Safety
read that citizen groups are appealing to Congress not only to reject the latest iteration of the hours-of-service regulations, but to restrict the hours available for driving even more. (Click here for previous coverage.)
I find it amusing that this appears alongside articles decrying the ongoing issues relating to higher fuel costs and driver shortages.
Safety should be everyone’s concern, but the need for safety has to be balanced with capacity concerns. It seems obvious to me that if the current driver pool has fewer hours available to oper-
There is no reason that the regulations, as they stood for decades, could not, if properly enforced, provide for a safe environment for the motoring public. The key is enforcement and penalties that make violations too painful to risk.
I have long considered most regulations, including speed limits, to be revenue sources rather than safety measures. Consider how many drivers would exceed the speed limit if the fine was $5,000. On the other hand, consider the drop in revenue the states would experience if no one exceeded the posted speed limits or ever violated the hours rules.
Bureaucrats talking out of both sides of their mouths to appeal to the special interest group of the day will not make the highways safer. Zero tolerance and unbearable penalties will.
Allen Russell
i>Corporate Traffic Manager
magePoint Inc.
lorence, Ky.
Again Joan Claybrook, one of the most anti-trucker people around, and her CRASH [Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways] have taken another swipe at the country’s most important industry. Joined by PATT [Parents Against Tired Truckers], these two groups want to further strangle the economy by making sure there is even less capacity available out there.
Going into August, I read a report that claimed there was a shortfall of at least 20,000 drivers in the country today. My guess is that it is higher. Add to that shortage the 30,000 trucks that responded to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and you can see the reason so much freight is being left unhauled.
Do tired truck drivers cause accidents? Yes. However, statistics show that Class 7 and 8 trucks are involved in fewer accidents that any other classes of vehicles.
If you want to reduce accidents and fatalities on our highways, make it a primary offense to talk on a cell phone while operating any motor vehicle. Start issuing tickets for applying makeup, reading a newspaper or working your new car’s “information center.” I have personally seen these activities and others occurring during driving.
Trucking is the most vital industry in the United States today, bar none. Our industry kept this country going when every plane was grounded in the days after Sept. 11, 2001. We are the ones who saved countless lives after Hurricane Katrina.
If Ms. Claybrook wants to reduce accidents and save some fuel, tell her to get the idiots in passenger cars and SUVs to learn to drive responsibly.
George Imperatore
i>Vice President
ld River LLC
iver Vale, N.J.
Because of the nature of our industry, accidents will always happen. Do CRASH or PATT know the true statistics? More than 70% of car-truck crashes are caused by the automobile driver. Instead of lobbying for more and more constraints against commercial drivers, perhaps they should put more effort into educating the motoring public about the physics of operating large commercial vehicles.
Further restricting hours of service will only increase shippers’ costs, thus increasing the cost of goods in general. We do not operate the trucking industry with anything less than a “safety first” attitude.
The “work” these groups do only further damages our image to the public. Commercial drivers are underpaid, under-appreciated and should receive more respect for the sacrifices they make to give us all a better standard of living.
Joyce Moore
i>Recruiter
uget Sound Truck Lines
eattle
These letters appear in the Oct. 31 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
