Letters to the Editor: HOS Gripes, Tolling I-81

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b>HOS Gripes

When are they going to get competent people to run the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration? We have to be qualified to drive and be responsible for our businesses, or we aren’t working. Why aren’t the people making the rules under the same standards?

I have a 1998 Peterbilt and pull a step deck, working in all states except those in the Northeast. I move machinery and anything else that is paying decently.

Nobody who makes these trucking rules and regulations has any qualifications in the trucking industry. They never have been in a truck and don’t know the first thing about the industry as a whole, except what they get from research studies. They have a job by way of who they know, not what they know.

Isn’t it time for all the millions of dollars spent on researching why trucks have accidents to be spent on training the general public? I think the regular driver test has one or two questions about this. Put the money where it will do some good.

The only thing regulations bring is revenue, and that’s all it’s about. That was evident when they changed the hours-of-service rules. More drivers are under more stress with the 14-hour rule than ever before. They should have just left everything the same and given us the 34-hour restart under the old rule.

No wonder Annette Sandberg quit. She wasn’t qualified in the industry and changed things with no rhyme or reason because of pressure groups.

Now we’re in worse shape than ever. Everyone out here on the road is more tired and under more stress than ever because they feel they must cram driving, loading, eating, stopping for a quick snooze or whatever into 14 hours, with no stopping the clock.

How many of you get up in the morning, drive for 10 or 11 hours, spend three or four hours in the office and then have to spend eight to 10 hours in your bed and be expected to sleep? This situation is especially true for team drivers. The rule-makers never experience the rules they are making. Shouldn’t that be mandatory?

I am disillusioned with the whole system.

Wendy Perkins

/i>Owner-Operator

ontana Starr Transport

aint George, Kan.

This is in regard to the TTNews.com story that the Department of Transportation might relax hours-of-service rules for tank-truck drivers after fuel-delivery problems caused some filling stations to run short on gasoline, including spot shortages in Texas. (Click here for previous coverage.)

This seems like the ultimate in hypocrisy. If hours-of-service regulations are in place to promote safety, the U.S. Department of Transportation could not consider relaxing the rules for tank-truck drivers. Imagine a truck with thousands of gallons of fuel and a driver suffering from fatigue.

The federal DOT and most state DOTs have become an embarrassment.

Michael Jarrell

i>Director of Transportation

evman International

partanburg, S.C.

I rest my case.

Safety is of such little concern to those who tout it during election cycles that it is almost comical.

Of all the vehicles on the road, those with 1203 (gasoline) placards are among the ones that should be under constant scrutiny. To relax the regulations so that Texans don’t have to wait in a line for gas is amazing to me.

Weren’t the hand-wringers just recently so worried that trucks kill and we have to do something about it? Did Texas suddenly get a couple of million more cars than it had last month?

Allen Russell

i>Corporate Traffic Manager

magePoint Inc.

lorence, Ky.

Tolling I-81

I was reading the letters about tolling Interstate 81. (Click here for previous coverage.)

Even if I do a weekly trucking radio program on XM172 in French, I am an Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association member and still drive my 18-wheeler across the east of the U.S.A. out from Canada. I do use I-81 often and I agree partly with the letter writer’s comments.

In Canada, we are having a major debate on mandatory speed limiters. I am opposing the proposal of the Ontario Trucking Association on the issue. I do agree that too many so called “professional drivers” do not respect common-sense driving in the hills of Virginia. Higher fines, more enforcement and putting this income in the road funds will help to finance the repairs.

Tolls are not the solution and may only start a “toll booth cancer” across the United States.

Many years ago in Quebec, the population pressured the government to take the tolls out after a 100% raise. The violators of the posted speed limits are mostly of the same thinking, that taking a hot load and running it fast will generate more profits. I don’t think so.

Being myself a leased owner-operator, the only thing that goes up is my cost of operation. Sure, I try to save my brakes and use a lot of the engine brake.

There are other states looking to put tolls on existing interstates. This is not the way to go to keep a healthy economy. The rising costs of fuel are already showing on all retail items. Tolls will only put another increase on what we buy in the United States or in Canada.

Jean Catudal

/i>Radio Co-Host — Entre Les 2 Lignes

M Radio 172

amaska, Quebec

anada

These letters appear in the June 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.