Letters to the Editor

The Jan. 4 Opinion piece, “Workers’ Comp and Our Aging Workforce,” has to be the most biased article I have ever read.

In the “Letters & Comments” section of your Jan. 4 issue, BNSF Railway Group Vice President Stephen Branscum sought to clarify a comment from a recent conference, published in a story in Transport Topics. In his letter, he cited as accurate “BNSF’s willingness to work with shippers and American Trucking Associations to develop progressive.

When the drivers at Arrow Trucking received that message telling them to take their trucks to the nearest dealership, I hope all of them drove their trucks to their homes, unloaded all their gear and then called Arrow and told them to come pick up their truck.

I wanted to write to thank you or your Digest item “Wal-Mart Donates 35 Trucks to Food Banks” in the Nov. 16 issue, p. 33. In this economy, it is refreshing to read a positive, goodwill article. I contacted Wal-Mart to tell them and their CEO what a great job they did. Without trucks, all the goodness of America wouldn’t be delivered.

In a local newspaper, I recently read an editorial titled: “Truckers Should Not Be Texting While Driving.” The writer improperly quoted statistics and singled out the trucking industry as the problem.

Why do we have Transportation Worker Identification Credential cards?

When will the trucking industry, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the critics of the industry come to the realization that there never will be one set of rules that fits all types of trucking operations or satisfies every proponent and opponent?

Your weekly articles about rail-car loadings and truck traffic tend to make the same year-over-year comparisons.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, in response to a legal challenge to the current hours-of-service regulations, will completely rewrite the 2008 HOS regulations, issue a proposed rulemaking within nine months and a new final rule in less than two years.

This is in response to the letter titled “Distracted Driving” in the Oct. 12 issue. It seems everyone with a dog in this fight is cherry-picking the latest data regarding the texting issue.