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HOS Comments - USA - Trucks, tired drivers can be deadly mix
Gainesville, FL,USA -The Gainesville Sun, by LISE FISHER -Feb 19, 2006: -- Richard Darley has been driving rigs since 1970 and he knows something about driver fatigue. The 56-year-old trucker said regulations that establish how long a truck driver can operate on the road really don't make that much difference. "I don't care how many rules they write. There's going to be somebody that breaks them," ... The career trucker was talking about federal and state rules governing how long a truck driver can operate a rig before taking a break... The Crete Carrier Corp., the trucking company, has an out-of-service rate of 11.5 percent for its trucks, 2.6 percent for its drivers and 6.7 percent for hazardous materials inspections, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The percentages, which reflect drivers and vehicles placed out of service for reasons ranging from minor problems to deficiencies with a driver's logbook, are below or near the 2003 national average, the agency reported... The carrier, based in Nebraska, has 5,458 drivers and more than 5,000 trucks that traveled more than 636 million miles in 2005... Looking at the data for the carrier, FMCSA Director of Communications Ian Grossman said it shows it is a larger company that's "operating safer than most."... The records also show that drivers for Crete had 417 inspections that resulted in violations within the past 30 months. During those inspections, there were 233 violations of regulations governing hours-of-service rules... Charles Mickel, 49, a trucker out of Atlanta, said earnings will drive whatever regulations and practices companies will support and follow in the trucking industry... "They want to keep it the way they make money," he said. "The bottom line is the freight needs to be moved."...
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