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DRIVERS' HOURS OF SERVICE * USA - Cars need as much scrutiny as trucks
* Trucker to Trucker Speaks Out on Truck SafetyUSA -Trucker to Trucker -5 Oct 2007: -- Last week the federal court struck down the FMCSA's new hours of service regulations, citing safety concerns about driver fatigue. Comments made by Jackie Gillan, VP of the consumer group Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, summed up the opposition's position: "In the last 10 years, 56,935 people have died and a million more were injured in truck crashes in communities across the country. American families are paying a steep personal and financial price for this public health disaster. It's time to stop coddling the trucking industry and make the safety of all motorists, including truck drivers, a priority"... There are people in any industry who will abuse the rules. Occasionally it's necessary, sometimes it's inadvertent, usually it's greed, but generally it's stupid and they wind up paying the price. Trucking companies invest millions of dollars in their rigs. They sure don't want to jeopardize their investment or their customers' cargoes. Companies with poor safety records lose customers. Lose too many customers and you're out of business. Truckers are professional drivers who aren't likely to jeopardize their livelihood, their rig or their lives. Do accidents happen? Of course. This is the real world, after all, and we can't control the poor choices and haphazard driving skills of the motoring public. Daily we share the road with auto drivers who have no concept -- and make no allowance for -- the time and distance required to maneuver or stop a big rig. If they did, they sure wouldn't be cutting in front of us in a tight spot. Truckers spend thousands of hours on the road, traveling millions of miles and the majority with no mishap. Could we improve our safety record? Sure. Who couldn't? Truckers are always striving to improve safety. But if you look at ALL the figures, we're doing a darn good job. Anyone who thinks different just doesn't know the facts.
* DANGEROUS MOTORISTS
Connecticut Post editorial: "There is simply no excuse not to keep as many unsafe vehicles off the road as possible"
Stratford,CT,USA -The Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT): COMMENT by Michael Hurley -4 Oct 2007: -- ... As someone who has been driving all sizes of trucks on Connecticut highways for more than 30 years, I couldn't agree more. What I do take issue with is the idea that to achieve that goal so much focus should be on the big, bad truck drivers... In a Post article on Sept. 27, "Truck crackdown paying off," state Sen. Bob Duff of Norwalk, hailed the crackdown as "a huge success"... According to the article, 10,555 trucks going through the Greenwich weigh station received 267 tickets. This is a "huge success"? That amounts to one out of every 40 trucks getting some kind of ticket. Even more telling numbers were 17 drivers pulled from the cab for violations (one driver out of every 620 inspected), and 44 vehicles taken "out of service" for repairs (one out of every 240 inspected)... I have to wonder what the results would be if 10,555 cars were stopped and inspected. How many drunk drivers would be found behind the wheel? How many bald tires, worn-out brakes and other defects would state troopers find? How many unlicensed drivers, unregistered cars, uninsured cars would there be out of 10,555? Politicians love to show how tough they are on safety by going after the "big, bad truckers" but they run away and hide when the issue of testing senior citizen drivers is even mentioned. Truck drivers have to take a physical every two years, but anyone who doesn't have a commercial drivers license can be physically impaired in all different ways, yet still renew a license over and over... In 30 years of driving trucks on Connecticut highways, I've never had an accident or a ticket. I have to take physicals and random drug tests and my truck has a full state inspection every four months. Given all that, I don't really mind that I've been stopped six times in the last year. Time and again my truck has been weighed and my logs and medical card examined... But I do have to wonder how many drunk drivers are happily weaving down the road while my fire extinguisher is being inspected yet again. I believe without a doubt that on Connecticut roads the drunk driver has far less chance of being stopped than a trucker with a broken tail light...
Labels: dangerous motorists
posted by Unknown @ 8:53 PM
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