Safety Groups Criticize Proposal

WASHINGTON — Safety advocates — as well as survivors of truck-related accidents and relatives of victims — urged Congress to reduce the amount of time truck drivers could spend behind the wheel.

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In a 45-minute press conference June 20 near the U.S. Capitol, Joan Claybrook, organizer and president of Public Citizen, asked the government to drop its plans to add two more hours to a truck driver’s work day.

Claybrook said friends and families who joined her intended “to put a human face” on the issue that is being debated inside and outside Congress. Since the hours-of-service rules were proposed April 25 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, discussions have been so heated that the agency extended the public comment period to Oct.30.

Congress plans to consider legislation that would prohibit any money from being used in fiscal 2001 to finalize the hours-of-service rulemaking (6-19, p. 1). Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) told the small crowd at the news conference that parts of the rules benefited highway safety, but lengthening the amount of time a driver could spend behind the wheel — from 10 hours to 12 hours as proposed — was detrimental.

For the full story, see the June 26 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.