Opinion: A Victory for Safety — and the New ATA
nd Donald Schneider
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ndependent analyses revealed that the DOT scheme would force at least 100,000 additional trucks onto America’s roads during peak traffic hours. It also would put less-experienced drivers behind the wheel.
As ATA President Walter B. McCormick Jr. put it, ‘Whether you drive a truck, a passenger car or a moped, all Americans deserve better.”
Not only did DOT’s plan make our roads less safe, it also threatened the just-in-time delivery systems that power today’s economic expansion.
The plan also threatened to cost our industry more than $19 billion over the next 10 years. All these resources would have been wasted on a misguided effort that would have devastating, albeit unintended, consequences — less safe roads for all drivers; and for us in the trucking industry, less safe places of work.
In the end, Congress saw that the DOT plan was a lose-lose proposition. Now, the department will have to follow the sage advice of doctors: “First, do no harm.”
The move by Congress will only allow DOT to review its proposal and possibly issue a supplemental rule that will allow for further public comment and input. Generally, that means the department will have to listen more closely to safety experts and others who raised legitimate concerns about the proposal in its current form.
According to the compromise language agreed on by the House and the Senate, there will be no final rule before Oct. 1, 2001. It is our hope that we can use this period to work toward real reform.
With this move in Congress, ATA and its members scored an important victory for safety. But it should not go unnoticed within the trucking community that this also marked an important victory for a renewed ATA.
We members have said for years that we want an ATA that is driven by our needs, a strong trade association that delivers victories on the big national battles, an ATA that works in partnership with the members and its affiliated state associations. We see the fruits of our labors in this victory.
We also see that the reorganization and refocusing of ATA was well worth the effort.
From day one of the hours-of-service debate, this new ATA waged a strong battle in Washington and effectively mobilized members across the country. Walter and his team aggressively made our case before Congress, the [Clinton] administration and the news media.
ATA also formed the Trucking Executives Leadership Council, which we have been proud to co-chair, to make sure members of Congress heard from their own constituents about the importance of our industry and the priority we put on safety. In working with the states and having a strategic, coordinated effort, we also put in place a strong grass-roots network that helped clinch our victory by getting 177 members of Congress to sign onto a bipartisan letter urging congressional action.
We can only imagine how this fight would have turned out had we not had a strong, powerful trade association. This effort is a prime example of how vital ATA is to a strong trucking industry, and how important each and every one of us in the trucking community is to a strong ATA.
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For years to come, we should remember this effort and its contribution to highway safety and a strong economy. For our often-divided industry, we also should remember how we won — together.
Donald Schneider and Gerald Detter are
o-chairmen of ATA’s Trucking Executives Leadership Council. Schneider runs Schneider National, and Detter is head of Con-Way Transportation Services.
